At Harajuku - Croquant Chou Zakuzaku + Ramen at Ichiran

Our trip to Harajuku was not as quirky as I thought. I was sort of expecting to be able to take pictures of girls wearing costumes but alas! none can be found. I did find something interesting to eat - what's called a croquant chou. What I like about it was it's crunchy texture and not very doughy at all. A lot lighter than a choux pastry and the cream inside was not very sweet and was just oozing out. It was also a bit cooler than the outside, which made it even better. I could have this once in a while.

After walking down Takeshi street, we were trying to find our way to the Harajuku JR station but we found Ichiran instead. There was, as always, already a queue when we arrived. And we had to stand in the rain for a few minutes. We ordered through a vending machine (of course) and there was a smallish vending machine looking monitor to tell the waiter that there were seats available for us. It was a very efficient process, nonetheless.

It got more interesting once we were seated. So we're each given a booth and a few minutes after giving our stubs (order), a small plate with an egg came with it and some salt. I think you were meant to eat the egg first then followed by the ramen, but I patiently waited until my ramen came. Another few minutes later, my hot bowl of ramen came.

I thought the ramen was above average, though not exceptional. You will notice the red and green buttons on table. You use that to call for the waiter or order extra anything (noodles, egg, sides). To be honest, it made me feel quite claustrophobic. It made me miss the hustle and bustle of a typical Japanese ramen place which I realised that I love and will always looks forward to on all my trips to Japan.