wake.eat.sleep

So you may wonder, did I have a set itinerary down to the hour, or did I make stuff up as I went along? Well, sometimes I had a set agenda, and other times I just had the general idea to wander into a particular neighborhood. And other times? Well, sometimes you get inspiration from the most unexpected of sources.

I don't know if years of watching WGN Morning News made me more predisposed to watch morning news shows where everyone looks like they're having a great time hanging out. After about a day or two of channel surfing, I settled in with this crew for the duration of my trip.

One amusing thing about a number of the morning shows is that they will set up a reaction camera on some of the personalities. Today they were covering a breakfast place that recently opened in Harajuku.

Chocolate chip pancakes

Steak and eggs

What compelled me to go...er, Spam and eggs

I wish I took video of this review, since everyone was excited when the reviewer started working over the over easy eggs.

Not pictured was an item on the menu that they actually spent at least a minute talking about. But more on that later. Needless to say, being a little bit of a "breakfast anytime" sort of fellow, I was sold! Off to Harajuku!

The name of the place is Eggs n Things. Here's their Time Out profile.

Even with the map it took a little bit of exploring to find the place (just as I was about to start considering that I should stop looking too!) It's a nice little spot, and despite reading about long lines in previous blog entries, I was heartened to see no line. Going inside is pretty fun, since you get greeted with both a hearty "Irrashaimasse!" and a "Aloha!"...thus, "Irrashaimasse aloha!".

I thought that there might be an outside chance of a menu either in full English or partial English. No such luck there! More Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji practice!

Thankfully, I knew what I wanted to order. (Spam and eggs) and how to specify how I wanted the eggs cooked (OE. Over easy, that is!) I also got a side of pancakes too.

While waiting, there were a number of OLs (office ladies - the equivalent of the Japanese salary man) that came in. They must have watched the same show that I did, because they promptly ordered the featured dish on the morning show, strawberry pancakes!

There were about 3 or 4 of them that did this. It looked delicious!

My spam and eggs were no slouch either. But it must be my Filipino upbringing!

Three different sauces available for your pancakes: maple, strawberry, and some type of white syrup.

In the distance, you can somewhat see the Hawaiian-inspired outfit.

Needless to say it was a delicious breakfast. Yum! And "arigatou gouzamashita mahalo!" and I was out the door.

In Part 2, we'll do some Harajuku exploring before we leave Tokyo for the day.

To be continued...