Wonderful cannoli from Mike's Pastry @ North End, Boston

Before this, I don't even know what cannoli is. My impression was cannoli is a small sized pastry but Mike's version was huge. Now I know why people willing to wait in long queue just to have their favourite cannoli after I tasted it. The worst thing about this place is to decide on which cannoli that you want! Mike Pastry has so many varieties. Do take note that this is a cash only establishment.

Taste:8/10(Good. The cannolis here are huge! The filling is silky and fluffy. The shell is perfectly crunchy and they have a huge varieties of flavors to choose from. I picked the caramel pecan cannoli since I like pecan and sweet stuff. I love the taste of Mike's cannoli once I have a bite of it. Its not overly sweet but its filling).
Price:5/10(Reasonable. Each cannoli priced at USD4.00).


When you arrive to Mike's Pastry shop, do go into the shop and check out. The line looks long but actually there are many lines at the front of the counters.

Variety of cannolis displayed at the top.

Variety of cannolis. In this picture, you can see the chocolate chip and pistachio cannolis.

Pecan caramel.

Since the shop is so crowded, I have to eat the cannoli at the nearby park.

Mike's Pastry shop in North End Boston.

GPS/Coordinate: 42.364238, -71.054271
Address: 300 Hanover St, Boston, MA 02113, United States.
Public transport: Haymarket station via light rail/subway-orange line/bus.

Japanese traditional sweet bread from Asakusa Kagetsudo @ Asakusa, Tokyo

Trying Japanese sweet bread was never in my plan. However, we saw many people holding the bread and we are curious on how good the bread actually. As we approached the shop, the queue were quite long and we decided to check it out. Since there were 3 of us, the 500 Yen pricing for 3 buns were just right.

Taste:8/10(Good. The bread is sweet with crispy crust with butter taste. I am in the opinion that Malaysian Roti Boy bread taste better).
Price:6/10(Moderate. One sweet bread for 200 Yen. If you buy 3, its for 500 Yen).


After queueing for almost 15 minutes, I got my sweet bread.

Japanese traditional sweet bread.

Sugary crust. Crispy outside and soft inside.

Long queue outside the Asakusa Kagetsudo shop to buy their melon shaped bread.


Besides bread, this shop also selling ice-cream and noodles.

One bun for 200 Yen and three buns for 500 Yen.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.713363, 139.797014
Address: 2-2-10 Asakusa, Taito 111-0032, Tokyo Prefecture
Public transport: Asakusa station on Toei/Metro line.

Sanuki Udon Hanamaru @ Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan

Sanuki Udon Hanamaru is udon fast food chain in Japan. They have an outlet almost everywhere near JR stations in Tokyo. Come here if you want fast and cheap meal.

Taste:8/10(Good. This is safe food. Its noodles, I can't tell if you like it or hate it. Anyway the udon noodles is great. The tempura is slightly oily but I am wondering whether they give any sauce for the tempura. This is quite a decent meal for the budget price).
Price:7/10(Moderate. The price of the udon noodles depends on the size that you ordered. 300 Yen for small, 400 for medium and 500 for large. I spend around 700 Yen for my own portion. I took medium sized udon and two pieces of tempura. Each tempura at 150 Yen).


Must try Japanese healthy udon. Here I have my own bukkake cold udon with some radish.

My bowl of udon and two fried tempura. I have squid tempura and vegetables cracker.

Squid tempura.



Big chunk of tempura.


Another version of their udon with half boiled egg. Having just the udon enough is good enough as you can taste the natural noodles without chemical taste which usually found on other place outside Japan. They provided crispy flakes and sesame seeds for you to add into your udon meal.

This restaurant in Akihabara located above FamilyMart convenience store.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.698938, 139.775267
Address: 101-0023 Tokyo, Chiyoda, Kanda Matsunagacho, 1
Subway: Akihabara station. Can be reached via Tokyo metro Hibiya line or JR Yamanote.