I had a huge post involving Nagoya Castle planned to respond to someone's curiosity about it, but the post I was preparing disappeared!

Well, at least you can check out the
Nagoya Castle website. Definitely worth checking out, despite the fact that the castle buildings are not originals due to them having been destroyed during WWII air raids. I didn't check out the Hommaru Palace because the lines were too long to get in...still cool to check out the other outbuildings and gardens, though. (I particularly liked the camellia garden-- camellias always remind me of that samurai movie
Sanjuro)
Anyway, I'll continue on with my Shoreporting from the afternoon of March 18th. After visiting the castle, I headed over to the Sakae district to find the Nagoya Tokyu Hotel as well as the parfait from it that rabidline had recommended to me. This hotel is quite a classy place! The parfait itself may be found in the hotel's Grindelwald Atrium Cafe on the ground floor of the hotel. There weren't any seats available at the time I arrived and I was told to wait 30 minutes, yet it seemed like my name was called earlier than that. One could order the parfait by itself or have it as a set with tea or coffee for a few more yen. I chose the set with tea, and you could also choose whether to have it with milk or lemon. I chose the lemon version. The cup of tea came out first, with two thin, round slices of lemon that I placed directly into the tea. It took several minutes for the parfait to come, but it was worth the wait! It was quite large and contained things such as strawberries, cream, a strawberry meringue, a thin cookie, strawberry sorbet, marshmallows, strawberry yogurt, crunchy matcha bits, and even more strawberries, all topped off with a crescent-shaped piece of white chocolate and a hint of decorative silver. (Surprisingly, it wasn't the classiest thing I ate in Japan, but that's another story for another time) I stared at it for a few moments, uncertain of how to eat this parfait without making a mess. I then slowly but surely made my way through its varied layers. Some of it admittedly fell onto my plate, but I still ate it anyway.

It all tasted good, but the best part about it was that it wasn't too sweet, except for the strawberry sauce on the bottom. The lemon tea also provided a nice contrast to the parfait, although I accidentally let my slices of lemon sit in the tea for too long and it got a little too sour as a result.

The parfaits at the Nagoya Tokyu Hotel change on a monthly basis, so I hope Shoma had a chance to eat it before March ended. It seemed like something he'd really enjoy! It was quite a tasty experience, but not the last Shoma-related experience of the day! To be continued...