Arashi Parfait and Vegetarian Ramen

This is a food post. I hope you don't mind.

Wandering around Shinjuku station this past week, I came across a parfait that is very relevant to my interests.

An Arashi parfait named after one of my favorite songs??? HECK YES I NEED TO EAT THAT. I went with my dears Tracy and Marissa to partake of the epic dessert. Cafe Est! Est!, home of this parfait, also bills itself as an establishment that employs very handsome j-boys. I'm not sure what else I could ask of a cafe.

Comes to your table with a sparkler!!!
As sparkly as MatsuJun!

OM NOM NOM!!!

Yes, that is an upside-down ice cream cone on my parfait.

And a slice of chocolate cake.

Hidden bonus: the cream puffs are filled with vanilla ice cream~

Our chocolate cake took a fatal spill.

Delicious~ and worth the 1250yen omg. The cafe made us order one item each, so we also ordered happy face fries to cut the sweetness and I got a milk tea. I do have one complaint -- my milk tea came to me as regular tea and the pretty boy handed me a non-dairy creamer to make it *milk* tea. Cheap bastards. But if you want to pay them a visit, go to the Odakyu department store in Shinjuku station.

Onto something savory~ There's a ramen shop chain, Kagetsu Arashi, that has a special limited-edition vegetarian ramen on their menu. Since it's very difficult to explain any sort of dietary restrictions to Japanese people, I was interested to try it. I'm definitely a carnivore and I was not expecting to enjoy this dish at all (I even ordered a side of gyoza in case it was a bust), but I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was!

I've had their tonkotsu ramen before and I thought it was okay by Japanese standards, but the noodles were a bit thick for my tastes and the broth left my mouth feeling dirty. The vegetable ramen managed to keep an unmistakable ramen flavor with a lighter broth and thinner noodles. Aside from one very aromatic vegetable I couldn't identify, I liked the veggie ramen a lot more than the tonkotsu ramen.

Standard tonkotsu ramen for comparison. My new coworker had that one.

My Nana vegetarian ramen! Smelled like salad lol.

I have no idea what's in this!

Mmm vegetable broth~

Green noodles~

Seriously, it was delicious. It's a little pricey at 780yen a bowl, but OM NOM NOM GO EAT IT.

SPAM BONUS: This Lawson near Shinjuku station is clearly advertising SPAM MUSUBI.