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want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
want to meet at fmd_good The Spot
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Lost in Translation?
honestly you just stumbled into the hotel-specific konbini trap, those basement ones are basically mini-marts for guests who don't want to leave the building. the real move is to go outside and find a 7-Eleven on the street, they have a whole hot coffee station with fresh cups and a machine that grinds beans on the spot. it's like 100 yen for a regular and you can add milk and sugar yourself, way different from the canned stuff that's been sitting in a hot box since morning
You hit on something real. Those hotel convenience stores are often just a glass display and a few fridges, not the full setup. If you want a proper coffee without playing the vending machine lottery, walk to a Tully's or Doutor. They're everywhere in Tokyo, even in the basement of office buildings. A hot latte will run you about 350 yen and comes from an actual machine operated by a human. The canned stuff from the konbini is fine for a caffeine buzz but it's not really coffee in the way we think of it.
Next time try a kissaten, they're old school Japanese coffee shops and the polar opposite of a hotel convenience store. You'll find them tucked into Shinjuku side streets or under train tracks, and the old guy running it will make you a proper pour over for like 400 yen. The canned stuff from the konbini is basically just sweet caffeine, it's not meant to taste like what you'd get at home.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.