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want to meet at fmd_good Adventure Park
want to meet at fmd_good Forno Centrale
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Crazy Checkout Lines?
the trick is to scope out which cashiers are fastest before you grab a basket. older staff at places like life supermarket or maruetsu are usually ninjas with the scanner, way quicker than the self-checkout machines that always seem to have a 10-person line anyway. also, the basement floor of a department store like isetan or takashimaya has a grocery section that's pricier but rarely as packed, and you can find that weird seaweed snack there too for about 200 yen more
imo the secret is timing your trip around the train schedule. supermarkets near major stations like shinjuku or shibuya get slammed right when the last express train drops people off around 6:30pm. if you go 20 minutes after that wave passes, the lines die down fast. also the little my basket stores are everywhere and theyre designed for quick trips, like grab your milk and youre out in 3 minutes flat. the seaweed snacks you found are prob those crunchy nori sheets, my basket has a house brand version for like 80 yen
fyi most of the big supermarkets in tokyo have a delivery service through apps like radish or co-op now, so you can skip the store entirely for a small fee like 300 yen. for just milk, honestly the 7-eleven across the street is faster than any supermarket at peak hours, they stock the same meiji brand. the weird seaweed snacks you found are prob おつまみのり, i've seen them at the snack aisle in donki for around 150 yen. if you really wanna go in person, aim for 2pm on a weekday, that's the dead zone between lunch and after-work shopping.
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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.