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My Basket Mystery
yeah the cheese thing is real but it's more of a rotating shelf situation than a secret stash. the staff usually throw whatever's close to expiring into a small basket near the register, not even in the back. i found a half-price block of gruyere there once but it was like two days from going bad so i had to eat it all in one night. if you want consistent cheap cheese just wander over to the Gyomu Super near Omotesando, they've got a whole freezer section for import stuff and it's way less chaotic than My Basket.
honestly the cheese is real but you gotta look near the bento section, not the back. there's this little shelf tucked behind the drink fridge that always has some random camembert or brie for like 300 yen. staff don't even know it's there half the time lol
tbh i think the cheese rumor started because people confuse My Basket with the little cheese shop that used to be on the same block before the redevelopment. that place had legit imports for cheap but it closed back in 2019. now you're just gonna find the same stuff as every other My Basket, maybe a random block of edam if you're lucky. three hours for soy sauce is brutal tho, i've given up and just started ordering mine from Amazon Fresh
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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.