Tartine Bakery

I would seriously move to the Mission Dolores area for one reason alone: Tartine Bakery. Tartine is so quintessentially San Francisco - the crowd is a diverse mix of hippies, hipsters and yuppies of all races and age groups congregating at shared tables (or separate tables thisclose to each other so that you might as well be sharing a table) over newspapers, chess games, and the perfection embodied by Tartine's frangipane croissants, lemon tarts, bread pudding and croque monsieurs.

Yes, you'll have to wait 30 minutes in line just to order one croissant, so make sure you order EVERYTHING you want the first time around because you don't want to underorder then debate (after finishing off your croissant, smacking your lips and licking your fingers) whether you should get in the now 45-minute line to order that other pastry you were eyeing.

Tartine makes me oh-so-happy. Even though my visits to Tartine are rare (it's just so out of the way for me), it makes me happy just to know that it exists and that if I am craving a perfect cup of bread pudding covered with fresh berries, or a cup of muesli made with Strauss organic yogurt and chock full of muesli, nuts and fruit, or a perfect flaky frangipane croissant oozing with almond paste filling, or a perfect tangy and creamy lemon tart, I know exactly where to find it in San Francisco.

Tartine, je t'aime.

Food rating: **** and a half
Bang for buck rating: 4

The essentials:
http://www.tartinebakery.com/
Location: 600 Guerrero Street, San Francisco
Average price of meal for two: $30

Pagliaccio

One of my favorite spots in Tokyo for a frothy cappuccino, refreshing Italian soda or casual meal is Pagliaccio. Unpretentious and unassuming, Pagliaccio has an extensive beverage menu (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) as well as full menu of casual Italian fare. A perfect weekend day might consist of strolling through the nearby Imperial Palace gardens, stopping by Brick Square for a buttery croissant at Echire Maison du Beurre or chocolates at Cacao Sampaka, checking out the upmarket boutiques in Marunouchi, then popping into Pagliaccio for a leisurely snack.

Sorry, no food photos! Interior wall of Pagliaccio

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 4

The essentials:
Location: 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Tokyo
Average price of lunch for two: 3000 yen (~$35)

Kyo-hayashiya

If you're like me, you think that "Green Tea" is the greatest dessert flavor on the face of the planet. Seriously. What beats Green Tea flavored ice cream, cake, macarons, shaved ice, cookies, etc.? Only once in my life have I ever come across a flavor that was better than Green Tea, and that was the Earl Grey ice cream at Sketch, a now defunct ice creamery in Berkeley, California. Oooh, their Earl Grey ice cream was amazing. So amazing that one Saturday I woke up and immediately drove across the Bay Bridge to get myself an extra big serving, skipping breakfast and lunch to make up for the huge intake of calories. But I digress. Back to Green Tea.

I have loved Green Tea so much and so long that I now have a Pavlovian response when I see anything labeled as Green Tea-flavored. I automatically must have it. Despite having been disappointed time and time again by bad or weak flavored Green Tea items, whenever there is a Green Tea-flavored anything, I am psychologically trained to want to try it.

Walking through Tokyo Midtown (quite possibly my favorite building complex in all of Tokyo) soon after my arrival in Tokyo, I came across Kyo-hayashiya, a small cafe in the basement of the Galleria building that specializes in all things Green Tea, from savory ochazuke lunch sets to gigantic desserts.

Every time I visit Kyo-hahashia, I overdose on Green Tea because they require each person to get their own item, even though one shaved ice is more than big enough to share between two people. Before you can ever reach the bottom of the dessert glass, you will feel sick from the overload of sugar. And then you might not want to eat anything Green Tea-flavored for about two months. But years of Pavlovian conditioning doesn't go away because of a few overdoses!

Shaved ice with condensed milk and green tea soft serve, mochi balls, red bean and green tea syrup (on the bottom of the ice)

Green tea parfait with red bean, fruit, cream, green tea soft serve, green tea ice cream and green tea jelly

Green tea roll cake set with choice of tea

Spring gohan set (1050 yen)

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 3

The essentials:
http://www.kyo-hayashiya.com/
Location: B1 in Galleria building, Tokyo Midtown, Roppongi
Average price of dessert for two: 2000 yen (~$22)

Tokyo Weekender: http://weekenderjapan.com/?p=18429