The main reason we came to La Floraison was for their creative custom printing on drinks. It is located in Sydney CDB, very close to Townhall Station which is great location and easily reached. Honestly, I never heard of this place before I saw pictures of those cute drinks which then prompted me to look for their address and made the trip eventually.
So we came here on a Saturday morning only to find that they open from 12 noon. I thought this is a little odd considering this is cafe and people do get the drinks in the morning or at the very least during brunch hours. So we had to kill some time walking around Daiso (luckily just few doors away) for the open time. In that time, we noticed there was also another small family did what we did – came here way too early.
As they opened and we lined up at the cashier for order, I realised this place really must be alive mainly for their drinks. There were just a few cakes available on display, literally mean just a few. The lady in front of me was asking if they had such cake from the menu and was told they had run out. Anyway, I ended up getting a piece of cake to share and a hot drink for each of us. Upon payment, they will ask what design you would like to have on top of your drink. You can choose from numerous pictures available on the tablet and even send your picture to them as well.
The entrance – I think the decor is very pretty with flowers and hanging lights – fairy tale alike!
Here are what we ordered:
Red Velvet Cake
Taro Latte with Gudetama print
Matcha Latte with Sinchan print
The drinks were not bad taste wise, but the cake was dry and felt like it’s been sitting there for too long. We love how the drinks are not overly sweet and can absolutely taste the taro or matcha flavours. Also their price point is fairly expensive – but I guess you pay for the experience. After all, we enjoyed slurping the printed Gudetama and Sinchan over our hot drinks 🙂 Would I be coming back? Perhaps no, mainly because we have already experienced it and apart from the print, everything else was not outstanding.
Click here for our experience at Gudetama Cafe in Osaka, Japan….
Day 4 – we are moving from Kyoto to Osaka today, exciting and also a little sad knowing that we haven’t got to see so many things in Kyoto. Anyway, let’s leave all that to next trip in the (hopefully not too far) future! We added Ginkakuji on the last minute only because our check out time was at 12pm and so we decided to add one more place to visit in Kyoto before leaving. And Ginkakuji was chosen because we had visited the Kinkakuji yesterday.
Day 4
Ginkakuji Castle
Ginkakuji aka the Silver Pavilion is arguably another tourist attraction in Kyoto; albeit not as famous as the Golden Pavilion. Despite it’s name, the building itself is not actually covered in silver. According to some reading materials, the name came as the building’s construction to contrast it with the Golden Pavilion. Another story was, the building used to be covered in dark lacquer and that moon light reflecting on that dark exterior gave silvery appearance.
You can enjoy Ginkakuji following the circular route around it’s ground where the moss garden, ponds, and buildings can be viewed. Also another point of interest here is the well-manicured dry sand garden. After passing the buildings, the path will take you up hill where you could view the entire ground and city view at the back. I personally feel the garden at Ginkakuji is prettier than Kinkakuji, however that golden pavilion just trumps everything else.
Osaka Castle
We finally got to Nippombashi Subway station around lunch time and headed to our next AirBnb apartment. We just followed the host’s instruction on how to get to the apartment, which turned out to be just a short walk away. As we walked, we could feel how different Osaka is to Kyoto. Osaka is much more alive, more crowded especially since we stayed very close to Dotonbori area. Whilst it is still a very clean city, we both felt Kyoto is much more cleaner and peaceful.
First destination after we left our luggage would be to Osaka Castle and HEP Five. It took us a subway ride, another train ride, and approximately 10 minutes walk from station to the castle ground. And look at what we spotted while walking to Osaka Castle: Mario Kart on the street! How cute are these?
Real life Super Mario Kart 🙂
These were taken on our way to nearby JR Osakajokoen station – love the colour of those trees
HEP Five
There were two reasons why I had wanted to come here, namely the giant ferris wheel and Gudetama cafe 🙂 I know there is another ferris wheel in Osaka, but apparently this one has a great city view and got lots of great reviews. And also, in the same building there is this Gudetama cafe, which is said to be the only one in Japan. There is another pop up similar cafe in Tokyo – but it wouldn’t be the same, would it?
HEP Five itself is one of the hip mall in Umeda area. There are so many shops in this multilevel building with food courts being on the top level. One of Osaka landmarks, the red ferris wheel is located on the roof top level of the building. But first stop would be the gudetama cafe so that we could catch the sunset view from ferris wheel gondola later.
The cafe was so cute, with full on “lazy raw egg character” wallpaper and decorated with so many cute plush toys. There is also a corner with all the character’s merchandise, which I forgot to take picture of. The menu we thought was simple but really curious to see the real food in comparison to pictures 🙂 They turned out really really cute presentation of meals, but honestly a little overpriced in regards to food quality. But then again, I guess people come here for the experience and not really for how tasty the food are, right?
Cuteness overload!
Because we needed to return the rental pocket WiFi before 5pm, we dropped it back after the HEP 5 ferris wheel ride and that was a mistake! We were so lost in Umeda. Tried to ask the ladies at HEP Five information desk for direction to closest station and once we came out of the building, we just lost again. But while we got lost, we also found some interesting arcades with many food stalls! I wouldn’t know how to get there again now even if I have internet access. After a long walk finding our way to the right station, we finally boarded the subway back to Nippombashi. Day 4 is another day with lots of walking yet a fun day!
What we ate on Day 4
We bought these from the shops outside of Ginkakuji.
Top: Fried fish cakes with shrimp and okonomiyaki – ¥700 Bottom: Matcha ice cream puff – Â¥300
Then we had late breakfast or early lunch at a restaurant nearby Ginkakuji.
Cold soba and Oyakodon – Â¥1,580 The broth for the cold soba was really tasty and that piece of fish was delightful – highly recommended to try.
Our meal at Gudetama Cafe
Curry rice and Beef rice – Total spent here with one drink was Â¥3,294
And lastly, the various food we got from a small shop on the corner of the block where we stayed and the famous Pablo Cheesecake 🙂
Oden and beef skewers – Â¥1,100
Pablo original Â¥850 – sooo good and creamy and gooey!
