TacoCat’s Travels #153 (Hiroshima): Mega Snacks and Mini Games? 🕹

March 2022 · 7 min read · Hiroshima

Hey Hive!

If you missed the last couple of posts, we're recounting our trip to Hiroshima back in April 2019! Sean had won some free air tickets to Hiroshima from a lucky draw sponsored by one of the local banks in Singapore, DBS! Since we've never been, we decided that was a good chance to explore the Chūgoku region!

So last week, we finished exploring the curviest bridge in Japan - Kintaikyo Bridge! We visited Kikkou park on the other side of the bridge and took a leisurely stroll admiring all the cherry blossom and trees. There was even a cormorant training facility there! We finally returned to the bridge and took a lot of photos from the riverbed.

It was a relaxing yet tiring day at the same time since we were on our feet the whole time, but we enjoyed it immensely!

10 April 2019. Wednesday.

We were kinda tired from all that walking the previous day so we decided to take it easy today and just chill and explore. Since we've always walked from our apartment to the train station we decided to go check out what else was in the area. We saw there was actually a Mega Donki Hote nearby on Google Maps so we headed there!

But not before stopping to admire some beautiful cherry blossoms!

It was a slightly chilly and cloudy day, and the Mega Donki was across the highway but there was a walking path so we took a nice leisurely stroll.

And about 10 minutes later, we arrived! It was literally just a Mega Donki Hote building in the middle of the nowhere; there wasn't a mall nearby or anything. And despite the huge signboard it was kind of an understated Donki compared to others we've seen since there wasn't the signature Donki penguin on the front.

We were hoping there would be a convenience store nearby with some food but there was only a lone katsu restaurant opposite the Donki Hote and I guess a McDonalds but I think it might've been closed or something. So we decided to try the katsu restaurant.

Unfortunately I don't think I photographed the outside of the restaurant but it looked like a slightly fancier family-style restaurant that you'd find in Japan. There were also a lot of condiments on the table that include a pot of sesame seeds and a pestle and mortar!

I've never seen a mortar and pestle on the table before so it was kinda interesting. There were also a bunch of different sauces that we mixed with the sesame seeds that I pounded.

I ordered a pork katsu with ebi tempura set that included rice, Japanese cabbage and miso soup!

Sean's set had chicken and pork katsu instead!

The katsu was pretty small but still smelled very yummy and still tasted good too! It wasn't as good as other katsu places we've tried but it was still pretty good but kinda pricey as usual.

After that we headed into Mega Donki!

And it was definitely MEGA Donki indeed! I think I was busy admiring all the goods to take many photos, but it probably looked something like this:

we did take a couple of goofy photos though like this one in the costume section:

And this edible 1 million yen note?! I'm not sure what it's made out of but I think it's like a beancurd sheet or something?

We browsed through the gaming section too and found this adorable little console that resembled the original Pac-Man arcade machine!

And the thing is it was tiny! I already have small hands and it was so small even in mine!

But that didn't stop me from playing on it that's for sure! Even though I'm pretty bad at Pac-Man. I tried my best though.

It actually cost quite a lot for how small it was! But I guess it's a working machine so it's somewhat reasonable. And there were different games too like Galaga! I was thinking of buying it as a gag but for 25 SGD I could buy other more useful things so nah.

After we finished browsing Donki and got some snacks and stuff, Sean insisted on taking some photos of me on the street.

There were a bunch of shops on either side of the Donki Hote but I think they were quite a ways away.

After that we were in the mood for some snacks and since I've never tried the classic Japanese souffle pancakes before, Sean brought me to a cafe called Happy Pancake!

The interior was quite nice and comfy and it wasn't crowded since it was just before dinnertime. We weren't that hungry for dinner yet though. Here's a video, sorry it's portrait mode though since it's an instagram story that Sean took.

I like that you could see the pancakes being made on the spot since they had an open kitchen! And they were so precise with the pancakes too, making sure to measure the temperature to ensure that the inside was cooking without burning the bottom.

This was our order! Three yummy, fluffy souffle pancakes with a dollop of cream on top and a small cup of maple syrup, sprinkled with powdered sugar!

The pancakes themselves actually tasted quite eggy. I knew they had an egg taste but it was pretty strong. It basically tasted like a really soft and fluffy omelette that was slightly sweet. And since I don't really like my eggs sweet I didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It was still pretty nice though, just not to my taste.

We also ordered a banana milkshake to accompany the pancakes and it was surprisingly light. It wasn't too thick or sweet which was nice.

After that we just sat for a bit before heading to the arcade, where we played some games and found a digital PONG tabletop game! I don't think I've ever seen this before so it was pretty interesting! And kinda difficult to play tbh since you control the lines by turning the round "joystick" clockwise and anti-clockwise.

We did try it out though and it was weird seeing the "ball" as a cube too.

There was also a Space Invaders machine! It kinda looked like a projector version though not like an actual arcade machine. Still pretty cool nonetheless.

And of course we played the Mario Kart arcade machine too and I won! Yay!

We also took a bunch of photos in the purikura machines, or photobooths!We always make it a point to take these at least once on every trip since they're fun and memorable! And we've taken so many on all our trips that I've since made a collage!

I remember I used to do this with my high school friends a lot and although we spent a lot of money it was worth it for those memories since we don't even have those machines in Singapore anymore.

After that Sean wanted to play some DDR so he played a few games while I relaxed and watched him.

It was a pretty relaxing and uneventful day but we had fun playing games and trying different snacks! The next day we would be going to another special place so stay tuned! Here's a teaser: