You can read more about Kappabashi here, but essentially it's an entire street filled with restaurant supply stores and more interestingly, the fake food pieces that Japan is very popular for.
Our visit turned out to be a bit of a bummer because we reached around 6pm and most of the stores were shutting down. To avoid disappointment, go earlier in the day.
In spite of that, I managed to find some good stuff.
This brown plate is the first thing I picked up. It's actually a sushi plate and came in a few different sizes. They are meant to be bought as a set I think but in true food blogger fashion, I bought just one. I used it in the Vanilla Panna Cotta Recipe post and was quite surprised when quite a few of you noticed it.
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These are probably my favorite buy from the street though. I bough 6 because I wanted to have a set to also use when I have guests (and not just for food pics!). They are meant to be green tea tumblers (ceramic) but the possibilities are endless. They are just the right size to serve coffee, tea, milkshakes, ice-cream, payasam or pretty much any dessert when you have guests over.
I used those tumblers to serve Paneer Payasam and Mango Lassi when my family was visiting.
Then there's the pretty green oven dish. I triple-checked and the lady at the store confirmed they are oven-safe although it doesn't say so anywhere on the dish itself. The green is lovely, the sides have a nice swirly design and I am in love! Haven't used it yet. Check out the bowl in use in my Kappa Masala Recipe post.
I also got 6 battered steel dessert spoons to go with the blue tumblers on top. They had a lot of battered steel utensils starting from large ladles but somehow, I found these the prettiest. Also, they are quite expensive.
Finally, the gorgeous dark peach-orange delicate ceramic bowl. I envisioned serving Thai raw papaya salad in this even before i bought it. It's been 4 months and the salad still hasn't happened, but it will, one of these days. This bowl deserves the limelight. I have never seen a colour like this before, and certainly not on a bowl.
Kappabashi also has a good selection of Santoku knives which are Japanese iron knives, super sharp, super long-lasting. You must pick up one if you are into knives like I am. They will even engrave handle for you so they make great gifts too.
The only downside to prop shopping in Tokyo is, it's not cheap. This bunch of things up here cost me close to 100 SGD. But the quality is fantastic and they will last you a lifetime if you take good care of them.
Here's a post with a few good pictures of Kappabashi.
How to get there? Get to Asakusa Station and it's abou a 600m walk
So, which item is your favourite?
Vishakha
Love all the props and thank you for sharing so much useful info:) I haven't been to Tokyo yet but whenever I go there, I defn know where to go!
Lavi
Love all the colourfull props over here! Nice taste!
Nanspai
aah, I love these!These days, I am hooked on to foodie pics prop shopping too 😀
Samarpita
Hey, this is amazing. I love love love the grey plate and the steel spoons.
Btw, Singapore has a lane like that. It runs parallel to food street of Chinatown (on the other side of the MahaMariamman temple). Do not go to the touristy ones, there are a few which are manned by their old chinese owners and I did pick up some interesting stuff from there, but well, nothing of this scale.
Nagalakshmi V
I got my ramekins from there. You are right, they do have good stuff sometimes 🙂
Pavitra
lovely collection! belated anniversary btw.:)
I seriously dont know how i missed this lane at asakusa. Been there so many times...probably i wasnt much into prop shopping that time 🙂 btw you also get very good pieces at the flee markets there at very cheap prices. Once got about 5 pieces of lovely bowls for about 10Yen 🙂 Can you believe that? So do try at the flee markets next time you are there 🙂
Nagalakshmi V
really? what's awesome! where are the flea markets in tokyo located?
Pavitra Venkat
Sorry for the delay in reply. One flea market where I had grabbed those bowls was right opposite our office at Osaki (the station after Shinagawa on JR Yamanote line towards Shinjuku). The flea market was on the stretch between the Thinkpark Tower and Osaki West City tower. I don't remember what time of the year this was on, but you can find help from some of your friends there.
Check this out: http://www.paperlantern.net/fleamarket/
Leena JD
Beautiful props!! I loved the green and orange ones a lot 🙂
Ally
Evrything is so gorgeous....belated wishes and God bless the two of you...I specially love the sushi plate its to die for!!!
Nisha
Love them all. Love your choice. Great props. Belated anniversary wishes.
postmormon girl
Very elegant - you have excellent taste!
Charul Ajmera
Love them all, but the orange bowl is out of the world. I also imagined a salad served and clicked in this, the moment I saw it in the first pic. Awesome picks! 🙂