I have heard about the souvenir shops and cafe on the second floor of COSMO from the Japanese store employees. One Saturday my husband and I took our girls to the second floor of COSMO and had lunch. They serve Japanese food. I had ramen noodle and it was very nice especially it was raining outside! Something about noodle soup on a rainy day is appealing to me. If you go to COSMO for grocery shopping, stop by the second floor cafe and have some coffee with dessert or Japanese lunch. It’s relaxing.
When we climbed up the stairs to the second floor, I was surprised to see the different world existing there. I was quite delighted to see all the Indonesian goods collected in this one space. How convenient! Since I didn’t have my camera when I went there with my family, I went back for photo shoot on a later day. Since we just moved to Jakarta, we have not made a visit to our families in Japan or Texas, but we plan on going home to visit next summer and we will definitely need to buy some souvenirs from Indonesia for our families. It is nice to know that I can come here if I want keepsakes from Indonesia. It always gives me a headache when I look for souvenirs especially when I don’t know where to go, so this store definitely helps. I’m eyeing on the woven place mats. I think they are very cute. They even sell items from Bali.
COSMO is a Japanese grocery store where I do my weekly grocery shopping. You might recall my post about COSMO here on my blog back in August.
When you travel, what are the items you like to get as souvenirs for your family and friends? If you live overseas, what do you usually bring home when you visit your family? I always welcome new ideas.
*SPECIAL NOTE*
I received information from COSMO that the souvenir store is temporarily closed for now due to some changes they are undertaking. They plan on reopening as soon as they are ready. I will keep you posted on their opening information! I’m sorry about the timing of my posting!
It’s so nice that you have an informal Japanese dining place like that. We had ramen noodle for lunch today but it was instant ones… no place like that in Barbados 🙁 I try my best to make the instant ones (that I brought from Japan on my last trip) look more authentic… but there are limits.
Souvenir shopping is a huge headache for me, especially here in Barbados with very little options – most things look so tacky – with big “BARBADOS” written on cups, key-chains, T-shirts, etc 🙁 so I try to look for some interesting local snacks/food for people to try. As the number of souvenir I have to bring is so ridiculous (usually fills one big suitcase), I often look for things that are LIGHT like herbal tea, spices, chips etc. Well, looks like you have plenty of options there in Indonesia, so it must be hard to decide on what to get. Have fun shopping!!
Thanks for leaving me a comment, Ichiyo! Tea is a great idea! It is light weight, which is so important for flying home! Spices sound good to me as I love spices. Yes, I feel very lucky to live in a non-Japan city where Japanese restaurants are in abundance.
Wow, there’s lots of things I can see there I’d love to buy for our home 🙂 When we are on holiday, we always try to bring something back as a reminder of our time away. We usually buy something for the house like artwork or something to display.
I love everything in that store — esp. the placemats and baskets. Did you recently get Y’s hair cut with bangs? It looks really cute on her. Give your girls kisses and hugs from me and Ayla.