my favourite restaurant – Pomodoro Fresca

i blogged here about this Italian restaurant having some of the most delicious food around – it’s called Pomodoro Fresca and I finally made my way there for lunch today for the first time in several months.

its interior is simple and homely, and pastas range from 950yen for aglio olio to 1580yen for beef ragu. i love that it’s quiet and never really too busy, and your table gets a tall glass bottle of water to pour out on your own. it’s the perfect place for a simple yet still romantic dinner date, and there’s a proper italian-style pizza oven that overlooks half the seats in the restaurant.

for lunch, your order of pizza comes with soup and salad, while the pasta is preceded by salad and a piece of delicious and slightly chewy bread:

my favourite pastas there are their beef ragu and anything with tomato cream sauce, but these run out quickly, so be sure to get there in the earlier half of the lunch period (11.30am – 3pm, last order 2.30pm).

i tried their vongole bianca (they also serve the clams in tomato sauce) today – it was just nice, although i personally prefer heavier tasting sauces. for that reason, their carbonara is always an excellent choice as it comes with a thick, creamy, lip-smacking sauce.

lots of clams in white wine sauce; chunks of tasty bacon with sweet, soft onions.

the carbonara sauce is so deliciously thick and creamy that small eaters are advised to go with a friend, order a lighter pasta and a carbonara and share both with each other – the vongole bianca/carbonara combination might actually work well as the former has a smaller serving of pasta. i’m a pretty big eater (i know few girls who eat as much as i do) and the carbonara always leaves me happily stuffed :)

i’m hoping to return for dinner one night before i leave to have their ragu again, so hopefully there’ll be more pictures of this amazing place in heart-warming Momodani!

 

Directions:

Take the JR loop line to Momodani Station. Go out the exit facing the road, and head down the street with Lawsons. The Lawsons is visible from inside the gates, so you can’t possibly get lost! See here for a map.

The best of~*

the previous post is actually a very lengthy preface to an activity we did with the JHS 3rd years yesterday – my very last class with the loveliest bunch of students. they asked me a variety of questions using superlatives and got me thinking a little about some things i just wanna note down or share:

1. What food did you eat the most in Japan? – It has to be tuna mayo onigiri, perfect for a snack or when you’re in a rush. i prefer the ebi mayo (prawn) version but it’s not as common. Next will have to be kare raisu (Japanese curry rice) and omurice I think.

2. What was the most delicious food in Japan? – The students are actually only referring to Japanese food, which is hard because i like most Japanese food and what i choose to eat depends only on what i’m in the mood for. I’ve really enjoyed the food i had at previous school enkais (at a hotel near USJ and another at the Imperial), the meal that a Japanese teacher’s Kyoto-wife prepared for us, kani cream pasta and this amazing Italian restaurant near Momodani station on the JR loop line.

3. Which place did you visit the most in Japan? – It’s probably the Umeda Sky Building, which is also my favourite place in Osaka. For non-tourist attractions, it’s a fight between the Toho Cinema in Umeda, the izakaya Za-watami at Nodahanshin and another izakaya behind El Panchos. actually, El Panchos (Mexican restaurant) and the Dutch restaurant on Nakanoshima might be in the running too, although i havent been to either in the longest time.

4. Which was the most beautiful place in Japan? – I don’t know the answer to this, but i recall being really fascinated by the mist that formed in the valley below the highway while travelling back from Takayama. i’m only thinking about the places i’ve been to while on JET, otherwise i’m sure Hokkaido will make this list – i will soon find out if my first impressions are correct! *excited* I also think everywhere in autumn is gorgeous when the leaves change colour.

5. Where in Japan do you want to return to the most? – Since i’m going back to Hokkaido it’ll have to be Okinawa. i want to spend more time driving (i.e. being driven) along the coast and to visit Iriomote too. I think Yakushima is considered part of Kyushu, but i’d like to go there too. Okinawa food is amazing!

6. What was the most interesting/surprising thing about Japan? – The most interesting thing I think has to be the host boys along the Dotonbori bridge. As for most surprising, perhaps that people queue to get on the trains, or that women use Otohime** in the toilets. However, many of the female students don’t know what Otohime is (the boys definitely dont know cos male toilets arent equipped with them), which i find even more surprising.

 

and here are a few which i thought of:

7. What are some of the best places to visit? – I love Nara Park; now that I think of it, it’s most probably the place i’ve been to the most. Asuka in Nara Prefecture is great too, especially nearing autumn. I also especially recommend Taketomi island in Okinawa and Kamakura in spring. other nice places to visit would be Miyajima, Koya-san (wakayama), Arashiyama in Kyoto and Hida-no-Sato in Takayama.

8. What are some of the most overrated places/events in Japan? – oooh. Yoshino for sakura wins hands down; others include Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama (too crowded) and Matsushima Bay near Sendai (pretty but definitely not top 3 most scenic material). I’d include Harajuku too, though perhaps not for the first timer to Japan. As for events, Kyoto’s Daimonji is rubbish, and there’s this other fire festival in Nara (a side of the mountain is set alight) that i heard was a huge letdown too. i’m personally not a fan of festivals at all – too crowded, too hot and generally not all that enjoyable. Go once or twice and that’s enough!

9. What are the best things to do in Japan? – Go around the temples in autumn! it’s the most beautiful season in Japan, and temples often open till late for night illuminations. That said, go to all the illumination events there are: Kobe’s Illuminarie, Kyoto’s Higashimaya Hanatouro, Osaka’s Nakanoshima Christmas Light up, Nara-to-kae, etc. Try also to spend a night in a proper Japanese ryokan with a full kaiseki meal – you won’t regret the cost one bit. Sakura viewing is a must too, of course.

10. What will you miss the most about Japan? – The four seasons with their accompanying hype (eg crabs in winter, mango and pineapples in summer), seasonal Kit Kat, omurice, bukkake udon, delicious fried tofu, cheap and fresh sushi and widely available cocktails. For non-food related aspects (i’m making an effort here!) – buses and trains that’re usually on time, buses telling you what stop is coming up next and the convenience of combinis/vending machines.  Maybe also the presence of strange/interesting people on the street.

 

What are some of your best ofs~?

 

*: i dont watch TV, but if I did, the show “The Best House, 1,2,3” would be top on my list of must-watch shows. each week, about 4 tv personalities present the Best (or most amazing, unbelievable, beautiful, etc) 3 things in a theme of their choice. Past themes include mosaics, transvestites, weight loss stories and inventions.

**: Otohime translates to ‘sound princess’. For some reason women in japan are uncomfortable having their toilet sounds overheard by other toilet users, and used to flush in order to cover those sounds. it was declared a waste of water and all toilets (except those in schools, train stations and Osaka City Hall) are now equipped with Otohime – you press a button (sometimes it’s automatic and hence really annoying) and a loud flushing sound will be played for about 25seconds.

words of caution

it’s one week into world cup season, and unfortunately after the first few matches – south africa-mexico, england-usa, japan-cameroon and brazil-north korea (which i couldnt watch) – my interest has died somewhat. still, i’ve seen more football this year than i ever have in four lifetimes combined, so i’d actually consider it something of an achievement!

i spotted this in Family Mart the other day, and it looks really tempting but i’m not sure i dare to try:

curry in japan is very mild – i always buy the hottest available (大辛）at the supermarket, but most of them still have hardly any spice. I’ve had LEE 20 and it’s indeed spicy; enough so that my nose drips a little and i need a drink with my meal – proper spice :) i’m scared of this LEE 30 however, since LEE 20 is just within comfort level; any spicier and i don’t think i’ll be able to enjoy it anymore.

if anyone tries this, please tell me how it went down!

I also picked up two very attractive looking drinks at that same family mart:

 

unfortunately, they were very disappointing! i didnt realise that the former had apple juice in it – see the tiny words on the bottom left corner – but no matter what, the drink tasted more like liquid watermelon bubblegum than real watermelon juice; supremely sweet and artificial. that coming from a sugar-loving person too! despite what the little boy on the packet claims, it’s definitely NOT the drink for summer.

as for the mango and pineapple flavoured tea.. japan has lots of fruit-flavoured tea drinks. my favourite are apple tea, peach tea and orange tea – they’re really nice cold, and lipton and just tea (i think that’s the brand) do good ones. i think that some fruits just dont go well with tea though – mango and pineapple being two of them, with pink grapefruit (which i tried several days ago) being another. it was a little too sweet too; cloying and not refreshing like proper cold, fruit-flavoured teas should be. it’s a pity, because i love the mango-pineapple combination in other drinks!

what i will miss..

… when i leave japan, are all the amazing food places that i’ve been to while here. eating is a huge hobby of mine; while i come from a country that has lots of good and cheap food, i dont think i’ve ever eaten as well as i do in japan.

it’s probably because this is my first job - and a well-paying one too – that i have the opportunity to just spend money on food. but apart from the cheap ticket-vending-machine places and the japanese-style (和風）pasta joints (they’re just not to my taste), i havent really had bad food in japan.

i also find that more effort is put into preparing and serving food in japan. there’s also more fresh ingredients; japan has many cheap italian places too, unlike singapore – i’ve discovered that i love italian food. not to mention indian curry restaurants (i eat more indian food here than back home) and all those marvellous cafes.

i want to introduce two places i really like – Marylebone Cafe and Kobe Ninnikuya Restaurant:

 

*  *  *

Marylebone Cafe

 

English-style cafes are fairly popular in japan, and there are many dotted around osaka. my favourite is Marylebone, because there’s one near my house at Noda station (hanshin line)/ Nodahanshin subway station.

Marylebone has very delicious cakes, big sandwiches and good coffee served in huge cups – i’ve seen soup served in smaller cups than those used here:

my favourite cakes at marylebone are their cheesecake and mixed berries short cake. the latter has really delicious as it has sweet berries, very fresh cream and light sponge. you can see it below – 2nd from the left on the bottom shelf:

 

if you like berries, i also spotted someone having a mixed berries french toast. the concept seems a little odd to me, with the sweet and salty mixture, but it looks amazing！:

 

here’s the map to the marylebone outlet which I frequent. there’s another branch in Whity Umeda – map here.

 

*  *  *

Kobe Ninnikuya

I was brought here for the first time for an enkai, and the food is really good. I only return for one thing, really, which is their fantastic crab cream pasta. check out its picture in their official banner:

The pasta (￥1291) comes decorated with half a crab's shell, and the sauce is rich, creamy and bursting with the sweet flavour of crab meat. It's so good that I never fail to want more after I'm done with the dish.

Their pizzas, though having very thin crusts, are delicious too, and so is the black pepper chicken dish.

Don't be put off by the "ninniku" (garlic) in this restaurant's name - most of their dishes come without garlic, and even if they do, you're given mints as you leave to freshen up your breath.

I also found this amazing picture of their spicy prawn cabonara pasta – doesnt it look so fantastically delicious? the sauce seems so heart attack-inducing creamy and rich…. *slurp*!:

ohhh i can’t wait to go back; i havent been there in the longest time! the one i visit is at Fukushima station (JR, Hanshin), but there’re quite a lot of other branches all over Osaka and kobe. please visit one near you!

Directions:
From Fukushima JR station, cross the road directly in front of the station exit. Head right to Hotel Hanshin and go down the stairs to Basement 1. The restaurant will be on your left.

 

(photos from here, here, here and here)

lessons given and lessons learnt

Mirch Masala, an Indian restaurant just opposite Balabushka in Shinsaibashi, was reviewed in Kansai Scene this month. Lured by the promise of curry, naan, salad and a drink for only 680 yen (ridiculously cheap!) WITH free curry and naan refills (gasp), a bunch of us headed there for lunch today.

I’d just read the review this morning in the office, and pointed out to some of them that is was in KS. i also wanted to comment on the opening sentence of the review, in which the author sounded like a complete nob (my friend’s words, not mine). I might be quoting the latter half slightly wrongly, but he essentially stated that “I am qualified to tell the difference between Indian food and really good Indian food” – after spending all of 6 months in India.

it was a good thing i held my tongue on how arrogant the author sounded – it turned that he was part of the other group dining there, and that the publishers had gotten his byline completely wrong.

sometimes silence does pay off.

(by the way, if you visit Mirch Masala, please stop the owner from refilling your naan and curry if you dont want anymore. We didnt manage to stop him giving us extra naan, and i’m still FULL 8 hours after having had lunch.)

* * *

2,370,000 yen – that’s how much funerals in japan cost. That’s about 10 months worth of a JET’s salary, and more than 3 times the cost of a funeral in the US. I wonder how much Chinese funerals cost, cos they’re not cheap either.

Read more about interesting stuff on Japan at Japan Probe, a website with articles and lots of videos. I particularly like the video of this adorable security guard cat which reminded me of the cat in my secondary school, as well as the dramatic music in this video on racoons damaging national heritage sites.

* * *

someone posted a facebook link to this article titled “40 Singapore foods we can’t live without”.

the usage of “foods” makes me uncomfortable; food to me is an uncountable noun and thus should only appear in the singular. besides, “foods” sounds so awkward too – someone please enlighten me on the usage of it.

i believe, also, that the title should at least have read “Singaporean foods”, since it’s not China food, Japan food, America food or Italy food. Perhaps it’s because a prior article featured “40 Hong Kong foods we can’t live without”, but that’s okay only because there isn’t a word to describe things coming from Hong Kong.

How can sub-editors possibly miss that?

* * *

finally, as an act of public service, let me address one of my pet peeves – that of “with regards to” and “with regard to”.

please, please, please realise that you ONLY ever say “with regard to” – there is no ‘s’! so it’s “with regard to your letter”, “with regard to that point”, “with regard to what you said” and so on.

and if you’re reading, i beg you to also spread the word that the ‘s’ is, in all cases but one, UNNECESSARY and hurtful to the eye. you can say “in regards to”, but it’s very definitely only “with regard to”.

the only exception is when that phrase is used in a very different context with a completely different meaning – when you’re sending your regards to someone, like “with regards to your parents, love Jim”. that is the ONLY time the ‘s’ should ever appear in the phrase “with regard to”.

お願いします！

thoughts on seoul – overview and food

i spent the last week of march in seoul, which was unfortunately long enough to discover that there really isnt much to do there.

i admit to not being the biggest fan of korea, but with so many people around me raving about the country, plus it’s right there and so close to japan, i did go there with an open mind and the intention to give it a chance, be objective about the country and, most importantly, enjoy myself there.

seoul’s main attractions remind me of china, japan and thailand all rolled into one. the palaces are a combination of chinese and japanese stylistic elements – just less grand than the forbidden palace, for example - while the many markets about the city are very similar to those in thailand. having been to all of those countries very recently, seoul didnt really present anything new; i felt like i’d seen it all before, just rehashed.

the city itself reminded me of shanghai. while certain areas were new and shiny, with skyscrapers and conspicuous consumption, just next to them might be the older neighbourhoods, with buildings that clearly display signs of age and dirty roads.

lots of older people in seoul also like to hack up phlegm and phtttoey it out onto the streets – which is really disgusting behaviour – and the several times when i heard the sharp, short beep of the horn from a motorcycle speeding up from behind on a narrow alley, or when a car ploughed through a red light and still had the audacity to horn at the pedestrians, reminded me of beijing.

frankly, china really wasnt the best of experiences, and the whole look of seoul reminded me too much of china for comfort.

that doesnt mean seoul wasnt interesting though. seoul has great museums, and what attractions it has are interesting. however, beyond those attractions – and especially if you’re not interested in shopping – there isnt much to occupy your interest. i like being able to sit somewhere picturesque, like a park or along a waterfront and relax, but there werent any opportunities for that. places that were described as pretty in the guidebook – like Wolmido in Incheon – turned out to be disappointingly underwhelming, thus we decided not to check out the Han River – which was described as good for cycling and walking, and not for the view anyway - lest we get disappointed yet again, especially given the freezing winds and cold weather when we were there.

food in korea is quite cheap in comparison to japan though, which is really good. i discovered that there isnt too much variety to korean food however – it’s either some variety of barbequed meat or spicy soup, or bibimbap or chijimi, or some unidentifiable item – but fortunately there’s plenty of other types of food in seoul. we couldnt stomach more than 1 korean meal a day, but had some good italian, not very nice fried chicken, tasty food at an irish pub, and not bad japanese food.

apparently, the korean custom is that if a restaurant is doing well, it shouldnt undergo renovations, else its luck will be altered. this meant that there were some new, nice-looking restaurants that sold food as cheap as elsewhere. we had a korean dinner at one of these places one night, and it was it was fantastic. we ordered 1 chijimi (mistake, cos a chijimi is big!) and a serving of barbequed pork ribs with side dishes. it came to about 2400yen for both of us, which is ridiculously cheap – we ate till we burst, and essentially paid half of what we would have paid in japan.

our side dishes – the chijimi wasnt out yet, and note the bowl of rice which went untouched:

here’s the deboned ribs, which were extremely tasty and soft, as well as a huge bowl of stodgy soup, the contents of which are unknown. i think there was some tofu inside, but it wasnt tasty and there was much more delicious food to eat, so it went largely untouched:

my favourite 2 side dishes:

the above is some cold but spicy soup. it was very delicious and the noodles were firm, like chinese la mian. below is zucchini with dried shrimp – it’s near impossible to get haebi in japan, and this was so so good. i would have ordered more of these 2 dishes if i had exra space at the end, but it was a struggle to finish the chijimi and meat.

 

the first lunch i had brought some tasty side dishes too:

above are, clockwise from the right – kimchi, spicy dried cuttlefish (this was amazing!), bai chye cooked in lots of sesame seeds and sesame oil (i heard that korean cooking uses a lot of sesame oil. that’s the way to go), seaweed soup, tasty beansprouts and potato with chilli.

korean food is especially cheap – unless you order the barbeque meat – as they usually come with lots of side dishes that fill you up. for example, you might be paying the same price (or less) for a bowl of bibimbap than what you do in japan, but get all the side dishes too. wonderful!

love is in the air – random pictures

now is right smack between Valentine’s Day and White Day, on the 14th of March. White Day is unique to Japan, where guys who received gifts from girls on Valentine’s Day reciprocate with something. As implied, Valentine’s Day in Japan is such that only girls give chocolates etc to guys.

at first glance, White Day seems like a nice idea, as a girl who has “invested” in a gift for a guy would be sure to receive something in return. unfortunately though, the chocolates, sweets and other products on sale for White Day are less elaborate, cheaper and not half as appealing as those in the shops for Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s day meant all sorts of belgian, french and other european chocolates from famous patisseries on sale – like pralines and other delectable stuff – as well as liquor-filled chocolates; White Day at my supermarket means more biscuits, cookies and marshmallows than chocolate, many hello kitty and winnie the pooh merchandise, as well as this:

it’s a poorly taken shot, but this box of 3 pieces of turd come with a plastic handle, so you can swing it like cartoon characters do with their little lunchboxes. i found it really amusing, but also very what-the-hell?-worthy. they’re really cute though..

and back when it was Valentine’s Day, Domino’s Pizza had this special offer for only 1300yen:

heart-shaped pepperoni pizza! it was enough to feed 2 people which makes about two-thirds of the price of a usual pizza. I’ve only tried Domino’s Pizza and Pizza Hut here, and i like Domino’s better, as they always send me coupons for my next online purchase. the above pizza only cost 1000yen after using the 15% discount coupon i received from my previous purchase, and it of course came with yet another 15% off coupon.

good stuff!

Ladurée continued – the verdict

i blogged the other day about Ladurée, the best place for macarons ever, and i finally got to savour their delectable goodness.

(photo from here)

 

and i conclude that they’re as good as ever, and worth all of the 244yen (!) that each cost.

what distinguishes Ladurée’s macarons from all the others out there is their filling. while most places just have flavoured cream as filling, Ladurée puts effort into it.

The Red Fruits macaron filling tasted of real berries - i actually found a whole berry in mine, and felt some tiny berry seeds. The Vanilla macaron had thick, creamy filling that scented my breath and lifted my spirits with its fresh, vanilla flavour. And the Caramel macaron was all caramel fudge – forget about caramel-flavoured cream already! Chewy and tasty and gratifying. 

Even i find them an unnecessary luxury, yet when I sat there, happy and licking my fingers, i caught myself already making plans to buy more sometime soon. “The next time I’ll…..”

… probably part with the money, stop all rational thought, close my eyes and enjoy.. Ahh :)

best place for value for money Kobe beef~

thanks to a review in Kansai Scene, i tried out Fuji, a teppanyaki restaurant in Kobe.

Fuji really is wonderful for Kobe Beef. Their dinner set is only 5200yen, and with it you get:

• tonpeiyaki – egg omelette with a stip of bacon in it
• suji negiyaki – beef gristle with an omelette with lots of fresh chopped spring onions
• 200g of kobe beef
• a choice between fried rice, okonomiyaki and this yakisoba/fried rice combination whose name i’ve forgotten
• refreshing yuzu sherbet (add 200yen)

the reason why it’s so wonderful, is because the same price at most other restaurants would barely be enough to cover just the beef.

the beef here was really juicy and melt-in-your-mouth too:

just look at that delicious goodness.. you can flavour it with the salt on the side if you want to, but it was good enough without.

just looking at it makes me want kobe beef again! arrghhh…

fuji’s website is here. just go down the street at benetton at Sannomiya JR/Hankyu station and turn left after you see the Family Mart.

unique belgian chocolate cup

anyone who lives in japan would be familiar with the amount of packaging here. so many things have to be individually wrapped and often have several layers of packaging too. for example, i buy soap in a packet of 3; each piece comes in a plastic wrapping inside a cardboard box, so that’s 3 layers of packaging in all. cookies and chocolate are almost always individually wrapped too, which means a lot of waste is generated.

packaging has been taken to another level however, in the form of the box of chocolates i received for valentine’s. too bad i didnt take pictures of its initial form – i wasnt expecting anything beyond digging into the delicious chocs – but it came wrapped up in shiny brown paper. a pretty ribbon, on which were descriptions of the company’s chocolates, tied it up, and was also stuck to the wrapping paper in several different places with scotchtape, double-sided tape and promotion stickers.

then came the box – a slide-open one securely fastened at both ends with a round sticker each – and when i opened it…..

 

 

 

 

wait for it…

 

 

 

 

 

unbelievable!! the first thought that came to mind was “er... wth is this?”

 

but this is not all! check THIS out:

 

the chocolate, with its paper cupcake tray in its unique chocolate cup.

oh my.. the chocolates are deliciously smooth and yummy, but the packaging is definitely the unexpected icing on the cake. for all its ludicrousness – or perhaps precisely because of it - you have to admit it’s kinda cute.

:)

Ladurée - famous patisserie is now in Osaka!

i went into what was once Sogo in shinsaibashi the other day – it was taken over by daimaru last year cos it went bust – and came across this wonderful, wonderful sight:

Ladurée.

 

Ladurée is, in my very humble opinion, the best patisserie for macarons. i tried them for the first time several years ago when i was in paris – from their Champs-Élysées outlet no less – and have never tasted macarons anything like theirs.

i heard that pierre herme is another patisserie known for macarons, and had a chance to try their macarons when i was in tokyo last may. they were delicious, but werent as to my liking as Ladurée’s.

(picture from here)

and the thing about macarons in japan is that they’re phenomenally expensive, regardless of how famous the patisserie that made them is. many are tiny and cost about 180yen; the bigger ones around the size of those from Ladurée would be from 230 to 250yen. i think these were around or that price or a bit more expensive; it doesnt matter. i have to try them and i will pay to do so – all that needs to happen is for the queue to die down a bit.

Ladurée here i come!! :D

snowman yum

Narutoya is the best bakery in osaka, and can be found in the shotengai at Momodani station on the Loop Line.

Its signature item – to me – is their totoro bread; totoro comes in many different facial expressions and has a belly full of chocolate.

last year was the year of the cow, and for a few months into the new year, there was this cow-face bread to be had. like totoro, it had a range of facial expressions and a brain full of milk custard. that’s my favourite item actually, but i’ll have to wait another 11 years for it.

this year, they have this:

mr snowman and turd!

well, actually the turd-shaped thing is a regular item, and a very tasty one at that. it’s peanut butter caramel, so it’s slightly salty and rather sweet.

the snowman is sooo cute. this particular one was chosen cos he had the most adorable facial expression.

 

he has custard and chocolate inside him, and is extremely yummy :) 

fugu! (puffer fish)

so, yesterday W.Y. and his singaporean friends were in town, and we were looking for somewhere to eat. they havent yet tried izakaya food so i was intending to bring them to one of the many izakaya in namba, but somewhere along the way someone mentioned that the one thing they havent yet tried in japan but want to is fugu.

my first reaction was that i dont want to die eating fugu. frankly, i’d never intended to eat fugu while i’m in japan.. japan has lots of stuff and i’ve tried quite a few – like horse sashimi* – but there are things that i could do without – like whale milt (ie seminal fluid – gross), for example.

plus, for every person who tells you that fugu is perfectly safe to consume, there’ll be some article that informs you of the risks involved. people talk about feeling a tingling or numbing sensation as you eat the fish, which is a result of the remaining poison on the flesh.

however, we looked down one side street and saw an outlet belonging to this fugu chain, and decided to just go take a look:

we stood outside for the longest time, looking at the menu and trying to decide if we should eat fugu or not. and the more i stood there and the more they kept talking about “just try(ing) it once”, the more appealing the idea seemed till we finally went in.

took ages still to make a decision, until one of the staff informed us that due to their anniversary celebration, they’re offering a fugu special – an entire fish for 7980yen, rather than the usual 20000yen. they’ll also throw in other stuff for the fugu steamboat, like vegetables, salad, fried fugu AND a free picture for each of us.

of course, we’d initially thought that the 7980yen on the menu was the cost for 1 person, but upon learning that it was for the entire group, our decision was very quickly made.

so here’s the fish that they were going to serve us:

 

it was very much alive when they brought it out for us to pose and take a picture with, and to be honest it was quite amazing to see it up close. i’d always thought that puffer fish referred to those small fish that had spikes, but i suppose they’re 2 different species of puffer fish? i did feel a wee bit guilty that the fish was going to be my dinner, but quickly got over that.

dont have many pictures of the rest of our dinner, but the restaurant had a very cute table mat, seen here with the salmon salad.

our fish then appeared in this form:

some pieces were removed to make fugu karaage – fried fugu. the rest above were for the hotpot, and to be honest i dont think it wasnt that great at all. fugu is somewhat rubbery, and the meat doesnt really have much taste. plus, the thing about japanese hotpot – at least for some of them – is that the stock isnt as tasty as those you get back home. so the fish didnt gain much more flavour during the cooking process, and neither was the dipping sauce quite to our tastes – it was some slighly tangy, soysaucy concoction.

the fried fugu was the best part, while the most odd one was probably some part of the fish that was a bit like cartilage, but not quite so. it was to be dipped into ponzu sauce, and was chewy too. we didnt experience any numbing sensation either, so i’d have to say that our fugu experience was rather uneventful. but better that way, i suppose?

*: horse sashimi is eaten with a raw egg mixed in, and is actually a little sweet and quite nice. i wouldnt be able to finish an entire serving on my own, but one friend likes it very much, so i steal a bit from him every time he orders it. heh.

kobe beef

for anyone interested, i went here on sunday, and the beef is really good! it’s recommended by w.y.’s boss and quite a few pple i know have tried it and approved :)

the beef is cooked teppanyaki style, so it’s nice seeing it grilled before your very eyes. the chef seemed quiteskilled with the knife too, and mine was perfect at medium rare (although to be honest, i think medium rare should have had more blood. but it was tender and juicy so no complaints there!)

for lunch, the set comes with rice, soup, salad and fried taogay and xiao baicai. so all that and 150g (too little!) of beef costs 2980yen.

apparently this is meant to be a very reasonable price for kobe beef!

life should be like that

it has been a weekend of excesses, somewhat.

saturday was a great day filled with singlish, cycling around, discovering new places, good food and new friends. and today, was spent leisurely and wonderously in tsurumi ryokuchi expo ‘90 park and having greek food for dinner. awesome. this has definitely been the best weekend in the longest while, partly because i havent been doing much for the past many weekends, but more so because of the extremely enjoyable events that i’ve been engaged in these 2 days.

it just feels so wonderful when you’re outside feeling the sun and the wind and breathing in fresh air and moving about. and i love the fact that we’re out trying food from a different country each week, cos it means great food, new experiences and a lovely time spent together :)

as usual, i ate too much this weekend.. amazing bukkake udon with glorious pieces of juicy, friend chicken (website here); cake and coffee, shio ramen (cold version, which was surprisingly nice!), fried tofu and croquette, and greek food. yumyum. we almost didnt want to try greek food cos we only found 1 place in osaka, and the food on their website looked ok but not to the point of being appetising. but we went in the end – decided to just try everything once – and it was good! it’s called Alla Pace and the website can be found here. we had hummus – which is so so amazingly delicious, and always reminds me of my time on exchange in london – delicious meatballs, pita bread and very well done fish. yum. the cyprus beer and greek beer we ordered were delicious too! it was a very homely place too, and it was comfy sitting there :)

here’s a pic of the bukkake udon, which i thought of taking a picture of only after i’d mixed in the chives and shredded radish:

as mentioned above, we went to the tsurumi ryokuchi expo ‘90 park. it’s all the way near the end of the lime green line in osaka, so it was nice and quiet and spacious out there further from the city centre.

the subway station had this great mosaic mural on the wall, and this is my favourite section of it due to the extremely cute creatures with tulip hats:

these creatures were on the manhole covers in the park too. designed manhole covers in japan is one thing i like about this country, as it simply makes things more interesting. kobe, osaka and nara all have their own special manhole cover designs. i’m not sure about the other places as i havent really noticed though..

first, we went up this observation tower, which gave a good enough view of the surrounding park but was otherwise pretty crap for 200yen:

next was the main reason why i was in the park – the Sakuyakonohana Kan, or this flower museum featuring flowers from different climatic zones.

there were some huge lily pads in that place:

and these have thorns on the underside of the leaves too!

and here are more pictures of the flowers in there:

i think the above are interesting as i dont think i’ve ever seen orchids clustered like that before.

this hibiscus is interesting too, as it seems more like a rose than a hibiscus. i even saw lychees on a tree, but unfortunately the picture came out blur..

i love cacti with flowers! i think they’re just so cute.

a part of the park also contained the exhibits from various countries during the expo 19 years ago. they were a sorry sight however, as many had fallen into disrepair. there were no flowers, many plants had died, fountains were turned off and ponds and other water bodies havent been cleaned in a while and smelled.

the austrian exhibit was one of the few that were still nice:

the statue is of johann strauss, which i think looked rather comical:

the korean exhibit looked nice from the outside:

but unfortunately wasnt too impressive on the inside, and even had pple sleeping in the pavillion:

the irish one was nice, partly because it’s just all rock:

then, we climbed up this hill, only to be greeted by an awesome view of nothing at all:

that’s one thing i definitely dont understand about japan. we encountered the same thing in yokohama too, where there were viewing areas and benches facing out somewhere that was potentially pretty (like the yokohama harbour), only to have some form of vegetation obstructing the view.

finally, we reached the windmill that appears in all advertising for the park. it certainly wasnt as impressive as it was made out to be though:

it was probably meant to look more like this, with a greater variety of flowers:

an interesting part was this mini rice field, where we stood taking pictures of this little boy cos he made a good subject for the backdrop:

we sort of felt like paedophiles though, standing in the shade and taking shots of a kid.. :P

and at the of the park, this sight of greeted us:

young punks who had climbed atop this structure, despite a notice saying that climbing is not allowed: