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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Saturday 18 April 2009

Missing in action

The family will be taking a short trip back home to Perth from tomorrow so that we can introduce the little guy to everyone else. Needless to say, I'll be a bit busy to write in this journal for a little while, but do check back in a couple of weeks time when I'd have tonnes of food photos to post. Ciao!

Monday 13 April 2009

Onigiri @ Omusubi Gonbei, Tokyo

The onigiri (also called omusubi) to the Japanese is what the sandwich is to the westerners - simple, quick and easy-to-eat light meal or snack that is readily and conveniently available. One of Rob's Japanese colleagues reckons that Omusubi Gonbei in the Caretta Tower at Shiodome (near their office) makes the best onigiri in Tokyo, and we had a snack there when we were in the area recently. The onigiri there are pretty good, and worth the extra 50yen or so more than the packaged ones sold at the combini (24hour convenience stores found everywhere in Japan). It was my first encounter with genmai (brown rice) onigiri, which is great because I love brown rice. There were also a small selection of ready-made vegetables and proteins (like karaage chicken and tempura prawns) to make a more substantial meal .

Genmai Jyako is made with brown rice, with chirimen jyako (tiny baby sardines) and shiso (perilla leaves), and sprinkles of shiro goma (white sesame seeds). The umami of the tiny fish and the fragrance of the shiso made this a very delicious choice. We also got the Genmai Mentaiko made with brown rice, spicy cod roe and sprinkles of white sesame seeds, which was also good, but the Jyako was better. Both were around 170yen each. I also grabbed a packet of Okura Goma-ae (okra with sesame dressing) for 150yen.

Genmai Jyako and Genmai Mentaiko; and Okura Goma-ae (with the wet towel packet showing the name of the place in kanji. Shots were taken using Rob's iPhone:

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Hanami '09

This is our third hanami ("flower viewing", specifically of the sakura (cherry) blossoms) season in Japan, but Zak's first one. He's still too young to appreciate why the blooming of these flowers is the most highly anticipated event of the year for the Japanese, but he enjoyed the walk in the lovely warm spring weather. It really is such a shame that these beautiful flowers are so short-lived (about one week), but I suppose that's one of the reasons why the season is so highly anticipated (with weather forecasts around this time being dominated by predictions of when the sakura will bloom all around Japan). Another reason, I've been told, is not really so much for the aesthetics of these flowers, but more for the beer drinking and partying that is synonymous with hanami.

Here are a few shots I took on the weekend, which was the peak time for hanami.

Down one of the nearby river paths lined with trees full of sakura blossoms:


Close-up of the blossoms; and Zak touching them:


People having hanami picnics under the trees (but I think these 'picnics' should be more correctly termed just-another-reason-to-drink-beer-in-the-middle-of-the-day picnics - for most people; and yet more blossoms:


I wonder how many more hanami seasons we'll get to enjoy?

Saturday 4 April 2009

The Great Burger, Tokyo

Rob's colleagues told him that they had the best burgers *ever* at The Great Burger in Shibuya. The fact that his colleagues hail from New York City gives credit that they would at least know a good burger if they came across one. Needless to say, Rob was willing to bend his diet a little bit to allow a burger meal at this little out-of-the-way-but-very-popular eatery (or is it burgery?). Myself, as I've previously proclaimed, I'm not big on burgers, but I was happy to go for the "best burger" experience. It must be noted that this burger place is not of the fast-food variety, but more of the gourmet types. Photos were taken using Rob's iPhone.



There was a queue when we arrived around 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. The place is quite small and fits perhaps 25 at one time. I think we must have waited 20-30minutes before we got a table, but they took our order while we were in the queue so we waited only maybe 10minutes after being seated before our food was served. Rob ordered the Drink Set from the weekend/holiday lunch menu, where for an additional 200yen you get a drink with your meal (a drink costs 500yen or more). He got the Hamburger (950yen) with fried egg (+100yen), mozzarella (+150yen) and bacon (+150yen), and ginger ale. Rob certainly likes his burgers with 'the lot', adding as much ingredients as is practical (sometimes to the point of impractical eating). Rob really enjoyed the burger, and while I am no burger gourmand, it did taste pretty darn good. The patty was well-done which meant that it was a little on the dry side, but it was assembled well with fresh burger bun and vegetables.

Since I'd snacked on the way to lunch (which was a late lunch for me at 2pm), I wanted something light and relatively healthy so I got the Grilled Chicken Sandwich (1050yen) with wholewheat bread (choice of white, wholewheat or brown - whatever 'brown' means). I like that we could choose the type of bread we preferred, which is not the norm in Japan (white is preferred and usually served).The chicken sandwich was also quite good, with a delicious seasoning in the shredded chicken filling. Both burger and sandwich were enjoyed without needing the extra tomato sauce/ketchup or mustard provided on the table.

Hamburger (with extras); and Grilled Chicken Sandwich:


Worth a try if you're willing to shell out more money for a burger than at a fast food joint.

Thursday 2 April 2009

Okinawa Part IVb: Delicious meals at Little Inn Ai, Ishigaki

I promise this is the last post on our trip to Okinawa. Our stay at 小さなペンション藍 (Chiisana Pension Ai or Little Inn Ai) was great, and the meals we had there were excellent. The owner chef of the inn used to own a small izakaya, and we were looking forward to eating the food.

Dinner

Dinner was a multi-course affair, and we enjoyed seasonal produce that are found only on the island.

Part of the dinner spread: (clockwise from top right) Goya Champuru, Salad with Italian-style dressing, Rosemary Chicken, and salt for the tempura which were still being fried as the shot was taken:


The Goya Champuru was a stirfried dish of goya (bitter gourd/melon), moyashi (beansprouts), eggs and bacon. The fried bacon pieces added oomph to this Okinawan favourite. The Salad was very refreshing with hunks of ham and a sweet-savoury tomato-ey Italian-style dressing.

Close-ups of Goya Champuru and Salad:


The Rosemary Chicken were flavourful juicy pieces of chicken thighs, minimally accompanied by a few wedges of fried potato and a couple of cherry tomatoes. The Oxtail Soup was rich in flavour and quite simply delicious - perfect on an unusually chilly day for Ishigaki. It was my first time trying oxtail soup.

Close-ups of the Rosemary Chicken and the Oxtail Soup:


We had the tempura the best way to eat it - freshly cooked and piping hot. The Vegetable Tempura were all produce that are native to the island: Otaniwatari, a type of sansai (wild vegetable); Shima-rakyou, a type of shallots (shima means island); and Shima-ninjin, a native carrot. While we were enjoying the vegetable tempura, the chef came into the dining area and placed freshly fried Gurukun tempura pieces on the plate. Apparently the gurukun is the prefectural fish of Okinawa.

Tempura: Otaniwatari (green ones), Shima-rakyou (in the foreground and the furthest back), and the Shima-ninjin (yellow sticks in the middle of the plate); and Gurukun tempura:


At our request, Satomi brought out the raw shima-ninjin and shima-rakyou to show us how they look like.


Dessert was a Beni Imo Manjyuu, a purple sweet potato sweet bun. These were mildly sweet, which was a great way to end the meal. By the way, these purple sweet potatoes are huge in Okinawa, and you can find various beni imo-flavoured items everywhere in Okinawa.

Beni Imo Manjyuu:


Breakfast

Breakfast was a more simple affair, but still well-prepared and well-liked. Spam and egg made an appearance, and this is not a bad combination. Considering its popularity in Okinawa, we'd done well to avoid Spam on this trip. I loved the toasted cheesy tomato bruschetta, and the potato salad was pretty good too. I even enjoyed the simple pleasure of eating freshly toasted bread with yuzu marmalade.

Breakfast: (clockwise from top right) Tomato Bruschetta, Spam and Egg, Potato Salad, Vegetable Salad; and the toasted bread (beni imo-flavoured and walnut) with yuzu marmalade:


We really enjoyed our accommodation at this Little Inn, and the food added the perfect accent to our stay. Highly recommended by all three of us. I booked via this this website.