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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

Sunday 31 January 2010

Expensive Malaysian @ Rasa Malaysia, Tokyo

Although hubby is the sole breadwinner for this household, I think it's fair to say that it's really I who run the household, being responsible for making sure that everything runs smoothly and everyone is happy (far from perfect, there's always room for improvement in these areas). This means that in addition to making time for my husband and for my son, as mentioned previously, I have to ensure that we include my sister, H, and enjoy 'whole family' time every two or three weeks. After all, a happy sister is a good babysitter! Due to my sister's full work schedule on Saturdays, we can only spend time together on Sundays (it's a juggle between couple time and family time along with going to church). Last Sunday we spent some family time together and enjoyed Malaysian cuisine at Rasa Malaysia in Ginza. It is located on the 8th floor in a building a few steps away from the main Chuo-dori street, but it wasn't that difficult to find it.

The decor was distinctly Malaysian with batik cloths and Malaysian Tourism posters hanging up on wooden-slab walls. Service was great, and our English-speaking Japanese waitress was dressed in a kebaya to further contribute to a Malaysian feel in the place. There was a good selection of dishes offered on the menu from various locations of Malaysia, which is great for sampling the wide variety of food from different regions, but I couldn't help but feel that this would compromise the quality and authenticity of the way each dishes would be prepared. All the Malaysians I know would baulk at the menu prices of each dish - I know we did - but as I've said before, beggars can't be choosers because Malaysian restaurants are few and far in between in Japan, even in a big city like Tokyo. H was pretty excited to have her first taste of Malaysian cuisine (outside of home) since coming to Japan 3 months ago.


My sister got some Teh tarik, but we doubt that it was actually prepared the proper way ("pulling" the drink) because the trademark bubbly froth was not present on top of the drink. We agreed that Malaysian tea was used, but my sister reckons that it doesn't taste quite like the real teh tarik because they didn't use condensed milk.

Teh Tarik:

The boy woke up from his nap just as the food started arriving - the aroma of the dishes was probably what woke him up. In between the hustle of getting out his packed lunch and preparing him for his own lunch, we ate Chicken Satay and Sambal Kangkung. The satay was grilled nicely with just enough charred bits to give a barbecued flavour, but it definitely needed the peanut-y sauce to make it satay because the chicken on its own was rather bland. I was quite disappointed at the tiny portion of kangkung, especially since this plate probably cost more than ten times the price I would pay for in Malaysia, but this delicious vegetable is not easily available in Japan and it probably costs a lot to import. Although I'd eaten a lot of this leafy green during our last trip to Malaysia a few months ago, I still have a hankering for it.

Chicken Satay; and Kangkung Sambal:

We ordered two noodle dishes: Penang Char Kuey Teow (fried flat rice noodles) and Curry Laksa. The CKT was quite nice, certainly not as bad as the one we ate at a certain restaurant in Roppongi, but it lacked the wok hei (that distinctive smoky charred flavour from cooking on high flame in a wok) which is characteristic of a good CKT. Come to think of it, I don't think any of the CKT we've eaten at Malaysian/Singaporean restaurants in Tokyo had the proper wok hei. The CKT was also lacking crispy fried lard pieces and hubby would have liked lap cheong (Chinese sausage), but it's better for our health without them anyway. The laksa was pretty good, chocked full proteins like steamed chicken, boiled prawns, fried tofu and half a boiled egg, but the curry soup tasted like it came from a jar and it wasn't as greasy as laksa usually is. I'm not complaining about it because it was delicious and not so fattening.

Char Kuey Teow; and Curry Laksa:

The sister was craving for some Bak Kut Teh, a rich dark broth made from meat (usually pork) and a combination of herbs and spices, so one was ordered for our meal. It was the most expensive dish on the menu, so H and I were quite disappointed to find that the meat was chicken and not pork. I guess it makes sense for the restaurant to use chicken if they want to offer as many halal dishes as possible, but the dish ought to then be more correctly called Chik Kut Teh. The broth was slightly sweet which was somewhat unexpected but not unpleasant. I enjoyed this but my sister said that she was quite disappointed with it. The other meat dish we got was Beef Rendang which was good. H and I agreed that it tasted like how rendang should taste, and the beef was appropriately tender. I thought it was probably the best dish of the meal, even though I am not much of a red meat eater in general.

Bak Kut Teh; and Beef Rendang:

We had some Bubur Cha-Cha (a Nonya dessert of sweet potato, yam and sago (or tapioca?) pearls in a coconut milk soup base), which contained pumpkin (!) and only a very little amount of sago pearls. It was a bit too sweet for my taste, but not a bad replica of the real thing.


Please note that this review may be a little harsh, but that's only because I am very familiar with Malaysian cuisine and naturally more critical of the food. In general, the dishes were perfectly fine and tasty for anyone who haven't had any exposure to Malaysian cuisine, which would mean most of the Japanese population. The food at Rasa Malaysia have been modified to suit the Japanese palates, hence were less robust, spicy and greasy than the real thing. So if you're a Japanese reader with a curiousity for the Malaysian cuisine, this restaurant would be a good introduction to Malaysian food.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Italian @ Garden Bay, Tokyo

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions - not because I don't have the determination to follow through, nor because I want to avoid disappointment at not reaching my goal by the end of the year, but simply because I don't feel I need to (and honestly, I usually forget to make resolutions until well into the year anyway). I suppose perhaps I feel that making resolutions would imply that I'm somewhat dissatisfied with life (which I'm not), and I believe that goals can be set at anytime and improvements can be made along the way if need to. However, with that said, I did set two objectives not dissimilar to resolutions at the beginning of this year: to spend more quality one-on-one time with Zak, and to spend more quality one-on-one time with Rob - which are now possible because my younger sister is around to help out. The former is relatively easy to achieve and maintain because I have a lot of face time with my son during the week, but the latter is a bit more difficult to accomplish due to Rob's long work hours, and with Honey's full day at work on Saturdays, there is only one day in the week that Rob and I can go out without Zak. I plan to go on dates with my husband every two or three weeks, and two Sundays ago we went on our date #2 for the month at Garden Bay, an Italian restaurant at the nearby Harumi Triton Square. This complex is less than 10 minutes away from our apartment on foot, but it's sad to say that we've eaten here only twice before. There are quite a number of restaurants in this complex, and this third dining experience will not be our last at Triton.

My first impression of Garden Bay was that it was more of a wine bar than a proper restaurant, but we liked the look of the food menu planted just outside the entrance and decided to try it out. There was a decent selection of wines, and when the owner found out we are Aussies, he proudly told us that he stocked a couple of Australian wines (one each of white and red). Garden Bay has a nice casual atmosphere with good friendly service, and offers modern Italian cuisine at pretty good prices. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much - it is a wine bar after all with relatively low-priced dishes; however, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food we ordered. Portions were pretty small, but that meant that we could order more dishes and have variety, which we always appreciate in our meals.

We enjoyed Salmon Escabeche, and although cold fried salmon fillets in an oily and slightly acidic sauce may sound a little questionable, it was actually quite good. The acidity of the marinade helped cut through both the fatty salmon and the oil in the sauce. Next we got the Sauteed Garlic Prawns and Scallops which was gloriously fragrant, but unfortunately a bit on the overcooked side.

Salmon Escabeche; and Garlic Prawns & Scallops:


We also shared Fish on Skewers which was simple but delicious. The menu claims that the fish was from Tsukiji, and judging from the fresh taste of the fish, I don't think they were lying. We shared a main dish featuring produce from Ibaraki Prefecture, a Grilled Pork and Potatoes. Pork from Ibaraki is been bred to have good texture and flavour, and this dish was very nice! The pork had been grilled to perfection: crispy yet tender and juicy; and the grilled potatoes and sweet potatoes were tasty too.

Fish Skewers; and Grilled Pork:


No meal is complete without dessert, and we enjoyed a lovely Nougat Glacé. Unlike the last time we had nougat glacé, this one was just sweet enough with chunks of nuts and dried fruits interspersed throughout the block.

Nougat Glacé:


I didn't expect to enjoy such a lovely meal without having to travel far nor pay much. The Harumi Triton Square is also quite family-friendly, and we really ought to come here and try out the other restaurants. Before we left the complex that night, we dropped by the Choco Cro St-Marc Cafe, but instead of buying a Choco Cro (a chocolate-filled croissant which is combining two of Rob's favourite foods), we got an apple custard pastry instead, which was more pricey but (in Rob's opinion) inferior to the Choco Cro.

A triangle pastry of apple and custard:

Friday 22 January 2010

Japanese Curry @ Coco Ichibanya, Tokyo

In Japan, the New Year holiday is the most important event of the year. Almost everything is shut on the 1st of January, and when the 2nd roles around, many will flock to the shopping centres, department stores, and basically any retail locations for the hatsu-uri, the "first sale" of the year (similar to the post-Christmas sales in Australia). Unlike most girls and women, I actually don't enjoy shopping for clothes or shoes. I love grocery and food shopping, but I find "retail therapy" quite tedious and tiring. I love a bargain, but I hate crowds so I almost always avoid the shops when it's sales time. My sister, Honey, loves shopping. And she wanted to spend the Sunday with family, but shopping as well. Truth be told, Rob and I needed to get some clothes, so Honey managed to convince us to join the crowd at the sales at the nearby Lalaport shopping mall in Toyosu.

It was rather late by the time we headed for home, so we had a quick look around the Toyosu train station for dinner. We stumbled across a Coco Ichibanya Curry House (click here for English website), and I'd previously read good things about this brand. This is a popular chain fami-resu (i.e. family restaurant) specialising in curry, and a quick google search revealed that this is a popular Japanese export brand in Hawaii, China, Korea and Thailand. From this experience, it is very family-friendly and welcomes patrons of all ages. Zak was served his very own plate, utensils and plastic cup, however I had packed his dinner and drink hence we didn't need them, but Zak took the liberty to play with them anyway. The menu was surprisingly extensive and quite flexible with many options and additions available to tailor to the customers' requirements. For example, you can choose the level of spiciness, additional toppings, amount of rice, and choose a combination of two dishes for a cheaper price than if you got them separately. It's sort of fast food, but with decent service and the food is not so nasty or terribly unhealthy. It was pretty easy on the pocket too, and all these factors make Coco Ichibanya quite a reasonable and economical choice for families. It was easy to dine with our 15 month old here, and I can see why it's called a fami-resu!

Rob chose a combined set of Creamed Crab Croquette Curry and Mushroom Curry, plus a Crispy Fried Gobo (burdock root) Salad which is available only until the end of February. Honey ordered the limited edition of Crispy chicken Soup Curry, available also until the end of February. I wasn't that hungry so I got a combined option of Squid Salad and Tuna Salad. The food tasted quite good (in the void-of-nutrition kind of way), which is why there is a large fan base out there of the Coco Ichibanya curry. The thing I personally have found with Japanese curry is that it's perfectly enjoyable if I don't expect it to be the gloriously spicy curries of South-east Asia and India. Here are a few shots of the food taken with Honey's compact point-and-shoot.

The seafood salad and the crispy gobo salad:


Rob's croquette and mushroom curry; and Honey's order of the chicken soup curry


This was our first visit to a fami-resu in all our 3.5 years in Japan, but it probably won't be our last visit as we can no longer be food snobs and avoid them, especially on occasions when we have to dine with our boy.

Sunday 17 January 2010

Italian @ Bosco, Nagano

I almost forgot about our final meal in Nagano before we headed back to Tokyo. After having a great time on our recent Nagano trip, it was time for home. We had an hour before our shinkansen (bullet train) ride, and we had a quick lunch at La Travola nel Bosco, an Italian restaurant located a block away from Nagano train station. It was pretty easy to find, but it is on the second floor in a building with no elevators, so we had to leave the pram downstairs and lug our baggage (15 month old toddler included!) upstairs and then back down after our lunch and rush for our shinkansen (it seems like we're always rushing for planes/trains/buses whenever we're on holiday).



Bosco is quite a nice restaurant, with a classy atmosphere and good service. Prices were quite reasonable, and the food was delicious. Bosco offers a lunch special for couples: a choice of pasta, pizza, two desserts and two drinks, as well as focaccia and salad - all for 3000yen. Since we could only have a quick lunch, the three of us shared the couples' lunch special, which proved to be plenty enough. We liked everything, and the only thing we wished for was more time to savour the food and atmosphere.

The Duck Salad and Frittata was delicious and surprisingly quite substantial (two plates were served); and the Focaccia was fresh and very more-ish:


We enjoyed the Pizza Capricciosa which had Italian sausage and arugula; and the Fettucine Carbonara was rich and creamy:


Dessert was Zuccotta, an ice-cream/cake dessert; and Panna Cotta:

Friday 15 January 2010

Cute snow monkeys @ Nagano

The main reason of our recent visit to Nagano was to see the snow monkeys at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. We first visited Nagano three years ago, but the purpose of that trip was to snowboard and hence we didn't do much sightseeing. Rob often mentioned that we ought to go back to Nagano to see the snow monkeys, and so here we were, in these snowy parts of Japan, to peep on snow monkeys taking a bath in the onsen (hot springs).

The town that we stayed in for the two days, Yudanaka Onsen, is quite a lovely town. It's a half hour scenic stroll to the nearby Shibu Onsen, which I embarked with toddler in pram while my sister and husband went snowboarding at a nearby ski field (it was Honey's first time, and Rob has wanted to snowboard a lot more than me, so it made sense for me to stay behind with Zak). Not as exciting as snowboarding, but I wasn't going to waste time and mope around the ryokan.

A panoramic shot of the river running through the town (click for larger image):

I love Japanese rivers, regardless of how manmade they are; and a mini stream of hot spring:

Early the following day, we headed out to the Jigokudani Yaen Koen to see the snow monkeys. The name Jigokudani means "Hell's Valley" and the park is so named because of the steam that blows out of small crevices in the ground. During winter, getting to the park involves hiking 1.6km in the snow through the slopes of the forest, making for quite a slippery walk and ropes were kindly provided to tie around our shoes to help with traction in the snow. Having good traction in the snow was especially important for the person carrying the precious 11kg cargo, which was me on the way up, and then Rob took Zak on the way down.

A sign saying that tying ropes on the shoes would help avoid slipping in the snow; and the mountainous snowy terrain on the hike:

Sign of life after walking through the snowy forest for half an hour: a minshuku (a Japanese inn) located next to the Monkey Park; and looking down at this minshuku from above - that's a steam outlet for the hot springs, and there were monkeys roaming all around the area:

Young monkeys play fighting over a ball of snow; and monkeys having a nice hot bath in the onsen:

Bathing with grooming service included:

Saturday 9 January 2010

Eating, Bathing and Sleeping the traditional Japanese way in Nagano

After hanging out in Nagano city for a few hours, we headed north to Yudanaka Onsen in Yamanouchi town, which is about an hour's train ride from the city. The main reason for visiting this town is to see the snow monkeys in the nearby Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, but Yudanaka is also an onsen (hot springs) area, and we enjoyed our stay in this town the traditional Japanese style. We were initially booked to stay only one night at Ryokan Issa no Komichi Biyu no Yado, see the snow monkeys the next day then head south of Nagano to Matsumoto, but we enjoyed the first night so much that we made a spontaneous decision to scrap our trip to Matsumoto and stay another night in Yudanaka. The ryokan owner (who spoke excellent English) informed us that there was vacancy, and offered us the same rate as our first night.

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn typically offers their guests a Japanese room with tatami mats, communal baths and gorgeous Japanese kaiseki cuisine. Ryokan Biyu is a fairly modern Japanese inn, offering both Japanese and western style rooms, a private bathroom in each room, and features both indoor and outdoor public onsen baths. And the food was delicious! Service was impeccable, and the ryokan staff were very accommodating to our 14 month old toddler. We had a very comfortable stay and enjoyed a relaxing soak in the hot spring bath each day.

Given tea service upon reception at Ryokan Biyu; and our 14-tatami room, with complimentary Japanese cake on the table:


For dinner on Day 1, we enjoyed a traditional Japanese meal that included a mini beef nabe, soba, seaweed and sashimi with apple wine. Fish and tempura were served freshly prepared. The highlight of the dinner was harvesting our very own mushrooms for the grill!



Fish and vegetable tempura were served freshly cooked and piping hot:


Light soup and a refreshing dessert of fuji apple and caramel pudding with a fruity jelly topping.. The caramel was delicious and not too sweet like most caramel-flavoured stuff often are!


After dinner we returned to our room to find that the futons had been rolled out, ready for us to sleep in:


On the second day, we rolled out of futon, and went to the dining room for our breakfast. We enjoyed a traditional Japanese breakfast that included udon noodles, onsen tamago (hot springs egg), salmon, miso soup, rice, pickles, simmered eggplant and salad with apple juice.



Dinner that night was Shabu-shabu, which is a winter hot pot dish of vegetables and thin slices of beef. The condiments for shabu-shabu were ponzu (citrusy soy sauce) and goma-dare (sesame sauce), and we enjoyed a sweet cassis wine with dinner. Like the previous night, two additional dishes (beef and seafood) were served freshly prepared.

The necessary ingredients for shabu-shabu: a pot of boiling water, vegetables and thin slices of beef; and the ponzu and goma-dare, cassis wine and sashimi to go with the shabu-shabu:


Rich eggy buttery bread with a rich beef broth; and the hotpot with all the vegetables inside - to eat shabu-shabu, we take individual slices of beef, swish it around in the boiling broth briefly to cook, dip in the condiments and then eat. We eat the vegetables in the same manner too :


Fresh seafood, steamed in a bamboo cylinder; and delicious fried fish:


Refreshing grape sorbet:


Breakfast on day 3 - there were udon noodles, miso soup, rice and pickles, the same as the day before, but we also enjoyed omelette, fried unagi (eel), ham and yamaimo (Japanese yam):


As you can see, we enjoyed a lot of good food. If you're ever in Japan, I definitely recommend staying a night or two in a ryokan. Photos of cute snow monkeys to follow, so stay tuned!