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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 27 February 2010

Revisit (many times already): Indian @ Nawab, Tokyo

We've been re-visiting our favourite eats, with our latest dining experience at our old favourite Indian restaurant, Nawab. It's really a neighbourhood sort of restaurant - nothing fancy-schmancy, the sort that office workers go to on their lunch break during the week - but the consistently good food keeps us going back for more even long after we've moved out of the area (it's now a 35-minute walk rather than the 5-minute one it was a couple of years ago - I don't mind because we needed to work off all the naan, rice and ghee).

After so many visits to Nawab, we know what's good so it didn't take long for us to place our order. We drank Mango Lassi and sipped Masala Chai while enjoying our all-time favourites Chicken Biryani, Dahl Spinach and Mughlai Naan, as well as trying out the Lamb Korma for the first time. The favourites are favoured for a reason, and they were all good as always. The korma was nice with tender chunks of lamb, and my sister liked it better than the dahl, but Rob found the korma a little too oily (I still have yet to appreciate the general gamey taste and odor of lamb). Rob liked the dahl best, and my favourite dish of the meal was the biryani. The 16 month-old had a couple of spoonfuls of the biryani but I think he's undecided on that one.

Flavourful chicken biryani; and delicious dahl spinach, spicy lamb korma and naan bread filled with cashews and raisins:


We ended the meal with our favourite sweet, Kulfi (coconut-flavoured frozen dessert), which was simply delicious.

Kulfi:


We've been to Nawab for many meals in the last few years with friends and family, and I'm hoping we'll be able to squeeze a few more in before we move from Japan (but it's always a compromise between trying new things and going back to what you know is great). Nawab will certainly be one of the places we'll miss when we do move.

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Chinese @ Lao Hu Dong Yi Ju & Ice Cream @ Coldstone, Tokyo

Last Sunday, the Chinese celebrated the first day of the Lunar New Year. It fell on the same day as Valentine's Day, but I think that celebrating the Year of the Tiger far surpasses that of V-day. Our little family had a mini-reunion lunch with a friend at one of our favourite Chinese restaurants in Tokyo, Lao Hu Dong Yi Ju. We've eaten here a few times before, and it needs no introduction in this blog so I shall get right to the food.

My two favourite guys, with Zak looking dashing in the traditional Chinese outfit of changshan (i.e. cheongsam for guys):


For starters, we enjoyed some Pork Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and Nira Manjuu (garlic chives dumpling). The xiaolongbao was appropriately juicy and the manjuu was as delicious as it was last time.

Pork soup dumplings and garlic chives dumplings:


We ordered our favourites, the Beijing-style Sweet & Sour Pork and Stirfried Scallop & Asparagus, and they didn't disappoint.

The balls of tender pork; and the perfectly cooked scallops dish:


We had Crab Fried Rice as the obligatory carb dish, and it came with an egg soup to pour over the rice if you wished (but neither of us did). Rob was still eager to eat more, and he ordered the Deep-fried Fish in Chili Sauce, perhaps because he thought that all the food we'd ordered were too healthy. The fish was nice, but I always think it's a shame to cover fish and seafood in batter, deep-fry and drenched in sauce. I feel that you can't enjoy the delicate taste of seafood in that manner.

Crab fried rice; and the chili fried fish:


Lao Hu was great once again, and we enjoyed great conversation and company. We headed out to Cold Stone for dessert. Whenever we're in Roppongi Hills, it's really hard for Rob to resist this place, and to add to the temptation, Cold Stone was having a Valentine's Day special of a free upgrade to a size up. Rob created his own combination that included dark chocolate ice cream, coconut, fudge and almonds in a chocolate waffle cone, which he kindly shared with me. Honey and Chrissy each got one of their own, and the size upgrade proved a bit much for both girls, but Rob was only too happy to help finish.

Cold Stone (unhealthy) goodies - Rob's chocolate coconut creation and my sister's Oreo Overload:

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Delicious Seafood @ Umi no Hana, Furano (Hokkaido)

Hokkaido is known for its high quality seafood (amongst other things), so naturally seafood had to be on our agenda during our Hokkaido trip. For our final night in Furano, even though we were tired from snowboarding all day (and I was also nursing a concussion from a bad fall on the slopes), we headed out again to downtown Furano for dinner at Umi no Hana for a seafood dinner. Umi no Hana (translates to "flower of the sea") is a Japanese restaurant serving sushi and seafood, and although only a little English is spoken, there is a hand-drawn and coloured A3-sized menu in English to help foreigners with ordering the food. Serving sizes are pretty small, but that meant that we got to taste a large variety of food. Good quality ingredients were used, and the seafood was fresh and tasty, as to be expected for the prices of the dishes.

Sashimi items: Ama-ebi ("sweet prawn", my favourite sashimi) and Kani (crab):


Non-seafood dishes: Kakuni (braised fatty pork belly) and Vegetable Tempura (it was one of the items on the daily menu):


Cooked seafood: Garlic Butter Squid and Butter Scallop - both were cooked perfect (i.e. not overcooked!), and the scallops in particular was lovely, fresh and juicy:


Steamed Oysters - I really enjoyed these even though they weren't au naturale (which is my favourite way to eat oysters):


Sushi items: Uni (sea urchin roe/gonads) and Tsubugai (whelk, a type of sea snail) - the uni was soft, sweet and creamy whereas the tsubugai was slightly crunchy. Both were delicious!


We were pretty satisfied with the food, but there were a couple of things we weren't too happy about. There was a charge of 400 yen per person to order alcohol, but we weren't informed about it until I saw it on the receipt - my problem isn't that we had to pay it, but that it was snuck upon us. There was also quite a lengthy wait between dishes, and the restaurant was barely even half full. Overall, it was a pretty good dining experience, with good food, and most important of all, the waitstaff were accommodating to our little one.

Friday 19 February 2010

Jingisukan BBQ @ Tirol, Furano (Hokkaido)

After snowboarding the whole afternoon after arriving at the ski resort in Furano, we were tired, but decided to head out of the hotel for dinner. Since the resort was located about 10 minutes from downtown Furano, we caught the Downtown Shuttle to Tirol Lamb Barbecue, adjacent to a small western-style inn operated by the same people. Tirol serves Jingisukan (i.e. "Genghis Khan"), lamb grilled on a dome-shaped barbecue plate. This dish is so-named because the people generally associates lamb with the Mongolians, and the shape of the cooking grill resembles the Mongolian soldiers' helmets which the soldiers apparently used to cook their food,

Tirol Lamb BBQ, below the Cafe and next to the inn; and the menu and instructions on how to enjoy Jingisukan barbecue, in English:


Tirol is a warm, cozy eatery with friendly and smiling waitresses, offering hot comfort food - the perfect refuge beckoning to cold travellers in the snowy world outside. One table was taken up by a couple of Australian guys, and a short while after our arrival, another table was filled with six Australian men in their fifties or sixties, coincidentally also from Perth! These Aussies were in Furano for (almost) the same reason as us - the ski slopes. There were a few things on the menu, and we knew what we wanted so we didn't take long to decide. Honey and Rob are big fans of lamb, and poor guys are deprived in Japan where for the most part, lamb is hard to get. Their meal choice was a no-brainer, and both of them got the Tirol Set which includes both the lamb loin and shoulder cuts, vegetables, kimchi (Korean pickles), rice, gelato and tea. The barbecue items come with a homemade sauce with a choice of non-spicy (sweet), "middle spicy" or "very spicy". When our waitress saw that we couldn't decide which sauce we wanted, she said she'd bring out all three for us to try. All three went well with the barbecue lamb and veges, and just as we suspected, the "very spicy" sauce barely left a tingle. Rob and my sister enjoyed the barbecued lamb.

The uncooked ingredients; and the lamb meat and vegetables assembled as per instruction and cooking on the dome-shaped grill plate:


The Stone-baked Curry looked interesting, so I ordered the chicken version as well as additional vegetables for the barbecue to ensure that we got our sufficient nutrition during the trip. The Japanese curry came out bubbling in a hot stone bowl containing tender chicken pieces and pumpkin slices on top of a bed of rice, with a cheese topping that had been browned very nicely. It's very much a comfort food, and I quite enjoyed it. I think Japanese-style curry is starting to grow on me.
After our meal, we shared Chocolate Gelato and Matcha Gelato (green tea) which came with Rob's and Honey's sets, and they were delicious indeed.

Stone-baked curry:


We had a nice experience at Tirol, and if you're ever in Furano, I definitely recommend this little eatery for a Jingisukan meal.

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Snowboarding trip, Furano (Hokkaido)

After spending the afternoon and evening looking at the beautiful snow and ice sculptures at the Yuki Matsuri, we stayed for only one night in Sapporo before heading out very early the next morning to Furano for our snowboarding trip. It was a 3-hour bus ride from Sapporo, but we were glad that I'd chosen this ski region rather than the very popular Niseko, because crowd wasn't much of a problem in Furano (especially during the Yuki Matsuri when most visitors would be including a ski trip in their trip itinerary to Hokkaido). I would love to also try out one of Niseko ski resorts because it is considered and voted one of the world's top 10 ski resorts. Furano is gaining popularity though, and I'm sure it won't be long before it will rival Niseko's fame.

The beautiful view of the snowscape from our hotel room window. The shots were taken behind the window pane, so don't mind the reflections (Honey did open the window to take photos, but couldn't shut it again so we had to embarassingly call one of the staff to help) - click image for larger view:

We stayed at a ski-in-ski-out resort, which made it easy to take turns looking after Zak, and everyone could have a turn at snowboarding. The slopes had amazing powder, and I can see why Hokkaido is such a favourite destination for skiers. Aussie skiers must really like Japan, because we bumped into a lot of Australians both here in Furano and in Hakuba (Nagano) on our first snowboarding trip. The three of us enjoyed snowboarding, particularly Rob who did well not falling over as much as Honey or I did! Photos were taken using Honey's compact point-and-shoot.

Rob and me geared up and ready to go; and Honey and I on the ski lift:


Rob preparing his rental snowboard; and then having loads of fun snowboarding:

Monday 15 February 2010

Sapporo Ramen @ Shirakaba Sansou, Sapporo

Apparently Sapporo is famous for ramen (a Japanese wheat noodle with roots from China), and it is the one thing that almost everyone said we must eat on our trip to Hokkaido. There are more than a thousand ramen restaurants in Sapporo, so it would be quite apt to call it the city of ramen. There are different ramen varieties originating from different regions of Japan, and from Sapporo comes the Miso Ramen which is well-known all over Japan. Upon arrival in Sapporo city, it was around lunch time and we were hungry. After checking into our hotel, I asked the hotel concierge to recommend a good place to eat Sapporo ramen. He pointed to the 10th floor of a retail building called Esta near the train station (adjacent to the Sapporo station bus terminal) and suggested we try Shirakaba Sansou. We got to the building and discovered that the part of the 10th floor is taken up by the Sapporo Rāmen Republic, a ramen-themed food amusement park. There were many ramen eateries there, and we had to (embarrassingly) ask another shop's assistant for directions to Shirakaba Sansou (which we initially thought was a type of ramen dish, not a shop's name). There are apparently a few branches of this brand all around Sapporo and even outside of Hokkaido, and it sure was a popular choice as evident by the long queue of people waiting for a table. Even though it was past 2pm on a weekday, we waited for a good 20 minutes before we were seated.

One of the entrances into the Sapporo Ramen Kyouwakoku (Ramen Republic), and nearing the front of the queue at Shirakaba Sansou after waiting for more than 20 minutes:


Generally three soup bases were available: the traditional Shio Ramen (salt flavour), the standard Shoyu Ramen (soy sauce) and the Sapporo specialty, Miso Ramen. From those three flavours, you could request to add spices, upon which you would be asked how spicy you would like your soup on a scale of 1 (least spicy) to 3 (most spicy). Let me say now that the number 3 level of spiciness didn't even tingle our tongues. You could also order extras like more chashu ('Chinese' roast pork, but not anything like char siu), noodles, and rice (?!). There was a basket of ni tamago (boiled eggs) on each table, from which you could help yourself to as many eggs as you want, for free. The soup is already so rich that you don't really want to add to the cholesterol/fat level of the ramen with eggs too. We also got an order of Pao Gyoza (another dish of Chinese origins), which was round like a bun ("pao") rather than the usual elongated shape. I'm sure would have tasted good if I wasn't overwhelmed by the greasiness.

Basket of free boiled eggs! And our greasy gyoza:


We each got different soup bases for comparison: my sister got the Spicy Shoyu Ramen (number 3 spicy) with an extra order of pork; Rob ordered the number 1 recommended dish, the Miso Chashu Men; and I got the Spicy Miso Ramen (also at the spiciest level).

Honey's Spicy Shoyu Ramen and the side order of pork :


The noodles were firm-cooked (or al dente, as the Italians would say), springy and curly. The pork slices were tender and thankfully not too fatty. And three soup bases were rich, presumably made from a stock of pork bones, with a thin layer of oil floating on top. Each bowl was topped with green onions, kikurage (cloud ear mushroom), nori (seaweed) and daikon sprouts. The two 'spicy' ramen bowls were garnished with saffron threads, but were otherwise not spicy - not even a tingle. With three bowls to compare side-by-side, we all unanimously agreed that Rob's plain miso soup tasted the nicest. Serving size was huge, and I could barely eat more than half of my noodles before it got a little OTT. Even Honey, a fan of ramen, didn't finish her bowl of ramen; and Rob, whose tolerance for fat and rich stuff are much higher than mine, could barely finish my leftovers. We all agreed that perhaps the 'half' portion (only available in the Miso flavour) would have been plenty.

Rob's Miso Chashu Men (hands and chopsticks included to give an idea of the serving size) and my Spicy Miso Ramen :


The Japanese are very proud of their ramen, and there are countless of ramen fans out there, but for the life of me, I can't get myself to appreciate this noodle dish. It reminds me too much of the 2-minute instant variety which I haven't eaten for more than maybe 7 or 8 years. In almost 4 years of living in Japan, I had only ever eaten ramen two times before this visit, and all my ramen experiences have failed to leave a good impression on me. My sister is a big fan of ramen, and have thus far enjoyed all the ramen that have been recommended to her. I am sure that I am only a minority, and if you enjoy ramen, you will enjoy these ones here.

Thursday 11 February 2010

Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) in Sapporo

Last weekend, we flew north to Sapporo for its famous annual festival known as the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). The main attraction of this event is the snow and ice sculptures, which are displayed at three separate sites in Sapporo, but we were in the city for only one night and had barely enough time to visit the Odori site. There were about a dozen large sculptures on display along the 1.5 kilometer length of the street park, as well as more than one hundred smaller snow and ice sculptures set up for our viewing pleasure. This tradition began 60 years ago by six local high school students, and then joined by Japan Self-Defence Forces whose participation is part of their training program. It is now a fairly large and commercialised event attracting more than 2 million domestic and overseas tourists. Rob and I have been living in Japan for almost 4 years now, and the Yuki Matsuri has always been on our things-to-do-in-Japan list. This trip required some advance planning (flights and hotels were booked more than 2 months prior), and we were amazed at the beautiful sculptures we saw. It was also very cold and snowing a lot, and it took considerable effort walking the 1.5km length in the -10degC temperature, but we pushed on with frequent breaks indoors (it took us more than 2.5 hours but we really needed the breaks).

Of course, we ate a lot of good food on offer at the Odori site, but I couldn't take any good shots of them because my lens fogged up whenever we stepped into somewhere warm to eat. So instead, here is a selection of some of the more notable things we saw.

A snowboard jump slope near the beginning of our walk - got us a little excited about our snowboarding trip the next day:


Large structures included animals from the Northern Zoos of Hokkaido and Disney characters...


...as well as detailed architectural designs of well-known buildings around the world: the Iolani Palace of Honolulu (Hawaii) and the Frauenkirche of Dresden (Germany):


Smaller statues included the late King of Pop (Michael Jackson) and Mr. Fredricksen from the film Up...


...as well as Gundam robots and Japanese temples:


We marvelled at the intricate details of the snow replica of the Royal Palace of Baekje (Korea), and the giant statue characters from Chibi Maruko-chan:


We saw a few people working on their pieces for the 37th International Snow Sculpture Contest, and felt very cold watching them work:


Stay tuned for more on our Hokkaido trip!