Honeymoon Special #3 - Kobe Beef

神戸牛専門店 吉祥吉

中央区元町通2-4-14, Kobe-shi, Hyogo, Japan 650-0022

Telephone: 78-332-1122

Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm

Website: http://www.koubegyuu.com/

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I have heard recommendations that lunch time is the best time to get a good deal of Kobe beef as lunch sets are generally cheaper. 

Found this restaurant that served Kobe beef of varying grades, ranging from JPY 1,500 for a 60gram red meat to JPY 9,000 for a 120g champion kobe beef set. Champion kobe is the grade given to Kobe beef. 

We selected the Special Marble meat instead - 80g and 120g. 

A little background on Kobe beef... 

It comes from the cuts of beef from the Tajima strain of Wagyu cattle, raised in Hyogo prefecture. Characteristics of kobe beef are flavour, tenderness, fatty & well marbled texture. 

To qualify for the terms kobe beef, the meat has to come from bullocks or virgin Tajima cows and must fulfil the following:

1. Marbling: BMS 6 or higher
2. Yield Score: Proportion of edible parts from a single head of cattle A or B
3. Gross carcass weight: 470kg or less
4. Fine meat texture and excellent firmness

Will I come back?

It's definitely a nice experience to try it once in a blue moon. 

Not recommended to try it often as it can clog up your arteries. 

Honeymoon Special #2 - Sampling Puffer Fish (aka Fugu)

玄品ふぐ

530-0027 Osaka, Kita-ku, Osaka Doyama town 4-17

Telephone: 06 6311 0129

Opening Hours: 5pm to 12 midnight

Website: http://www.tettiri.com/

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We came across this restaurant as we saw this tank filled with puffer fish near our hotel. 

This is one of the items that we wanted to try. 

The restaurant has lots of fugu inspired paintings on the walls. 

An English guide is provided to us on the correct way to sample fugu. 

We ordered the Fugu Tessa (Thin Sashimi)  JPY 980

This is the ponzu sauce to go with the sashimi. 

I like the texture of the fugu sashimi. It's crunchy and chewy and makes you want to take another piece after that. 

We also ordered the Ponzu Tecchiri (Hotpot) JPY 1,980

Will I try fugu again?

Yes, I will. I can't wait to try all the other parts of the puffer fish.

Also, I was a bit worried when I tried it for the first time, reason being the ponzu sauce is is quite spicy and it makes me wonder if the burning sensation is due to the poison in the puffer fish poison or the sauce.

Will I come back again?

Yes, definitely. 

Honeymoon Special #1 - Sampling Horse Meat

Musashi Sushi

604-8008 Kyoto Sanjo Kawaramachi Nakagyo well Ebisu town 440

Telephone: 075 222 0634

Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm

Website: http://www.sushinomusashi.com/

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Heard a lot of reviews about Musashi Sushi. 

It is a conveyor belt sushi where each plate cost JPY 137 (approximately SGD 1.80). 

The sushi was good, i.e. proportion of meat versus rice is generous (as compared to the ones found in Singapore). However, the amount of wasabi in each sushi is also very generous too. 

Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves and had a total of 19 plates of sushi. 

We have came across one of the things that we have always wanted to try - horse meat !

Although I always wanted to try the cooked version, we decided to give it a try and get this off our list. 

I have wanted thought that trying Parma Ham would equip me with the ability to try out raw meat, but I was soo wrong. 

The picture below is the horse meat sashimi. The horse meat was tough. I could not really taste the meat as there was a generous layer of ginger (I am not complaining!). The cream coloured sushi was the mane. It was much tougher as compared to the horse meat. 

Nevertheless, I am quite happy that I finally tried it!

I spoke to one of my Japanese colleague and I understand that horse meat is not that commonly found in Japan, especially in a conveyor belt. Guess we are lucky then as I have came across many similar conveyor belts restaurant in Osaka and Kyoto serving horse meat. 

Will I try horse meat again?

No. 

Will I come back again?

Sure, definitely. It is value for money although it is quite far from our hotel. 

Sabio

Sabio
5 Duxton Hill
Telephone: 66907562

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My colleagues brought me to this Spanish Tapas Bar for my "bachelorette party".

Tried a lot of interesting food. One of which is Jamon Iberico, which is a cured ham from the black iberian pig. 

Will I come again?

Ambiance is nice. However, the food is quite pricey (i.e. approximately $15 to $20 per tapas)

If you like to try many but small portion quality dishes, then this is the place to go to!

A nice place to meet up with several girl friends and spend the night chatting. 

Sangria (assortment of fruit stewed in a claret base mixed with soda water and sugar). 

Jamon Iberico

Kko Kko Nara

Kko Kko Nara
57 Tras Street

#01-01

Telephone: 62248186

Opening hours: 11am to 5pm / 5pm to 4am

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I am a constant craving for their chicken wings!

It is crispy and not too oily. 

You can opt for the 3 pcs per type (SGD 20) or 5 pcs per type (SGD 35) platter.

There are a few varieties to choose from:

1. Original, 
2. Garlic (marinated with garlic and soy) 
3. Sweet and spicy 
4. Hot & Spicy (marinated with Korean chilli sauce)

My favourite is (2). Not too spicy yet sweet. 

And it only comes in wings. 

For the rest, you could get other chicken parts, i.e. thighs, drumsticks etc. 

Will I come back again?

I will never get bored of their garlic chicken wings again. 

Pair this with one of the lunch sets (i.e. beef bulgogi - SGD 10) for a nice satisfying meal!

Nakhon Kitchen Part II

This is a continuation of the previous post.

On our second visit, we decided to try several items that are less spicy. 

Some of the items ordered were pineapple curry with mussels, red ruby dessert and mango with sticky rice. 

Afternoon Tea at Four Seasons (Post Wedding)

Afternoon Tea @ Four Seasons Hotel

1pm to 5pm daily

+65 6734 1110

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Just after the wedding day, we went for an afternoon tea at Four Seasons. The afternoon tea cost SGD 38 ++ per person. This includes choice of TWG Tea or Illy Coffee. There are also other options, i.e. cocktail tea (i.e. SGD 58++ per person) or champagne (i.e. SGD 68++ per pax)

Some of the highlights are homemade rhubarb scones and tea cakes, served with rose petals  strawberry preserve, lemon curd and Devonshire clotted organic cream.

A three tier was served and there are unlimited refills allowed. 

So if you are a heavy eater of scones and cakes, this is the place to go!

Will I come back?

This is a nice place to escape if you have an afternoon to laze around. 

And a must go if you love lots of finely prepared scones and cakes. 

Milestone 1 : Getting Married (Ah Yat Abalone)

I would like to share my simple little dinner that we have had for our wedding. 

As we both love good food, it was an easy decision on the venue, i.e. the restaurant that we patronised every year that serves the best Chinese expensive delicacies. It is called Ah Yat Restaurant and its located at Hotel Grand Pacific (formerly Allson Hotel). 

A typical Chinese wedding dinner usually have 8 to 9 dishes (excluding desserts):

• 8 dishes = Prosperity 
• 9 dishes = Eternity 

 We are quite happy of the selection of these yummy dishes:

1. Roasted suckling pig
2. Sharkfin soup (yes, i love sharkfin)
3. Stir fried scallops
4. Whole abalone
5. Seasonal vegetables
6. Soon Hock Fish
7. Baked lobsters
8. Braised E Fu Noodles
9. Hot Yam Paste and Sago
10. Bird nest egg tarts

It's been a while...

It has been a long time since my last entry. 

There are so many events that has happened over the past few months, such as: 

1. Getting married
2. Honeymoon
3. More travelling (i.e. Sydney and KL)

I will be slowly posting some of these in a short while...