[HK: Central] Sushi Saito

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tempted by my foodie friend’s instagram, I finally got to try Sushi Saito last summer. Sushi Saito is a world renowned Sushi restaurant from Tokyo, where they used to have 3 Michelin stars. until they stopped accepting bookings, just like Jiro’s, and is now only bookable via special connections. Chef Takashi Saito has two overseas branches, one here in Hong Kong under the same name; Sushi Saito and another one in Kuala Lumpur called Taka. their style of sushi is Edo-mae, and according to my Japanese friend, each sushi master have their sort of “signature style,” where Saito’s most significant one is their al-dente sour rice.

the one in Hong Kong has 2 Michelin stars and although it can be booked without connections, it is still very, I mean very very difficult to book. my foodie friend knew the chef so you can say that I booked through connections, but even him, he books his spot several months in advance usually. because dinner is even more difficult to book (and I am cheap anyways), I booked for lunch. it costs 1680HKD for their sushi lunch and a hefty 3600HKD for their kaiseki dinner. of course, it’s all omakase, and one price. the time slots are fixed hence try not to arrive late. additionally, what makes it so expensive is probably also because the ingredients are handpicked by Chef Saito and flown in daily. freshness guaranteed. Continue reading “[HK: Central] Sushi Saito”

[Tokyo] Marukin Ramen

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hello all! hope you guys love ramen just like I do. in Japan, ramen is deemed to be a man’s food and me liking it made my friends call me a.. ramen-girl because it’s so odd to have a girl as a ramen fan. I used to eat ramen so often that I could eat it everyday! well, because it’s cheap and it’s just so slurpingly good!

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while many people thinks that Ichiran and Ippudo’s the best, the thing that foreigners don’t know is that.. there is a ramen for everyone, and I highly urge everyone to try out different ramens to find their perfect fit! Continue reading “[Tokyo] Marukin Ramen”

[Taipei: Dazhi] Palette, probably one of the best buffet in Taipei.

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so in this post, I will talk about Palette’s well known buffet breakfast and dinner although they serve even during lunch and tea time. the Grand Mayfull Hotel is a 5 star hotel that is completely Taiwanese owned and it just opened its doors 1 year ago. Although they are not so well known yet, their buffets are already experiencing long queues and especially their dinner, you should only go after making reservations.

Continue reading “[Taipei: Dazhi] Palette, probably one of the best buffet in Taipei.”

[Okinawa: Zamami Island, Aguu Pork] Day 2

with the recommendations of friends who have been to Okinawa, we squeezed Zamami into our tight schedule because many of them commented that the Kerama (Zamami is one of them) Islands are the highlight of their trip. if you could stay a day or two in Zamami, make sure you go for the turtle watching which is around early in the morning or in the evening. but since we went for a day trip (where many Japanese does too), we had to miss out on the cute little turtles =(.

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my best friend while I was in language school, Megumi. ain’t she beautiful or what? =D. Continue reading “[Okinawa: Zamami Island, Aguu Pork] Day 2”

[Okinawa: International St., Shuri Castle, Jack’s Steakhouse] Day 1

when one thinks of Japan, they’d usually think about Tokyo or Kyoto; which yes, is two of my favourite places as ones super high-tech and another is full of traditional stuff. but near Taiwan, there lies Okinawa, an island that’s pretty under-rated and is said to be better than Hawaii by some. (it is also named the Hawaii of Japan!) lucky for me, the tickets from Seoul to Okinawa was pretty affordable and there’s a direct flight so I decided to pay a visit to the other end of Japan!

after doing some homework, I found a list of places to go and things to eat and I couldn’t fit all of it in my 4 day 3 night schedule. so I’d recommend going there at least for 5 or 6 days! what I will not be covering is the cave diving and turtle watching in Zamami (I’d recommend to stay in Zamami for at least one night!) which I would really want to see but there was just not enough time T__T.

so are you ready for day 1? let’s go! Continue reading “[Okinawa: International St., Shuri Castle, Jack’s Steakhouse] Day 1”

[Tokyo: Nishi-Ogikubo] Pineapple and Chocolate Ramen?! Papapapapine!

if you’re a hardcore rocketnews24 reader, you might’ve run across this restaurant that serves pineapple ramen so good, they came out with the instant noodle version of it and it can be found at selected convenience stores. except I’ve yet to come across it during my 7 month stay in Japan.

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so Papapapapine is known for their pineapple ramen. but what’s that above? kakakakakao. get it? well, other than its famous pineapple ramen, it is also known for its notorious innovation when it comes to ramen. they had strawberry ramen, banana ramen.. well.. you name it. while their seasonal menu changes all the time, you’d always be able to find pineapple ramen in this shop. Continue reading “[Tokyo: Nishi-Ogikubo] Pineapple and Chocolate Ramen?! Papapapapine!”

[Tokyo: Harajuku] AFURI Ramen

recently I got the nickname “ramen girl” from my Japanese friend because he stated that Ramen isn’t normally loved by women. but if you look through my instagram a month before I leave Japan, you could probably see my love for ramen, which made me the “ramen girl.”

while the best ramen I’ve ever had was still the one from Osaka, from a chain called.. I forgot (update: it’s called 藤平) but it was near Fukushima station, Tokyo has the widest range of ramen in my opinion. it is like, you can find anything in Tokyo. and I love Tokyo for that reason. if you are living in Tokyo and loveee ramen, then Afuri shouldn’t be a name that is unfamiliar to you as it is literally ONE OF THE BEST ramen available in Tokyo.

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you should know how no ramen in Japan would taste the same, Afuri takes a huger leap away from the weird. they are known for their Yuzu ramen, or in other words, Citrus ramen. how would the citrus’ tangy taste taste like with salty ramen? well, that’s why I went to find out! Continue reading “[Tokyo: Harajuku] AFURI Ramen”

[Tokyo: Ginza] Midori Sushi. is it worth it?

I’d like to label people who come to Midori Sushi as.. smart. because for 3,000yen, you can get as follows:

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12 pieces of sushi, egg + one handroll and a miso crab salad!

although the queue would be quite a misery (normally 2 hours. I only queued for 80 minutes ahahhaha ONLY.) you can actually take a number and come back an hour later and wait for only about 20-40 minutes! depending on which branch you go to really. I went to the Ginza branch and I heard the Shibuya branch has the longest queue whereas the one in Kichijoji has almost no queue! Continue reading “[Tokyo: Ginza] Midori Sushi. is it worth it?”

[Tokyo: Ebisu] Itasobakaoriya 板蕎麦 香り家

so this place which I’ve stumbled across in Ebisu while looking for a soba place, is the BEST soba place I’ve ever came across in Japan so far. I was actually around the area looking for the Ebisu illumination but decided to settle for soba instead since it’s a tradition in Japan to eat soba the night before new years (the Japanese NY is on 1.1) and it is said that you should not bite your soba as you eat and gobble it down as a whole until it is all in your mouth and then chew. all that just to live a longer life. well, no harm believing in it right? except I forgot and accidentally bit it off my first bite =X. but I followed the “rules” after that.

soba’s always been my favourite Japanese dish since I was young. although now it’s sushi, I still love soba. but to my surprise, soba in Japan does not taste quite like the soba’s I’ve had in Malaysia and Korea where it was always a little more jelly-like. instead, these buckwheat noodles called soba, are not as smooth and has a stronger buckwheat taste to it in Japan. I wasn’t very used to it the first few times but I came to enjoy it more than the ones I’ve had which I now label, the unoriginal soba.

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I actually read about this place and it has a soaring high 3.52 in tabelog and there were comments on how people waited for this and thought it was totally worth the wait. except because I had it first on NYE I had to queue for 2 hours in the painfully cold weather. and still thought it was very worth it! they even provided us hot tea, beer (yes, BEER!) and hot packs while we were waiting in line outside! Continue reading “[Tokyo: Ebisu] Itasobakaoriya 板蕎麦 香り家”