すしざんまい Sushi Zanmai in Tsukiji Market for 24 hours fresh sushi .... Tokyo, Japan

We got lost as we ventured into maze of Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo with a list of sushi places, Sushi Dai, Sushi Daiwa and Sushi Zanmai, keyed into my iPhone. The afterthoughts from reading about Sushi Dai and Sushi Daiwa, made us realized that we are not hard core sushi lovers afterall. The queues for these two sushi place in Tsukiji have a wait time that's at least 2~3 hours and we weren't desperate enough to wake up early or to join the queue. For those who tried, I salute you and hope that the experience was totally worth it. We decided to drop by Sushi Zanmai that's known for their value for money fresh sushi. Apart from being known for value, Sushi Zanmai is opened 24 hours to satisfy anyone's crave for fresh sushi.

Although Zanmai didn't have an enduring queue to boast, still most of the tables were filled and we were lucky that there were still four bar seats for us. Another observation, was that most of the patrons were Japanese, so sushi standards should be still up to the mark.

Apart from the rest of the fishes and sea food that we ate in Zanmai, which I thought was absolutely fresh but wasn't really worth mentioning as freshness is a given at any sushi place inside Tsukiji fish market. Our highlight into Tsukiji was already mapped out in our minds the night before, an ultimate indulgence of gorging chu-toro and ootoro (prized tuna cut around the belly region). What can be the best place to feast on them than in Tsukiji? 

Here's our  tuna set at 750 yen, from the right Akami, in the middle the Chu-toro, and the left most the Ootoro. This is value for money especially when Japanese tuna belly was so much more expensive in Singapore. However, this promotional set was a bit of a disappointment, the chu-toro must have been the portion too close to the akami portion. There isn't much omega 3 fatty streaks on the supposed chu-toro. Fortunately, the ootoro was melt-in-your-mouth material. At this price point, there really wasn't much to complain. So, we had at least 4 rounds of this promotional set.

Apart from the fresh ootoro, we asked for some pieces of ootoro to be blow torched. Torching provides the mingling of alternate taste on the same piece of ootoro from the slight burnt top layer to the raw bottom side ride above the sushi rice. The little topping of ginger with yuzu surfaced the sweetness of the ootoro. Marvelous!

Even though Sushi Zanmai didn't provide the more exquisite sushi, we still had an enjoyable gorging session for this prized Japanese tuna cut. I don't think we'll ever get full from just eating fresh Japanese chu-toro and ootoro without hurting our pockets back in Singapore. However, for a more exquisite sushi experience in Tsukiji, the choice of braving the weather in the 2 hour queue for Sushi Dai or Sushi Daiwa would still be up for grasp.

東京都中央区築地4‐11‐9 築地市場外

Tsukiji Market 4-11-9

Tokyo, Japan

Tel : 03-3541-1117

La Boutique Le Cordon Bleu for cakes and pastries ..... Daikanyama, Tokyo, Japan

Le Cordon Bleu has become a name that many aspiring chefs would place on a dais to worship. One who has hone culinary skills from Le Cordon Bleu would be held with high regards. As HY and I wandered through the streets of Daikanyama, we chanced upon Le Cordon Bleu, its outpost in Tokyo. We weren't here to sign up as students but only to rest our feets from all the walking. Located in the building of the culinary school was La Boutique, a patisserie and boulangerie that served delicious French pastries and bread.

We entered the La Boutique through the back street where the main entrance was located. When you walk right through, it will lead to the main road and the main entrance to Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School. The ambience of La Boutique facing the back street was relaxing. 

I knew I would have one of these Choux Cream Puff after just one look. The choux cream was smooth, mildly sweet and exuberate the obvious vanilla flavor. I liked the nuts that was coated over the puff, giving it a little uniqueness over the choux puff that we eat else where. It was indeed an epitome of the Le Cordon Bleu culinary standard.

This was the Orange Flavored Bread that was baked into a perfect cube. I had to pick this as it made me curious and wondering how it'll taste.

The bread was fluffy, light and had a nice citrus tint from the orange. It was perfect with a cup of coffee.

Roob-1 28-13 Sarugaku-cho
Daikanyama, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo, Japan

木村や Kimuraya Bakery in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan ......... the creator of the anpan

The banner up there spells Kimuraya, Ginza main store. A consistent crowd will form around the counter where the staff take orders from the crowd. What's selling like hot cakes in Kimuraya?

Covered by the crowd of eager folks were boxes of buns of different flavors and in one of them the original Anpan (Japanese sweet bun filled with red bean paste). It was Kimuraya's founder, Yosubei Kimura, whom in the pursuit of improving the taste of bread for Japanese using westernized bread making techniques, created the all time popular Anpan. That was in 1874. Since then, the anpan bun was included as part of Japanese food culture. Different fillings like sesame, white bean and chestnut for the sweet bun were created to suit the diversity of taste.

This is the main store in Ginza where we can observe a consistent stream of customer. Just standing outside for 5 minutes, one can attest to the popularity of the Kimuraya buns.

This is the one with red bean filling with a piece of salted sakura blossom pressed into the top of the bun that it's embedded in the  little crack just above the red bean filling. One of the original flavors since it all started.

This is the apple flavored with sake filled inside the bun. I like the taste with the strong fragrance of sake.

4-5-7 Ginza, Chuuou-ku, Tokyo
東京都中央区銀座 4-5-7
Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Kimuraya Website

くふ樂, 炭火串烧厨房 Kuuraku @ Ginza, An Enjoyable Sumiyaki Experience- Tokyo, Japan

We didn't seem to get our fill of sumiyaki in Tokyo this last trip, or rather, I was really sore over bring William and Joanne to the Nanbantei in Shibuya and then having a rather unsatisfying, mediocre sumiyaki experience (actually I was the only sore one). Dinner in Kuuraku @ Ginza was definitely the saving grace before we hit back to Singapore the next morning. All we need to do was to just ask the concierge. Should have just do that before we head out for meals without much research and pre-planning. Even though the service staff in Kuuraku didn't really understand English, and there's no English menu to help the situation, we did manage to order a table of delicious sumiyaki by finger pointing through the illustrations in the menu. All throughout the ordering ordeal, the waitress was totally polite and enthusiastic even though we didn't understand 90% of what she was trying to tell us less the occasional, "tsukune", "kurobuta" intersperse within the "dialogue". It's more like she's telling us and we nod our head whether we understand or not and do a lot of finger pointing. That was fun!

Chilled Hokkaido Tofu with Sea Salt. - I love tofu and I had to order this.  The Hokkaido tofu was very smooth and had a scent soya fragrance as I bring a scoop near to my mouth. I tasted the simple soya richness without adding the salt and itwas already good enough for me. Adding the salt did enhance the taste though. The rest on the table wasn't too keen on this dish, so I gladly take most of it.

Deep Fried Onion - This seemed to be the dish to order as this tastefully presented fried onion flower appeared on almost every table in the restaurant. Absolutely crispy, a sprinkle of salt almost greaseless presentation made this a mouth watering appetizer. It looked good and certainly taste good! 

Grilled Chicken Wings - This was so hot that it's the only 2 pieces we can get hold of. They were sold out! These chicken wings were grilled to perfection and the salting done so deftly that it taste so good.

Chicken Skin - Taking the chicken skin apart and having them on its own used to be unacceptable. But now, everytime  I have sumiyaki, grilled chicken skin will be one of the dish that's  needed on the table. Ignoring the health warning about eat overeating this dish, if done well with that crispy, slightly charred, savory taste, chicken skin stands out as a delicacy on it's own.

Tsukune - which is chicken lump on a stick was coated with yakitori sauce and then grilled to form a pretty delicious brown glaze.

We dip our Tsukune into the raw egg which tones down the sweetness of the yakitori sauce and added an extra eggy fragrance.

Kurobuta Pork Belly - Kuuraku heaped some grated radish and sprinkled some spring onions over the grilled kurobuta pork belly that they served. The kurobuta was tender and smelled of the fragrance from the pork fats that was heated by coal fire.

On the left was the bacon wrapped Japanese cherry tomatoes and on the right was cheese wrapped mochi sticks. The tomatoes were sweet and the bacon gave it the contrasting savory taste. The mochi wrapped with cheese was something that I didn't get to eat in Singapore. The tangy texture of mochi with the semi melted cheese made it fun to munch on and taste good.

Shoyu Onigiri - We were recommnended the onigiri, Japanese rice lump, that was grilled with some shoyu until the exterior was just slightly charred and crispy. This was simple but really good!

〒104-0061 中央区銀座1-16-1 東貨ビルB1F
Tel : 03-3538-6226
Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
Kuuraku Website

Bocksan, a Kobe patterserie with OIISHI cakes ........ Kobe, Japan

The first time we came to Bocksan was in Winter 2008. Following the guide book, we argued about the directions, we got lost and we finally arrived at Bocksan which was actually quite near to the Motomachi in Kobe. HY and I always have these many little tiffs and arguments which baffled many people. Do we have so much differences that we always have to argue? 

On the contrary, I think we are both very alike. We are just both opinionated and we are both born to be Indian chiefs. Even if we have our little tiffs and arguments, we know that we'll always find that inner peace, common direction, common goal towards that juicy tender beef steak or that heavenly dessert that melt in our mouths and in turn melt our hearts. 

We did arrive at Bocksan in the winter of 2008 after a tiff over who knows the correct direction and in the end, the cakes in Bocksan did melt our hearts. Oiishi desu ne!

In Autumn 2010, we came back like whirlwind tour guides and decided to bring our two friends who's on their 'virgin' trip to Japan. Here we are at Bocksan again. This time dragging William and Joanne along with us after the heavy Kobe Beef meal.

The entrance of Bocksan. This outlet is actually quite near to the Motomachi. The  first floor is their retail outlet and the second floor is where desserts are served to eat-in customers.

Everyone got pick a dessert to share among the four of us. Among the four cakes that we ordered, I had them in my personal order of preference, despite everyone's disagreements about which was the best on the table ;-).

#1 Bocksan's Swiss Roll - Being a Swiss Roll lover, what can be more exciting than visiting Bocksan. I'll not be surprised if Bocksan's named the 'best' swiss roll maker in Kobe. As plain as it looks, this piece of swiss roll was really something. The light and fragrant cake base was rolled into a swirl with the right amount of fresh cream. The swiss roll was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's a 'Must-Try" in the house.

#2 Strawberry Shortcake - Strawberry was in season and we had to order this cake to try. The cake was light (even lighter than the swiss roll as it needs no rolling). The fresh strawberries were sweet!

#3 Milk Pudding Cake - This wasn't much of a difference from the strawberry shortcake. The strawberries were swapped for pudding toppings. If you've tried the pudding in Japan, you'll agree that they put a lot of effort into making the best, (minimart ones excluded from considerations). Having them as topping for a cake adds novelty to the taste of the cake.



#4 Pumpkin base fruit tart - The choice of juicy sourish fruits were a good mix with the sweet pumpkin tart base. It was quite good if eaten on it's own. It's just that when compared to the rest of the cakes, I thought this tart shy in comparison to the cakes that we ordered. 

Cho 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Kobe Sannomiya 6-3 
Kobe, Japan
TEL :078-391-3955
Bocksan Website

Wakkoqu Kobe Beefsteak ..... One of the best beef experience we had! - Kobe, Japan

What's most popular in Kobe? Kobe Beef! Are we gonna miss that while we are in Kobe? No Way! Sounds like a tour guide urging on the tourist while on a tour in Kobe. Well, that did go on in my mind while I was task to search out our food venue in Kobe. Wakkoqu market themselves well enough on their website to make me pick it as our choiced venue for the revered beef of Japan. It didn't take much to persuade me as it's one of the few website that had English translation. The beef in Wakkoqu are from the best of Hyogo bred Tajima black cattle and specifically 3 year old female cattle. Turns out, it became one of our best beef steak experience.

We (HY, William, Joanne and I) arrived into Kobe from Kyoto via the intercity train and stepped out of Sanomiya station. As we had some time before lunch, we did some shopping in Motomachi, the shopping street in Kobe before we fumbled our way to our extravagant Kobe steak lunch in Wakkoqu.

Entrance of Wakkoqu

Lunch sets cost between 2,940~5,040 yen. However, we decided to go extravagant for this meal and go for the best grade sirloin in the house. This set us back 13700 yen per person. However, we were impressed by the marbling on our sirloin and find that it was all worth the experience.

The best premium Kobe sirloin in Wakkoqu was shown to us
before cooking over the teppanyaki hot plate.

A close-up of the marbling of this top grade Kobe sirloin.

The sirloin was cut up and the fattiest portion was first cooked by placing it vertically on the hot plate.

Initially, a young Japanese chef was designated to serve us behind the teppanyaki counter. He was able to speak very fluent Mandarin and that made ordering very easy. When we decided on their most expensive course in the house, the most experience chef was then sent to cook for us.

The cool looking chef preparing our sirloin in fluid motion and made the cooking all seemed so easy.

Green Salad and an appetizer of salmon or raw beef sliced was served but this wasn't the highlight.

Apart from the sirloin steak, there was also an assortment of teppanyaki vegetables like carrots, sweet potato, tofu and mochi.

First, the leanest portion of the steak were cut up into strips like this.  All sides of the pieces were carefully cooked to uniform browning. Seeing the teppanyaki chef manipulate these pieces of sirloin was like watching a performance. He made it look so easy. I tried doing that at home and realized the difficulty.

The first pieces were served onto our individual plates right at the edge of the hot plate. These pieces were to be eaten by dipping into crushed course salt and crushed black pepper.

A close-up of this leanest sirloin portion still reveal a good amount of interlaced fats which made this revered Kobe beef so juicy and tender.

Next, the portion of the sirloin with more fats were cooked for us. These can be eaten with mustard dip as well as the course salt and crushed black pepper. Even though, the carrots and potatoes were like supporting cast in this meal. They were really sweet and went well with the beef.

A close-up of the fatter portion of the sirloin. With such a rich meal, a bottle of red wine that we ordered certainly helped reduce the level of cloying that can be quite overwhelming with sirloin of such intense marbling.

In all Japanese style, the meal came with rice and pickled vegetables.

The fattiest portion of the sirloin were then cut up into small bits and then stir fried with bean sprouts.

This turned out of be one of the best meal we had for this Japan trip and one of the best beef meal we had so far. Apart from the delicious food, the cooking 'performance' by the chef made it such an enjoyable meal. Needless to say, service was excellent, typical of high end Japanese restaurant. Oiishi!

We had quite a fair bit of the house red to go with the beef and we ended up sauntering down the hill, a little tipsy, faces all flushed, bracing ourselves in the autumn breeze, towards Motomachi for more shopping.

1F Hillside Terrace 1-22-13
Nakayamate-dori, Chuo
Kobe, Japan
Tel : 078-222-0678
Wakkoqu Website

吉川 天ぷら Yoshikawa Inn Tempura ...... looked simple yet delicious - Kyoto, Japan

After visiting the Kinkakuji for views of the colorful Autumn leaves, we plan for a visit to Yoshikawa Inn for a tempura lunch. Yoshikawa Inn resides in quiet Tominokoji Dori, quite near the main road of Oike Dori. The inn is a quite a traditional charm and seemed to be a popular place for a Japanese wedding. Apart from it's popular tempura cuisine, Yoshikawa also serves Kyoto style kaiseki. It'll cost more to have the meal inside a traditional Japanese room but we chose to enjoy the tempura at a cheaper rate by sitting at the counter.

At the counter, we get the full view of the chef at work. Fresh food was dished out to us immediately after it was fried and then have the oil dripped dry for a while.

Chef preparing our tempura meal over the counter seats.

Chef frying our food right in front of our eyes.

Here's what we get for our lunch set. The portion wasn't really satisfying but it was really delicious. The vegetables were sweet and the white fish was fresh and tender. It was a pity we were given only 2 small pieces each.

We had rice to go with the tempura food. The pickled vegetables and fried silver fish that came with the meal made it all so appetizing.

Pickled Vegetable and fried silver fish.

Tempura at Yoshikawa Inn was really great. The experience would have been more satisfying if the portions were bigger.

• 〒604-8093京都市中京区富小路通り御池下ル
• Tominokoji,Oike-sagaru,Nakagyo-ku,Kyoto. Japan
• Tel. 075-221-5544 (+81-75-221-5544)

Yoshikawa Inn Tempura Website