Just wanted a funny post to start your weekend and show that I am mentally nine years old.
(you probably gotta be local for this one to make sense)
Monthly Archives: January 2020
Funny Signs – Japan
(you probably gotta be local for this one to make sense)
Nanzan – Kyoto, Japan
I can’t even link this restaurant, I don’t think I can find it. This restaurant was located at Kyoto Station. We decided to take a day trip from Osaka and were starving by the time we arrived at Kyoto. Craving meat, we decided to try this place. The ramen place had a line but this place was empty. Maybe that was a sign. Vicki and I had a funny exchange over this, she thought this restaurant was related to Nanzan GiroGiro in Hawaii, unfortunately it is not! Although I really want to try Nanzan GiroGiro…
daily beef steak cuts like Kyoto Wagyu and Japanese beef.
Beef steak 100g, cattle bone broth soup, salad, rice set.
today’s special beef steak cuts like Kyoto wagyu and Japanese beef loin.
Today’s special beef steak 100g, cattle bone broth soup, salad, rice set.
The bone broth was very clean and light tasting. The tsukemono was a nice touch since I wasn’t expecting it. Yes, that is one kimchee wonbok leaf folded up (lol). It was good, quality over quantity right.
Here is the salad that came with the set. It tasted good, isn’t it so pretty? Yes to plentiful onions yet again. I enjoyed this!
In the end, was this worth the money? Ehh…initially I thought it was kind of pricey. But I guess for a set, this was a pretty good deal! We got both sets and shared, I think I would get Set B on my own if I were to come here again.
Posted in Food, Restaurant, Travel
Universal Studios – Osaka, Japan
Ever read a blog about Universal Studios and only want to read about the food? Yeah, me too. You mean there are other things to do at these parks but eat? You stumped me. Anyway, I’m serious…this is nothing but food. Enjoy!
Actually, this one I picked up was a chicken leg. I think? It certainly was not as big as the turkey legs I have gotten. Even the sign read chicken leg, too bad I didn’t take a picture of it. Shucks!
Edit: Okay I must have had too much legs this trip, this one WAS a turkey leg. It was Disney that was a chicken leg. I’m sure you’re excited for that upcoming post, lol.
Thinking I should have gotten the cold slushie one. It was so cold that I decided to get the hot one, it was nice and warm in my hands. It was quite nice actually! Had myself a nice little seat while I slowly sipped this sweet elixir.
We know these parks have expensive meals right? And the food can be somewhat mediocre. I enjoyed this dish but was a bit disappointed that it didn’t include a cuteness factor like the next dish I am going to share. I do like the salads they serve in Japan, plenty onions and an onion dressing, haha.
How cute is this? This wasn’t my dish but it was enjoyed! Gotta appeal to the kids right? Though the diner of this dish was not a kid…we’re all kids at heart.
A bit of a language barrier ended up a mistake here. We kept asking the cashier what the flavor of this dessert was. The menu just called it cream but it is like neon yellow. Ordered it anyway and it was banana flavored. Wait, artificial banana flavor. Gross. Fresh banana, I get. This was…really bad. Not recommended and it costs extra!
Yes, afternoon snack. Look at the cuteness! And yes, it tasted good too! I enjoyed the hot nikuman, perfect for the chilly weather. The donut holes were good, filled with custard or an apple filling. The donuts were definitely more of a treat for the eyes than the tummy. Perfect photo op!
Hakata Ikkousha – Osaka, Japan
Ah yes, the Japan posts start…now! First stop? About 5 days in Osaka. I love Osaka. I love Osaka more than Tokyo. The flight to Japan is always longer than the one back home and I didn’t get much sleep on this flight. Then, we had to navigate our way to the train to take us into the the city center of Osaka. The train ride was fine, we got good seats but it was like another nearly 2 hours to get there!
Luckily for us, our hotel in Osaka runs a shuttle bus from Osaka Station to the hotel. We were able to find the Shuttle bus stop okay, actually a few hotels run shuttle buses so that was convenient! What I found amusing was that our bus ran constantly and was full of both hotel and non-hotel patrons, jump on and you get a free ride to the hotel or to Osaka Station. Our hotel was not located in a lively area so the bus was nice to take to Osaka Station to begin our daily journeys.
Anyway, we got to the hotel and checked in. Threw down our bags and then were hungry. We decided to take the hotel bus back to Osaka Station, ha! Hakata Ikkousha is located right in front of our bus stop, we did not want to go searching for another place at this point. We were sold.
The ticket machine to order! There was a bit of instructions but we still managed to muck it up. I didn’t realize you had to put your money in first and then order…so we ordered an extra bowl of ramen by accident. Luckily one of the workers came out and clarified everything and refunded us! Whew!
This was my ramen, I saw black oil in the picture of the vending machine and went for it. Figured it was black garlic oil. Was it? I don’t even remember so I can’t tell you. How was the ramen? Good, not great. Hit the spot after long hours of travel.
Gotta always get a shot of the egg. How does this look to you? To me, I prefer the yolk to be softer and creamier so this was a bit overcooked for my taste.
Hmm, this was okay. Pretty salty but what do you expect with mentaiko??
Gyoza was good. I always love gyoza and the did it just fine! Was I itching to return back to this restaurant? Not really, no repeat visits this trip. We had plenty of repeat trips to Ichiran (let’s not go there, unless I post about it).
Posted in Food, Restaurant, Travel
Ya-Ya’s Chophouse & Seafood
Happy New Year everyone! By now, you’ve heard of Ya-Ya’s right? The restaurant that President Obama visited so it’s become a bit of the “it” restaurant right now. Funny thing is, I’ve been meaning to try Ya-Ya’s before his visit and actually made my reservation the day before news broke!
So how was the visit? Join me on this photographic journey…
We start with muddled watermelon then add Suntory Haku Vodka, Lillet Rose and St Germain Elderflower Liqueur. This is served in a mini carafe over watermelon and lychee ice at the table.
Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush on this. This drink was delicious. Doesn’t it look pretty? I don’t know if you can see it but the ice cubes are pink and white. I ordered two of them. I’m not a drinker and I just had to have two. Gotta admit, the Chinese in me loved that the ice cubes were flavored. That’s like a whole other drink! Delicious, I would definitely order this again. Wait, does that mean I had 4 drinks? Hmm…
Fresh out of the oven, ono! I always like molasses bread. The pointy bread was interesting…I think it tasted good because it was still warm and somewhat soft from the oven. If the pointy bread was served cold, I bet they would be hard and rubbery.
Life hack: remove the butter ramekin right when they bring the bread to the table. Don’t be like us and end up with melted butter from the heat of the bread!
What can I say about creamed spinach? Tasted like the typical creamed spinach you get at a steakhouse, nothing unique or special about this one.
fresh Kahuku corn hand shucked & cobbed; served w/ a sweet candy shell
Why? Why? Why? I think they wanted to put an interesting spin on corn and our curiosity got the best of us. We ordered it. Waiter said our orders were great choices. Okay. This was the worst corn dish I have ever ordered. Look, corn is already sweet. It was an abomination to Kahuku corn.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy creme brulee like any other dessert loving human being. But this? It does not work. Burnt sugar over creamed corn does not work. It was much too sweet and the sugar was much too hard (yes, it’s supposed to be). This just doesn’t work. I would not order this again, blech!
w/ live whole Maine lobster, crab meat, Manila clams, sea scallops & jumbo Kauai shrimp
I apologize for the different colorings with the photos. What is it with restaurants and the dark dark lighting? How was this dish? DELICIOUS. So good. I will share a few tips if the restaurant reads this, nothing to do with the taste.
- Provide gloves – Yes, we had to go at this dish with bare hands.
- Provide a seafood bib – I get it, you’re a nice restaurant but this dish is very saucy and my white shirt still got stained as careful as I tried to be.
- Crack the lobster – if you’re going to make your diner dig out meat from the entire lobster, help us out by making it easier to get to the meat. It must have been quite a sight to watch us eat this (talking fully hands-on).
- Provide wet wipes – Well since we didn’t have gloves, our hands were complete drenched in the sauce (there’s lot of delicious sauce). I had to dirty my cloth napkin (was all red) and still had to run to the bathroom to wash hands.
“Double Prime” slow roasted overnight 32 ounce
Best prime rib I have had in my life. Hands down. Am I an expert on that? Probably not. I only get to grind on prime rib at buffets but those are okay, no? This hunk of meat was the most tender and perfectly seasoned piece of prime rib I have ever had. Melt the “mout” kine tender, I am still dreaming of it. I was also able to take home the leftovers which DID NOT GO TO WASTE, LET ME TELL YOU.
topped w/ fresh berries
Haha, after the creme brulee corn catastrophe, this was still ordered. Cute little serving of cheesecake with the burnt sugar topping. I don’t know about their plural description of fresh berries, came with one sliced up strawberry.
w/ vanilla ice cream, organic cane sugar & chocolate sauce
Your eyes don’t deceive you. This is a picture of the dish right when it was placed on our table. Vanilla Ice Cream became vanilla soup – maybe while it was waiting in the kitchen? If you know me, I don’t care for vanilla ice cream anyway so I just ate the beignets. Tasted great with the chocolate sauce, I would order this again!
Okay, the reason I brought up the Obama visit was because it may have impacted the service on our visit which means I can’t judge them too harshly for it. It was busy in the restaurant when we arrived and only got busier. They have a very big bar area with two big TV screens showing the football game. At one point during our dinner, two male diners stood by me to watch the TV and made loud cheers (restaurant is small – the bar and the tables are all together). Not quite sure what atmosphere this restaurant is going for, it’s definitely not a sports bar so that was a bit odd.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to dine and leave. I don’t stick around after eating to have long conversations. Well, same thing this time but we were still in the restaurant for over 3 hours. Huh? I know our food took quite a while to come out but I didn’t realize it was that long, once again, it was probably due to the popularity from Obama. I will forgive that.
Bathroom! Oh my gosh. The bathroom is located outside of the restaurant around the corner and is shared with other restaurants. You need a key to get into the restroom area, then you could access male/female/family restroom. Well, each time a person had to use the restroom, the hostess would escort the person to the restroom with the key so she could bring it back with her. Not exactly a sustainable practice. I went multiple times due to lobster sauce hands and too much liquid intake.
The food was delicious (minus the corn), the service itself was actually really good. Great waiters who were thoughtful and worked as a team. We were a bit ignored near the end but I assume it’s because of how busy they were. I would definitely give them a chance again. And yes, it was expensive! It was a holiday get-together. Gotta start the new year right!
Posted in Food, Restaurant