Archive | December 2025

Happy New Year!

Dec31

Did you have your mochi yet? Chan and I had ours early. Chan has been feeling a bit under the weather so I grabbed this pack at Nijiya when I picked up some food for us. Cute yeah the decoration? I learned my lesson from last year, avoid all Japanese markets during this time because of the preparations for New Years! We missed out on mochi making at a friends house this past weekend but I do hope Chan gets better enough for the NYE get-together. Poor thing.

Did you folks have a good year in 2025? I’m trying to remember all the good that happened and the bad (not to be negative, just to reflect on) but I can’t seem to recall much. I remember the big things/memories, like our trips! But gosh, everything else is such a blur. It’s so hard to remember little details and moments. How can I get back to that? My mind is always racing from one thought to another…or stuck in the mundane humdrum of the day-to-day. 2026 is upon us! And surprisingly, I haven’t heard as much firebombs and fireworks this year thus far. Usually I start hearing it around thanksgiving. Perhaps last year really served as a tragic lesson? It’s too bad we can’t even play with sparklers anymore! Ah. Anyway, Happy New Year to you all and I’ll see you with new posts next year (next week)! 🙂

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Totoya – Kaimuki, HI

Dec29

Totoya opened a few months ago with pretty big fanfare, I didn’t dare go because of the long lines! They are a super small shop so unless you lined up early, you would have to stand and wait for the next seating. I came on a random weekday for lunch the other week and luckily for us, even though we came 30 minutes after opening, we scored our two seats! Had more seats open after we sat too…so I guess they aren’t as busy as before. They also opened a second location by Ala Moana.

Totoya specializes in rice bowls – specifically negitoro or kaisen bowls. In other words, if you don’t like raw fish, don’t come here. So was it worth the hype? Check it out!

Nagomi | $22.90
Add Egg yolk shoyu | $1.50
original negitoro, red shrimp, salmon (2pc), scallops, tobiko, nori (2pc)
aosa seaweed miso soup

Matsu Negitoro Bowl | $34.90
Add Egg yolk shoyu | $1.50
tuna, scallops, cucumber, kazunoko, green onion, tobiko, nori (2pc), sesame seeds
Matsu: luxurious bowl topped with sea urchin and salmon roe
aosa seaweed miso soup

Miso Soup

Shoyu Egg Yolk (honestly, not needed)

This was my bowl. Ooh…it’s a lot of food! I liked it the first few bites and then it was just…too much? Too much rice? Too much stuff. I think since it negitoro – it’s also very mushy. We also added the shoyu egg yolk and well, that’s just triple mush lol. It just becomes a bit too much at the end. It was good but nothing I would return for. I think I’d rather go to a sushi restaurant and eat sushi by the piece! If you love negitoro and rice bowls, please have at it!

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Merry Christmas!

Dec25

I just wanted to take this time to thank you for visiting my blog and reading my silly posts! I really enjoy interacting with all of you and sharing my eating adventures. I hope you folks had a great 2025 and here’s to an awesome 2026! What have I noticed lately? How fast time passes us by. I don’t know what it is – post-Covid? Anyway, time seems to pass fast and I am not remembering things as much as I used to. Perhaps it’s because of social media/phones – too much information and doom scrolling. I do miss the old days (pre-social media) sometimes. I read something the other day about how sad it is that kids today don’t know how to be bored anymore. That statement stuck with me. I watch my brothers who can’t let go of their phone for a second. They go wash a dish and literally have to have their phone next to them to continue watching a video…to wash ONE DISH. Thankfully I’m not at that point. Okay, I got off track. Happy Holidays!!!

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Nihonbashi SUI – Machida, Japan

Dec22

A visit to Snoopy Museum means a visit to Grandberry Park and our favorite kaiten sushi place, Nihonbashi SUI! Machida and Grandberry Park is such a cute neighborhood, I’ll bet it’s expensive to live here too. If I was rich, I wouldn’t mind living here! Not much to say in this post, just look at al the food we had. We really go crazy at this place. This time, there was no line. We were the first ones there but it did get busy after we started to eat.

Look at this shrimp tempura! The shrimp was HUGE. It was so plump and bouncy – super good!!

One of my all time favorite fish – flounder! It’s so good and tastes so well with shiso leaf. Highly recommend!

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Mixed Plate Friday (Japan)

Dec19

Another Hawaii related sighting! Blue Water Shrimp! Did I try it? No. I don’t even eat here when I’m home lol. The prices aren’t horrendous but pretty expensive for Japan.

Grape Sorbet Balls | Cup of Ice | Mitsuya Cider

Yes, yes, yes! This is one of the social media trends I wanted to try the most! Add the sorbet balls to the cup and pour in some mitsuya cider…mix it all up and this is what it looks like. It’s super good, super sweet. I loved the taste of it though! If they ever bring these grape sorbet balls to Hawaii, I suggest you try it!

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Snoopy Museum Tokyo – Machida, Japan

Dec17

We always come to check out the Snoopy Museum when we’re in Tokyo. We came two years ago and they were under renovation so we were excited to come back to check it out! We were hoping it would mean a bigger gift shop but shucks, it wasn’t! If anything, I felt like the gift shop was smaller and had less to offer this time around. Boo. If you like Peanuts and can make it out to Kawagoe, I would highly suggest the Snoopy Village there. SO MUCH stuff.

Not much else to post on today, just check out the pictures below!

We’ve only come during Christmas time so I haven’t ever experienced the museum in non-Christmas mode. I really enjoy Christmas so I am okay to keep seeing it in this way!

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IPPUDO – Gotanda-Higashiguchi, Japan

Dec15

Chan has never been to an Ichiran, can you believe it? I don’t know why I brought that up when this post is about Ippudo. I like Ippudo but don’t necessarily come to Ippudo when I visit Japan. This location was located really close to our hotel and I really wanted some ramen and chahan so off we went. How was it? Much better than I remembered! This was also Chan’s first time trying Ippudo and he liked it a lot! In fact, this was the first out of two visits during this trip.

Free sides! Pickled spicy mustard cabbage, bean sprouts, gari and whole garlic cloves! They offer garlic graters to put freshly grated garlic into your ramen. Oh so good!

Gyoza (10 pcs) | ¥470

Chan’s Noodles!

My noodles! I only got half an egg…humph!

Chahan

This is super random but I really enjoy Chinese fried rice made by Japanese ramen shops. Is that random? I super enjoy this version of fried rice, it has a good wok hei flavor and a good amount of MSG. Not many places in Hawaii makes this…or makes it well. Sorry, I must have been hungry and didn’t get a picture of all the menu prices!

The service here is enthusiastic, they get you in and out quickly (which works great for all the business people). I think their broth is deep in flavor and I like that they offer up many different bowls with a variation of toppings. English menu available on their ipads! I would return (and did return).

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Mixed Plate Friday (Japan)

Dec12

Saiboku

Saiboku was such a cute town with its pork restaurants and grocery stores! Unfortunately we did not get to try any of the pork products during this trip, we just did a quick walkthrough before heading to a shrine and then off to Kawagoe. I would definitely like to return to try out their products!

Sayama Cha Cola

Chan’s friend got this for us. They were told that this area was known for the sayama cha cola (green tea mixed with cola). I’m not usually a big fan of green tea so I wasn’t too sure about this. Well let me just say, I tried it a few days later in the hotel room and freaking loved it. It wasn’t too sweet and had just the right amount of carbonation. I liked it a lot, Chan didn’t love it as much as me which meant I could have the rest of his bottle. A win is a win.

Time to buy some cloting. LOL, not as much funny Engrish signs this time around.

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Shunkashuto – Kawagoe, Japan

Dec10

Chan and I were hanging with his friends and made an impromptu trip out to Kawagoe! Totally unexpected and so awesome because there is a Snoopy Village there! We started off with a warm and nourishing udon meal on this rainy day (the only rainy day of our trip) at Shunkashuto. I think the restaurant is geared towards tourists but it doesn’t matter, it was still so good.

Kakuni (Boiled Pork) | ¥800

Yummy kakuni for the table to share. What can I say? Broke-da-mout tender, fall apart in your mouth kine. Delicious!

Sweet Potato Tempura | ¥420

Yum! So glad they ordered both side dishes because I wanted to get a full set that included these sides but didn’t…and they ordered them as sides anyway. Isn’t life great? LOLOL.

Shrimp Tempura Noodles | ¥1550
classic udon noodle dish topped with deep fried shrimp tempura

I was excited to eat some shrimp tempura with “tick” udon noodles but soon regretted my choice after my fellow dining companions got their meals. Not that my dish was bad, not at all, it’s just that theirs was better!!!

Kakiage Noodles | ¥1380
ukiuki is happy or a delightful noodle dish with kakiage shrimp and veggie fritter
kakiage is deep fried shrimp and veggie fritter, which uses a variety of ingredients, such as shrimp, onions, sweet potatoes, carrots and japanese parsley.

The other three including Chan got the kakiage set and damn, take a look at that kakiage. The kakiage we get here in Hawaii looks so sad compared to this. If I knew this is how their kakiage was made, I would have definitely gotten this. Chan let me have a taste and it was so good! Big chunks of vegetables and shrimp – fried light and crispy. Dang. I enjoyed this restaurant a lot!

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Hong Kong Hanten 0410 – Shin Okubo, Japan

Dec8

A visit to Japan is not complete without a visit to Korea Town for some bomb black bean noodles. LOL, I think we had this for our first sit down meal. Hong Kong Hanten 0410 is a restaurant owned by Paik (Baek) Jong Won, he’s one of the judges for the Culinary Class Wars! Excited for the new season starting soon. Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post – this is probably my most favorite jjajangmyeon ever.

Tangsuyuk (Half Size) | ¥980

The half size is perfect to complement our noodle dishes. I think we got the full size last time and it was too much. Gotta have the sweet and sour sauce on the side for dipping – the pork is fried up perfectly crisp.

Gogi Jjamppong | ¥1180

Chan’s jjamppong, his favorite. He got the beef one and it was good. Look at how red the soup is. I tried some of the soup, tasted good!

Jaengban Jajang | ¥2100

KABOOM. Okay, this dish is to serve 2 people. I don’t care. I almost chickened out of ordering it but Chan told me just to go for it. I don’t know why this dish has to be made as 2 servings. Anyway, this is more of a stir-fried version with so much good veggies and seafood. Ahhh…just salivating as I think of this dish. It was super good yet again. Why don’t we have this here in Hawaii?? Gotta wait for my next trip to Japan or Korea to eat this again.

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