Did we find a hot pot restaurant in Japan? You betcha. Okay well, shabu shabu but I will call it hot pot anyway!
Here is the menu, it’s all you can eat! You pay about 250 yen extra for an all you can drink…drink. It’s a lot like the places here, order the meats from the wait staff and grab your own starches and veggies from the cold case. I can’t quite remember which set we went with, I don’t think we went too high end since you cook it up in the broth anyway.
Some of the meat and the eggs! Yes, you can eat Japanese eggs raw! Crack it into your bowl and mix it up to dip your meats in.
Loved the veggie choices. Ramen noodles. Tofu Puffs. Did you notice in the first pic? The abundance of choy sum? Well we cleaned out the choy sum leaves…oops…
MORE MEATS
This restaurant is located in the AEON Mall in Kyoto. I was so tired and hangry by the time we picked this place that I can’t remember much details. The waitress knew enough English to help us and the English menu was VERY helpful. English menus became a necessity after a long day of traveling. I liked it but it was too bad I wasn’t feeling great to truly enjoy it!
Green Tea Dessert with Tea Check out the timer! That’s when you know your tea is ready to pour and drink!
Kind of looks like a make-up brush yeah?
Anmitsu Doesn’t this look beautiful? It tasted as good as it looks! Enjoyed it!
Dashi Tamagoyaki
Got this the first time I ever went to Nishiki and have kept up the tradition ever since. I think I got it from the wrong shop this time, I don’t remember it sitting in broth. Though it was nice to sip this hot broth in the cold weather. For a food market, there are NO rubbish cans anywhere. It’s quite frustrating.
Baby Octopus
This is a bit morbid. It’s a small octopus and the head is hollowed out and stuffed with a quail egg. The flavor of the octopus coated in a sweet sauce…can smell kind of stinky (like a stinky fish) but when you eat it, it’s not stinky at all. This is also a traditional snack for me!
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…
Beef Steak Lunch (A) | ¥2700 daily beef steak cuts like Kyoto Wagyu and Japanese beef. Beef steak 100g, cattle bone broth soup, salad, rice set.
Beef Steak Lunch (B) | ¥3850 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.
Rice, Cattle Bone Broth Soup, Tsukemono/Kimchee
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.
Salad!
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.
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!
Smoked Turkey Leg
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.
Hot Butter Beer
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.
Happiness Cafe – Keema Curry
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.
Fried Chicken Plate
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!
Hello Kitty Donuts and Nikuman
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!
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!
Red Ajitama Ramen
I don’t remember the name of this
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.
Mentaiko Rice
Hmm, this was okay. Pretty salty but what do you expect with mentaiko??
Gyoza
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).
One of my favorite cuisines is Vietnamese Food. If I am ever feeling under the weather, Pho is the dish I crave most. Color me surprised that we only tried two Vietnamese Restaurants during this trip, although the trip wasn’t all that long. I’ll cover both restaurants in this post.
Mango Tango | $3.95 black tea with mango, passion fruit coconut jelly
Garlic Noodles with Grilled Jumbo Shrimp | $15.00
Okay, I just realized that I went to two Vietnamese restaurants and didn’t eat pho in either one. What was I thinking? Well if you think I have any regrets, I have none. These garlic noodles with shrimp were so delicious. Mmm…what a send-off of a meal. The drink? Perfect! I really wish I had found this restaurant earlier in the trip because I am sure we would have given it a second visit.
Hands down, one of my favorite meals in California. The service at Ong Ga Nae Korean BBQ started off awful, but I honestly go to Korean restaurants expecting that. Anyway, we were there a bit early. Found street parking luckily so we didn’t have to use valet parking, whew! We were initially served by two males and they did not seem like they liked being waiters, lol. But let me tell you, as our meal progressed, a female waitress came on duty and made up for the entire meal. She was so incredibly sweet and helped us cook all our meats. I was too busy eating and didn’t spend enough time taking pictures…
BAN CHAN LIFE
Special Combo A (serves 2) | $59.99 marinated beef rib, pork belly, chicken bulgogi, prime beef brisket
Yukhoe (Beef Tartare) | $not cheap
I wish I had more details on this. I tried to find it on their menu but it was a picture on their wall and it doesn’t look like it’s part of their printed menu? I have wanted to try this for a long long long time. You don’t really find this dish here because it’s beef tartare. I really wish we had it here, this dish was to die for. It was so much meat but I had to have it. And we couldn’t take it out, understandably, so I really had to try to eat it all. Beautiful beef, korean pear, pine nuts, sesame oil, and may other ingredients. It just came together to make the perfect dish. I certainly didn’t need the other BBQ meats with this dish. I know for next time…maybe a soup and this dish. Ughhh…I wish I could eat this again! Sooner than later!
What trip to LA is complete without a visit to Disneyland? I’ll let you in on a little secret, this was my first trip to Disneyland. Yes, seriously. I didn’t have much travels as a kid and when we did travel, it was to the homeland, not the mainland. I’ve been to other Disney parks but was excited to check California out! We decided to check out both Disneyland and California Adventure Park…and boy am I glad we did. I didn’t know this beforehand but did you know…Disney celebrates Lunar New Year??
There was a gentleman there writing these on the spot by request! Well not completely by request, you had to choose a character from their list. I chose luck!
Lunar New Year ears. Yes, I bought it. And yes, I took pictures with Mickey and Minnie in their Lunar New Year clothes!
Can’t be a visit to Disney without seeing the castle…oh wait…umm…
Award Wieners – California Adventure Park
Spicy City Dog | $9.79 Cheddar-Jalapeño Sausage topped with Chipotle Crema, Queso Fresco and Pico de Gallo with Filmstrip Fries
A Cheesy Celebration | $9.99 Cheddar Sausage Link with creamy Macaroni and Cheese, Salsa Verde, crumbled spicy Cheese Puffs, and Cheese Curds on a Toasted Bun with Filmstrip Fries
I can only comment on the cheesy celebration because this was my dog. Did I tell you I am lactose intolerant? Was this a good choice? Probably not. I was lured by the cheesiness of it. Was it good? Ehhh…for all the flavors named, it was quite a plain dog. They just threw everything on top and it was all just…empty calories and not worth them either!
