Soba Ore no Dashi (そば 俺のだし)

Yh and I met up for dimsum at Ginza, but as the line was super long and would take more than 2 hours, we decided to go to another shop nearby for lunch instead. 

We ended up in Soba Ore no Dashi (そば 俺のだし). This place is part of the Ore no series that is taking over Ginza. 

At this place, you have to queue up outside before ordering and paying at the counter. Then you head over to the collection counter to collect your orders before finding a seat. I didn't really like this concept as we weren't able to get a seat. So we had to stand by a counter for lunch. 

We ordered the dashi tamago which was delicious. Then the star is probably this plate of soba which is HUGE!!!! The biggest plate of soba I've ever seen! It's super delicious too with their sauce. I guess that's why they're called ore no dashi as the dashi for the dipping sauce was superb! Sadly, we couldn't finish as we ordered too much food. We seriously didn't know that the portion would be this big!

The soba came with this big kakiage which is bigger than 2 of my fists combined!

Then we also ordered this tempura don as we thought that we had to ordered a dish each. The tempura was yummy as I guess the sauce that they poured on the tempura had their special dashi too.

I would love to revisit, but I will probably check if there are seats before entering and next time, I'm gonna share just 1 dish with a friend as the portion is too big.

Rare office lunches

I usually bring my own lunch to work but there are days when I'm too busy to cook or when I'm just plain lazy.

On days like these, there are a few places that I love going to. 

One of them is this take-out bento shop which sells premium bento as they cost more than double the price of the usual konbini bento.

Here's one that I really like which costs 1200 yen if not mistaken. This fish here is dara and it's really meaty. Along with the main dish, you get some sides like tamago, oden and gobou. This here is stacked right on top of the rice which has a small ume right in the middle.

While the bento above is super delicious and filling, it is on the expensive side. 

Sometimes, I do crave for onigiri! I love the premium ones like the one below, which is a grilled salmon belly! Then there are also days where I just crave for a tuna mayo! Lol~

There had been a few times where I was being adventurous and tried to buy some South East Asian flavoured bento like this one from a store that sells various Asian bento. Unfortunately, every single time I end up in disappointment!!!! This singapore mee siam below here is ok....but I find it super weird that it's topped with walnuts! Once, I even had a bento with raw glass noodles! Ugh~ I'd rather cook them myself~

Tea brewer bag

Received this interesting looking tea bag from Mish. It's the first time I've seen something like this.

While I found it to be smart and convenient, I was worried about pouring hot water into this bag as I wasn't sure of the material it was made of.

Overall, this is a very smart idea. Also, the tea was good. It was early grey tea with a slight hint of lime. One bag is can be filled twice. So I got about 4 cups of tea out of this.

Royal Host

Dropped by Royal Host for tea. 

We just had lunch not too long ago but because we've walked around for 2 hours, we wanted to get some food and rest in an AC room.

We ordered the crab nama pasta with garlic bread as a side. The nama pasta was lovely. If you enjoy thick, fresh pasta that has a slightly mochi feel to it, you will love this. The garlic bread was yummy on it's own and goes well with the sauce.

Of course, we couldn't call it a tea break without something sweet. 

We also shared this delicious strawberry chocolate parfait.

Osteria Italiana

Lunch at Osteria Italiana with Mish, Yh and J.

Here's the menu for the 3000 yen course lunch for that day.

The course comes with an 2 appetisers, 2 mains, a dessert and coffee/ tea.

As there are 4 of us and I could snap pictures of dishes that I didn't eat too.

For the entree, there is always a meat dish and a pasta dish. I usually prefer fish and if it's not available, pork. So far, they have all been lovely.

For pasta, there is usually a fresh pasta option. If you like nama pasta, you should definitely go for it as their fettuccine is really good.

The lunch option changes frequently. It's never the same. Well, at least it's never been the same every time I visit. So I guess, it will be good to just visit with an open heart.

As you can see, the dishes here are beautifully served and decorated with herbs or flowers.

So far, I haven't had any bad dish.

I always look forward to the dessert as it's always different.

And to end the meal, a nice cup of hot tea with some mini sweets.

J had the coffee and it was nice to see it being prepared.

Best Sukiyaki in Tokyo

Shabuzen Roppongi しゃぶ禅 六本木店

Website: http://roppongi.shabuzen.jp

J brought me here for a date night and we absolutely love this place! It's hidden below an office building but the service here is superb and they serve the best sukiyaki I've ever had!

J booked us the oak room which is a completely private room and we had the all you can eat sukiyaki with premium domestic beef (sirloin).

The sukiyaki came with various appetisers like escargot, sashimi and tempura.

I loved the sashimi and crab-meat tempura!!! They were sooo good!

Here comes the star of the night! Lol....not that piece of beef fat on top, but the plate of premium sirloin beef (黒毛和牛サーロイン肉)!

There were vegetables too.

And raw eggs! heehee.....to dip that juicy wagyu in!

The nice lady who cooked for us offered to take out picture.

First, use the beef fat to coat the entire surface of the pan.

Then add in the vegetables and beef.

Don't cook the beef for too long. Just when they have changed colour, it's time to e served!

The beautiful arrangement of wagyu with vegetables that the lady left us with before we took over and did it anyhow we wanted!

Look at how big the beef is when opened up! It's absolutely huge!

And all those fat layers in the beef~!!! <3

Best wagyu I've ever had~!! <3 :D and with the best company I could ask for!

At the end of the meal, we were served ice cream too!

Sooo good, this place was such a treat! My once in a life time amazing sukiyaki experience! I highly recommend this place as the service is top notch. I you're in Japan and looking for an amazing sukiyaki experience, this is the place. Don't worry about the language as they cater to many foreigners there.

After dinner, we walked around and spotted Tokyo Tower!

Sushi lunch and Okurayama koen exploration

We initially wanted to grab lunch at another place but it was full so we ended up having sushi instead.

This is the kami miso appetiser. I've grown to like kani miso, especially the grilled ones.

Sushi platter to be shared. 

This was my favourite dish from this restaurant. This seafood gratin. Super fragrant and cheesy. 

We also shared this eel dish as eel was in season at that time. It was pretty interesting as I've never tried eel like this before with cucumber.

After that, we went exploring around Okurayama garden and it was pretty because the leaves are back and the flowers have bloomed.

This makes for a lovely picnic spot!

Nanohana were also in full bloom. Sooo pretty~

It was also the season where tulips were fully bloomed. Spring is definitely the best season to visit a garden.