Flying to SG

Dinner again at Haneda with J as he is sending me off to SG for my training.

We had the buta syougayaki and the katsu. Food here is reasonably priced for the airport.

This area is less busy compared to some of the other restaurants, so it's good if you wanna eat and chit-chat.

I took ANA flight to SG and they served 1 main meal on the flight. And for me, that's breakfast. 

I chose the western style breakfast and it came with pancakes and eggs.

Overall the food was good. The best part of the flight was the seats! 

As the flight was pretty empty, I had all 3 seats to myself and was able to stretch my legs. Hence, I was able to sleep for quite a bit on the flight.

Arrived at Changi Airport early, in the morning and it was pretty empty. I decided to walk around to have a look before heading to my hotel, even though many of the shops were still closed.

Finally visited the famous, newly opened Jewel Changi.

I noticed that they have a city shuttle limousine the hotel where I will be staying at a reasonable price and decided to try that even though I'm allowed to use a taxi. It was easy to use, just chose where you would like to be dropped off using the machine, choose your departure time and you can pay with your credit card.

The vehicle use was a small mini bus but I was pretty impressed with the free wifi and USB charging panel.

Shinkansen green car

After a meeting in Osaka, I rushed to buy the shinkansen ticket back via the machine. I guess that in the rush of the moment, I must've chosen the wrong type of seats. I seriously didn't know that I had bought tickets to the green car till I got to my seat and I was like "wow~".

I surprised by how much leg room I have in the green car and also that the seats are much wider as there are only 4 seats in a row, compared to 5 seats in a row in the normal train compartment.

Also, the green car was almost empty except for a few other people. Hence, it was really quiet and you can really focus on your work there. Even the toilet at the green car was amazing. The toilet area was big and spacious. I really enjoyed by seat there and it was good while it lasted.

Vanilla Beans Minato Mirai

Finally had the chance to grab lunch again with my Japanese teacher in Malaysia. We had lunch at the Sky-Ginza. Lunch buffet costs 2900yen on weekends before tax. 

Website:https://www.sky-ginza.com/menu/lunch-1/

I always enjoy lunch buffet here and was glad that my teacher did too.

On another weekend, I met up with Moon at Yokohama Joinus. We had hamburg for lunch before heading to the red brick warehouse. It was a fancy hamburg with steak and the portion was huge!

There were some pretty hydrangeas along the way to akarenga.

After that we grabbed desserts at Vanilla Beans Minato Mirai. I'm very happy to be back again as it's been more than a year since my last visit.

Website: http://vanillabeans.yokohama/#6

I ordered a chocolate drink which was rich and delicious. Love the cacao nibs which gave it extra texture and flavour.

Moon had the fondant chocolate which was what I ordered the last time I visited. The fondant chocolate went well with their home-made ice cream, acccented with framboise and pistachio.

Before leaving, we also bought some chocolate tablette. I think Moon bought half the store.

I got their award winning sparkling one which was so good. I went back and bought another one very soon after.

I also got the hojicha which was yummy and it's one of the better tea chocolate I've had. Usually tea chocolates have white chocolate as their base but this didn't.

PHILIPPE CONTICINI

After lunch, we grabbed desserts with Moon at PHILIPPE CONTICINI.

Website: http://conticini.jp/

Philippe Conticini is a French chef and pastry chef, who has worked in France, US and Japan. We visited his store located on the basement of Ginza Six.

We sat at the counter, right in front of the area where the person who prepares our parfait works.

It was definitely nice to see him plate out our orders and to see the number of items that go into it and the steps required to build it.

We all ordered a different parfait and they were all delicious! J got the chocolate one which I enjoy because of all the crumbled pieces of chocolate cookies in it.

I ordered a seasonal fruit parfait which was good too. This is definitely not a cheap place for parfaits but you do get quality ingredients in them.

This beautiful cherry one was what Moon ordered. The brownie pieces were good. I think next time I shall stick to chocolate parfaits as I seem to enjoy chocolate elements more.

There were several elements which were similar between the 3 parfaits and it was interesting to notice that as they were plated.

Lastly, a random picture of a bowl of prawn noodle that I prepared at home. <3

Japanese school sports day

Attended a Japanese school sports day for the first time. These cute lunch boxes were prepared by J's aunt. Aren't they beautiful???

Sports day in Japanese schools are a family affair. You will see parents and grand-parents there with the child. During the lunch break, everyone will be seated on their picnic mat to enjoy the food that has been prepared by their family or bought from a store. It's definitely no easy feat as it's not comfortable to sit on the floor and it's definitely not comfortable to picnic under the hot sun in summer.

Also, notice those silver pails? Those are filled with water for the students to wet their towels which they use to wipe their sweat or just place on their head/neck to keep cool. It's definitely not hygienic!!!! Can you imagine a child putting his sweaty towel in, squeeze off the excess water and then another child comes and repeat the same time. That towel will be used to wipe their face!

It's also the first time I'm seeing the cheer session which I assume is like a Japanese version of cheer leading? The students will get into several formation and shout somethings which were related to their school/ teachers.

As it was too hot, we left after a while to J's aunt's place where we got served some delicious cake that she made herself. 

After that we travelled to where I used to stay. It was super nostalgic to revisit my old apartment. I really like it~! I would stay in it again.

After that we got sushi for dinner at Sushi Ro. I missed this branch too!

Food at Sushi Ro is always good and this is a good branch. While I wasn't feeling well that day, the food definitely made me feel better.

This prawn here that's topped with a Chinese sauce and fried onions is delicious. It has a super chinese taste to it, but so good on a raw prawn~!!! They should consider including this in their normal menu and not just their seasonal one.

One good thing about Sushi Ro is that you will not get tired of their menu as they have a seasonal menu that changes pretty frequently.

Godaime Hanayama Udon (五代目 花山うどん 銀座店)

Early in the morning, we travelled to Kawasaki station to meet up with TS san and his friends who came from Thailand to go to festival nearby.

There were many stalls there and I thought that there should be no wrong in joining the queue of stalls with long queues.

We got this grilled fish which was unfortunately, cold as he gave me a fish that has been left on the sides and one from the pile that he was grilling. 

We also ordered this okonomiyaki like thing that's topped with an egg with a super runny yolk. No comment on the taste as it is not my cup of tea.

The longest thing we queued for was okonomiyaki from this okonomiyaki stall. Unfortunately, while the size is big, the taste was disappointing.

Even though the food was disappointing, we still had fun.

For lunch, we met up with moon at Godaime Hanayama Udon (五代目 花山うどん 銀座店).

Website: http://www.hanayamaudon.co.jp/ginza/

There was already a queue when Moon arrived and luckily she arrived earlier, so we didn't have to wait long to get a seat.

They serve onihimokawa udun which is a regional specialty from Gunma. Unlike the usual udon, these are thin and wide.

I like how they serve their udon in cute racoon bowls. The presentation is definitely on point. 

I'm glad that the food tastes great too. I really enjoy the texture of the udon. I also enjoyed their tempura which is very well prepared.

Meet up with Moon in Tokyo

Lunch with Moon at Kumada, located in the back streets of Omotesando.

They serve sashimi don, which you can turn into ochazuke at the end of the meal.

It's a small store located on the lower basement of a bubble tea store and hence, could be hard to find. The store has about 10 counter seats and hence, gets filled up quickly.

I ordered their No.1 and it came with a side of of either shio-koji or miso marinated salmon.

After finishing the sashimi on my bowl, I requested for ochazuke, whereby the staff will add some toppings like sesame seeds, leek and seaweed onto your rice, together with a ladle to hot soup. You can now enjoy your same bowl of rice as a new dish with the salmon that was provided on the side. 

I like it as ochazuke is like a comfort food.

After lunch, we walked around for a bit before ending up in Pierre Herme in Aoyama for desserts at Heaven (Salon de the), located on the 2nd floor.

Website: https://www.pierreherme.co.jp/boutique/heaven-aoyama/

We ordered this chocolate ball which you pour hot chocolate on and it melts away into this gruesome looking thing, which is super delicious!

We also shared another fraise dessert.

Everything was delicious and plated with finesse. I especially like how you can see everything is plated right in front of you when we were seated at the counter.