SHIMOMURA, Ishikawacho

I found this Kaiseki restaurant- SHIMOMURA, in Ishikawacho which looked really good. So I made a reservation to visit on a weekend with J.

Website: https://www.shimomura-kunikazu.com/

On the day of our visit, it was pouring really heavily! Not a good time to be out as the weather was cold and wet. And it was our first time in the area so we were not familiar and trying hard to find the entrance.

Luckily the place was nice and cozy. Each group have their own private room, that is well heated!

We booked the 4,180 JPY lunch course. There is no specific menu as they serve you a course based on the ingredients that they got that day. This is a completely omakase meal.

If I remember correctly, the first dish was 3 different kinds of tofu.

Next is the artistically presented salad. Look a that beautiful moon shaped vegetable! I wonder what is it called!

Next is a hot dish, mashed potato covered in a thick white sauce and inside the potato is some meat.

This is definitely a comfort dish.

Then we had the fish dish.

I liked the fish as it was beautifully grilled.

Next was the stewed beef with raddish, served with an egg yolk.

After the protein, it is finally time to end the meal with the carb.

Look at this platter of pickles!

We had rice cooked in a claypot with fish and cabbage.

While I am full, the rice was food and went really well with all the pickles served. I couldn't resist and ate 2 bowls of rice. Whatever that we couldn't finish were molded into onigiri for us to bring home.

Lastly, we have dessert. I like how they served us not only 1 , but 4 petite desserts. The yellow jelly was super refreshing, Then you have the green tea whose texture is like tofu and the chocolate looking thing which tasted like red bean. On the most right is the annin tofu. This has got to be the best annin tofu I've ever tasted!

Overall, the food was top notch and the experience was lovely. The only not so happy part is that later in the evening, we found that they had mistakenly charged us extra for a drink that we did not order. I guess this was partly our fault for not checking the bill properly before paying. I only found out when I looked at the bill later.

Day out in Yushima & Ueno

We came to Yushima shrine again to have a look again before going for lunch.

Back at 香港傳奇(LEGENDARY HONGKONG) again. We were the first in queue today.

Look at all the food we ordered!

We ordered 2/3 plates of each!

There were some that we did not take picture of, including the polo bun, wantan noodles and chicken rice.

We definitely over ordered because by the end we were stuffing ourselves to not waste food.

Overall, the food is not bad, but I would suggest to skip the noodles and rice.

After our very heavy lunch, we walked to Ueno Park.

J snapped these very artistic shots of ducks in the lake.

Sakura was already blooming at Ueno Park!

We had to stop for some pictures :D

Then we spotted an Uncle who brought a bag full of snacks, feeding the pigeons at the park.

As we moved nearer to the station, the sakura trees there were even nicer because they were already in full bloom!

However, there were many people here and it didn't feel as safe to take off our masks for pictures.

After that, we went to explore the underground market in Ueno. I remember visiting once before with Q many years ago. It was like a totally different place, like we were no longer in Japan. 

After IT got her groceries, we went to the BLUE LEAF CAFÉ (上野) for some desserts. This place was very busy and it was pretty hard to find seats for the 7 of us. We eventually managed to get 2 separate tables on the first floor.

Website: http://blueleafcafe.jp/

J and I got coffee and this green tea parfait. The parfait was good, but it would definitely taste better if it was summer.

The other are cramped at this corner table here LOL

After desserts, we continued shopping along ameyokocho and went clothes shopping.

Before heading home, we thought that we'd get dinner at Sushi Ro, but it was pretty popular and had a long queue. We took a number and tried waiting for it but gave up eventually as we felt that we might not be able to enter by their closing time. As it was still the SOE, shops close at 8pm.

We ended up at Obon de Gohan おぼんdeごはん 上野店. J called and they happened to have tables available that they can hold for us. So we rushed there immediately. We were super lucky because after arriving a queue started forming behind us. I guess everyone were trying to grab dinner too before heading home.

I order this udon and rice set while J had steak. His steak definitely tasted better than my order, even though mine looked a lot nicer in picture.

The steak dish, which came with tororo. I am not a fan of tororo and usually will not order sets that come with it.

 

Hotel And Rooms Shin-Osaka (ホテル・アンドルームス新大阪)

Back at Hotel And Rooms Shin-Osaka (ホテル・アンドルームス新大阪) again. I have reviewed this place before and I am back - 

https://melissa1311.blogspot.com/2020/10/hotel-and-rooms-shin-osaka.html

Back in Osaka after my meeting in Tokuyama. Had to spend the night here as we have a meeting here the next day.

As in the evening we will have to attend the conference again, I grabbed dinner immediately after checking in. I went to Maru de Sankaku ○ de ∇ （まるでさんかく）again as it is near the hotel and hence convenient.

Knowing that I will definitely be hungry in the night during the conference, I also got some desserts.

Breakfast the next morning. Breakfast here is always good. I am usually one of the first few to enter so I get to pick where I want to sit, which is usually the counter seat facing the windows.

As the customer meeting was in the afternoon, I spent the morning working in my hotel room and for lunch, I came to the same hotel restaurant that served breakfast.

When on a work trip, I am usually not in the mood to go some place far for food and would usually opt for something convenient like instant ramen or a restaurant very near the hotel. Luckily they serve soba lunch (not free of course) with the left over side dishes from breakfast.

In the evening, when I came back from work, I bought instant ramen from the convenient store and had the left over pie from the night before for dessert as I attended the last night of the work conference.

The next morning, I took the morning shinkansen back after breakfast at the hotel.

Last time, I was in room 905, this time, I was in room 705.

Another thing that I liked about this hotel is that, even when you do not ask for house keeping, they provide you with fresh towels. After my meetings, I would find fresh towels hanging in a bag on my door when I return.