Takamatsu #10

Time to go back home.

Checking out of our room with a very nice number - 808.

A good thing about this trip is how convenient it is to travel to and from the airport.

There is also a nice Starbucks nearby so you can sit inside and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee before boarding the bus.

The view from the plane was nice.

There are so many other islands in the area that we have not explored.

We arrived at Haneda airport feeling hungry. So we decided to grab food at Cuud.

Website: https://www.airport-restaurant.com/restaurant-shop/cuud/

I have passed by this udon restaurant several times, when I was there to catch the early flight for work. It was one of the few places that opens for breakfast, so I noticed it but had never entered.

We both ordered the half & half which consists of curry udon and tomato udon. The flavour of the curry and tomato soup was lovely. I enjoyed both. Getting the half & half was really a good decision because we got to try both at the same time.

The place only has counter seats and there is a plastic panel between each seat during this period. 

Takamatsu #9

Last dinner at Takamatsu and we found ourselves at Ofukuro (お食事処 しるの店 おふくろ).

This is the best restaurant in Takamatsu!

Actually, we first took interest in this shop on our first day as we happened to pass by a bunch of people queuing outside it as we passed by. We figured that it must be really popular as we have not seen another shop with a queue.

We joined a queue of about 5 people in front of us. The place opens at 5pm, but people were already queuing before it opens.

It was a little intimidating as we didn't know what to do when we first entered. There were menu pasted on the wallbut we weren't sure how things work here.

We learned quickly as I saw the people moving around and going to the counter area to check out what was available and ordering food like you would at an economy stall. 

We did the same and OMG, everything looked so good so we ended up ordering so much food!

We ordered fired shrimp, niku jaga, braised fish & daikon, grilled fish, nasu and soups.

We ordered a miso soup each and did not expect it to be this big! The soup itself came with lots of ingredients too and is not like the typical miso soup.

Every singly dish was delicious and went super well with rice.

As much as we tried to control our portion of rice, we cannot control our hands and mouth.

Honestly, if I had entered this shop on the very first night, I would be eating here every single night!

The good is seriously awesome! This is what you would expect from a bunch of auntie and uncles who were cooking and running the shop.

Even as I write this now, I am craving for the food that I had here. I will definitely revisit!!

Takamatsu #8

Early in the morning, we headed to Nakano udon school Takamatsu (中野うどん学校 高松校) even though it was pouring. We had already made a reservation and did not want to change it.

Website: http://www.udonschool.jp/

This place seems to be very popular. I saw on the pictures posted that that the cast of Dae Jang Geum also visited the place.

Once there, the instructor explained to us how to make udon from flour and we immediately got to work on our dough. After mixing the dough, we had to put it into a bag and then 'dance' on it. I left this important task to J. Lol.....Meanwhile, I was given a tambourine to provide support.

As the dough had to rest, we got to bring the one that we had made there home.

Meanwhile we were given another set of dough to be made into udon noodles for lunch.

I thought that my noodles were pretty even in terms of width.

After that, they collected our udon noodles and brought it to the dining hall for us.

As you can see, it is a very big hall. There were only 2 other families there when we visited. I think their business was severely affected by COVID-19. 

There, we got to cook our udon, and then enjoy it with the side dishes that we chose.

We decided to add tempura to our course. We did have to pay extra but it was nice with the tempura. 

I am also pleasantly surprised by how good the udon tasted.

I highly recommend this as it was fun and I feel that it is very nice to be able to attend this kind of cultural lessons when you visit a place.

After that, we took the bus back to where our hotel was.

There we explored the shopping area and entered a cake shop called 菓子工房ルーヴ 番町店 (Lowe).

There, we had very nice desserts.

The chocolate cake was light and rich at the same time.

This apple cake was super pretty to look at and luckily, it tasted good too.

From this trip, I ended up purchasing souvenirs for my colleagues from the cake shop as they had some pretty fancy looking cookies. Some of them are award winning too.

You can check out their online shop from their webste too: https://lowe.co.jp/

 

Takamatsu #7

After lunch, we took the ferry to Tonosho (土庄).

Once there, we took a bus to see the narrowest natural strait in the world.

This is the Dofuchi Strait (土渕海峡).

There is a sign that shows that it is in the Guiness Book of Records. It is only 9.93m wide.

After that, we decided to talk a slow walk to Angel Road.

Saw some interesting sings along the way.

There is even a Slowpoke manhole over. Apparently, it is because it's Japanese name is Yadon, which is sounds a bit similar to Udon and Kagawa is famous for Udon.

As you get near, you will see signs like these.

As it was sill a bit early when we arrived, we decide to go up the small hill nearby.

There were many people on top, waiting for the the low tide.

On top is a bell for love.

When we were there it was super windy and hence cold! 

We waited for almost 1.5 hours and decided to leave as bus was scarce in the area and we wanted to head back to Takamatsu in time for early dinner, to avoid crowd.

As you can see, due to the strong wind and waves, Angel Road was taking longer that expected to appear. There were a few who braced the cold waters and crossed it, but we were both in long pants and didn't want to risk it in the cold waters and strong waves.

Look at how infrequent the buses are.

Anyhow, we were happy to just be able to see it, even though we didn't get to cross it.

For dinner, we went to this place called Toraya Kawaramachi (串かつ・焼鳥・釜めし 寅や 番外地), just opposite our hotel.

Website: https://torayabangaiti.owst.jp/foods

There we had the typical izakaya food, like yakitori, kushikatsu and of course, the Kagawa specialty, chicken!

Luckily, the place wasn't too crowded when we were there. There were only 2 other tables that were filled.

Food is not bad and I found this chicken a lot easier to eat than the one we had on the first day because we were provided with scissors to cut the chicken into smaller pieces.

Of course, we had to visit the lounge again after dinner! I am in love with their fish cakes! I was super happy when I saw the plate.