Looking for Great Food

Restaurant #58: Tokuju, Sapporo

2012-01-29T00:00:00.000+08:00

(Visited in February, 2011)

Tokuju (徳寿) is a Japanese Yakiniku (BBQ) restaurant based in Hokkaido. They servehigh-quality Wagyu (Japanese beef) and delicious desserts. Their customerservice is quite good. Near by my home, there is one branch of Tokuju, so myfriend and I went there for Yakiniku lunch!

My friend ordered Yakiniku Sagari lunch (770 yen).

I ordered Manzoku Set A (1080 yen).

First, steamed rice, wakame soup, salad and kimchi were served. Soup wasalright, but kimch was good. I believe that refill of rice was free.

Sagari

Beef Sagari (サガリ: hanging tender) was so tender, slice of pumpkin andonion gave us small happiness.

Sagari, Jingisukan and Tontoro

It was quite long time ago since I ate Jingisukan (ジンギスカン: muttonbarbecue) last time. Jingisukan is a Japanese grilled mutton, and it is verypopular food in Hokkaido. Tontoro (トントロ: fatty pork) is one of my favorite Yakiniku item, butI usually eat with salt, not with sauce. In lunch time, it seems that all meatsare served with sauce. It was tasty, but wanted more tender.

Their décor was simple and easy to use.

As a lunch, I thought their lunch menus were in reasonable price, andquality of meat was quite good. I would like to come back here again fordinner, and definitely want to try their Beef Tongue and other items.

Total: 1850 yen (for 2 people)

Tokuju: Japanese BBQ restaurant

http://www.tokuju.com/html_e/index.html

Field Trip: Otaru

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000+08:00

(Visited in February, 2011)

Sapporo is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture, and from here, it takesless than one hour to get to one of popular sight-seeing spots called Otaru (小樽). “Otaru”means “River running through the sandy beach”, in Ainu origin. (Most of citynames in Hokkaido are from Ainu language.) This day, my friend and I took atrain and went to Otaru, just hanging out.

Lunch at Very Very Strawberry

Otaru faces the Ishikari Bay, and people always enjoy fresh seafood. Myfriend took me one of popular Italian restaurant in Otaru, called Very VeryStrawberry. This brick house restaurant has special atmosphere; once we enteredthe restaurant, warmness of the restaurant and good smell of pizza wrapped us.

Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita, 1180 yen, was a bit smaller than I expected, but it wasdelicious. It would have been better if there were a bit more basil on thepizza. Simple, but good.

Tagliatelle with Jumbo Fresh Shrimp and Tomato sauce

This Botan Ebi (ぼたんエビ) was from Mashike area. Tomato sauce was in perfectcondition, but why they cut the shrimp in half? Sorry to say, but this costs1680 yen. I was expected to eat a bit more shrimp… Can they use at least 3 or 4shrimps?

I really liked this restaurant, but I thought it was a bit pricy. Did Iexpect too much for their fresh seafood?

Walking on a street

Main street. There are many souvenir shops, especially Otaru’s famous artsand crafts. Everytime I visit Otaru, I always go to this Otaru Orgel Doh (小樽オルゴール堂: Music BoxMuseum). Some historical music boxes are displayed, and workers sometimes explainthe functions and history for us, if you are lucky, you can hear the music aswell. This building looks small, but once you entered the building, you willsurprise how many music box you can try and buy as a souvenir. Don’t forget tocheck out this building, which was built in 1912.

Otaru Orgel Doh

http://www.otaru-orgel.co.jp/english/e_index.html

Some Yukidaruma (ゆきだるま: snowman) was displayed on the street. Cute!

Don’t forget to eat some seafood snack!

Besides music box, Otaru glass craft is also popular activity in Otaru.Taisho Glass House has several stores in this area, and my friend chose this TomboDama store to try out some small glass work. Yeah we made a bracelet with aglass ball~!

Taisho Glass House

http://taish847.tempdomainname.com/

Here is the bracelet I made. First, I chose one colored ball, which is skyblue. Then, choose two colors for added patterns. I chose green and pink. Underthe instruction of a worker, I added 4 cute patterns on blue ball. My friendalso made a same bracelet with different color patterns, and we chose small accessoriesto decorate besides the blue ball. We waited for a while to cool down, becausewe used a gas burner to heat up the glass ball. I am very satisfied this work.It was fun!!!

After all those, we stopped by at a small café and chatted for one hour. Itwas a nice weekend with my friend. If you have a chance to visit Sapporo,please don’t forget to stop by at Otaru.

Restaurant # 57: Ozonico, Sapporo

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000+08:00

(Visited in February, 2011)

Nova Italiana Ozonico is a fine Italian restaurant in Sapporo, located to severalblocks away from Odori Park. My friend heard good review about this restaurant,so we decided to have a reasonable lunch. Lunch course (called “select lunch”)was only 1260 yen; appetizer, salad, pasta and dessert.

Tartine of Grilled Kita-Akari with Panko BreadCrumbs

北あかりのパン粉焼き. I was a bit surprised when an appetizerwas served; it was so tiny! After eating food in the US and Taiwan, I reallyfeel that a size of dishes in Japan is so small. Even though I knew I couldhave eaten in one bite, I still ate this small piece in a few bites. Kita-Akariis a sort of locally grown potato in Hokkaido.

Caesar Salad with Focaccia

Lettuce was fresh, and it really matched with Caesar dressing. Althoughjust some slices of lettuce, it gave me a joy of freshness of vegetable. I wantedto eat more…

Tagliatelle with Mushroom and Cheese

きのことチーズのタリアテッレ. My choice. You can choose several types of pasta andsauce. I chose tagliatelle (homemade pasta). Usually flat-type of pasta matchesgood with creamy sauce. My choice was fresh mushroom with cheese. In a goodsense, taste of cheese was lighter, although I expected more flavor from bothmushroom and cheese. Tagliatelle was a bit tender, but it was perfectly cooked.If I have a chance to visit there again, I would like to try cream sauce withthis tagliatelle.

Tagliatelle with Uni Cream Sauce

旨みたっぷり根室産ウニのクリームソースのタリアテッレ. My friend’s choice. Uni was from Nemuro, Hokkaido. Ihad a bite, and I should say this sauce was really good with tagliatelle. Saucewas really creamy, but not sweet because of Uni’s saltiness. This portion ofpasta doesn’t let you bored even though with sauce of strong taste.

Strawberry Short Cake

Their dolce selection was great. A waitress brought us a wagon plate withsix kinds of cake. My friend chose strawberry short cake, served with AppleSorbet. Looked great!

Baked Cheese Cake

I chose baked cheese cake. Taste of Raspberry surprised me with taste ofcreamy cheese. Their cream cheese was from France. Their dolce was all fromOzonico’s restaurant group, La Verite. (http://www.laverite-hokkaido.jp/)If you are in Japan, check out their website, because you can buy some sweetsonline!

I really enjoyed lunch, although I was more into conversation with myfriend. I definitely want to go back there for food next time.

Total: 1260 yen

Nova Italiana Ozonico

http://www.e-ozonico.jp/

Sapporo Snow Festival 2011

2012-01-26T14:35:00.000+08:00

(Visited in February, 2011)

Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり) is one of Japan’s famous winter events, startedin 1950. When I was a child, every year I went to Odori Park with my family andenjoyed watching beautiful, huge snow sculptures. On the way back to our home,we had dinner at Sapporo Grand Hotel. It was my family’s tradition that we havedinner at a hotel and get used to western style of table manners.

It was a first time for 15 years to see the snow festival! My friend cameback from Yokohama, and we decided to enjoy our memorable festival together. Itwas a first time for 20 years for her.

Our first impression was, unfortunately, that most of sculptures weresmall. It is regret to say that quantity of snow is decreasing each year,therefore, it becomes difficult to make huge-scale sculptures. This year, asculpture of “Sazae-san” was the biggest at Odori Park. There are otherlocations for the festival, but there is no others which was bigger thanSazae-san.

Food stalls were available, much more than before. I admit that food isimportant and popular element in Hokkaido trip. However, I saw food booths ineach section. Don’t you think it is a bit too much? One section was only forthe food, but it was good idea to have a food area with enough tables andchairs.

International sculptures were interesting. City of Sapporo invitedsculpting teams from overseas, such as Portland (USA), which is a sister cityof Sapporo, Hawaii (USA), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, andKorea. During the festival, those teams make a small sculpture and visitorsvote which one they think is the best.

Besides international sculptures, there was a small area where visitors canenjoy international food from Russia, Malaysia, India, Greece, and so on. Myfriend and I had a plan to have lunch soon, but I couldn’t resist. We triedTandori Chicken from India, and Souviaki, Greek BBQ chicken.

Tandori Chicken

I love spicy food! This tandori chicken was good for making our body warm. Iasked the Indian worker to put a lot of spicy sauce, but it was not enough. Iate much spicier tandori chicken at Yokohama… I missed it.

Chicken Souviaki

This chicken souviaki was very delicious. Basically it was BBQ chicken, butYogurt sauce was really matched.

Snow Festival in 2012 will be held from 2/6 to 2/12. I should be in Sapporoduring this time, so I would like to visit there again and enjoy the night viewthis time.

If you have a chance to visit Sapporo during this season, you shoulddefinitely check out Snow Festival!!!

Sapporo Snow Festival

http://www.snowfes.com/english/

Restaurant #56: Ichi Nii San, Sapporo

2011-11-28T23:31:00.001+08:00

(Visited in February, 2011)

Day 2 in Sapporo, my family and I headed to the Japanese restaurant, Ichi Nii San, at Stellar Place bldg in Sapporo. If you have a chance to visit Sapporo, do not forget to check great restaurants in Stellar Place and Daimaru department store, located right in front of JR Sapporo station. Visitors can enjoy all types of food and fresh ingredients.

A signature menu of Ichi Nii San is Kurobuta Shabu Shabu, but since we went there for lunch, we ordered Kurobuta with Ginger Sauce (黒豚の生姜焼きセット) (980 yen), Steamed Kurobuta and Veggie set (黒豚の野菜蒸しセット) (980 yen), and Buta Suki set (豚すき定食) (1150 yen). Kurobuta they used was from Kagoshima province.

I should mention that the décor was quite organized and I loved it.

First of all, a waiter served us Soba-cha (そば茶) and Niku Miso (肉味噌). Niku Miso was an interesting idea for small appetizer, and if you see the small bowl carefully, it could become Hashioki (箸おき).

Kurobuta with Ginger Sauce

Kurobuta with Ginger Sauce is one of popular lunch menu in general. This Kurobuta was a bit hard and salty for me. Plus, Red miso (赤みそ) was used for soup. Each item was tasty, but with such a salty Shoga-yaki (生姜焼き), they should have served a bit lighter-taste of soup. Quantity was appropriate.

Steamed Kurobuta and Veggie set

It was my mother’s choice, and this was the best item among we ordered this day. This dish was well balanced: rice, soup, pork, veggie and some pieces of fruits. Pork and veggie were steamed, so it was not oily at all. Healthy and colorful!

Kurobuta was perfectly steamed, and the meat was tender. It is your choice to dip into a sauce or not. For vegetables, it was not salted, so dipping sauce was needed.

Buta Suki set

This Teishoku set (定食セット) was a seasonal item. To tell you the truth, sukiyaki is not my favorite food, because Warishita (わりした: sukiyaki sauce) is usually sweet. Yet, since I haven’t eaten sukiyaki for almost five years, I wanted to try. Plus, it looked healthy with lots of vegetables.

After a few bites, my tongue felt a bit saltiness. I thought it was good the sauce was not sweet. But a few bites more, then it became too salty. Ingredients were kurobuta, Tofu, shitake mushroom, Nappa, Shungiku, a slice of carrot, broccoli, Negi, and small portion of Udon noodle. For one person, quantity was a bit too much. I was glad that I had 2 more people to help me finish up.

Overall, we felt that their taste was a bit too heavy for us, especially dishes with sauce. Among those 3 dishes above, I recommend “steamed pork and veggie set.”

Total: 3110 yen (for 3 people)

Ichi Nii San: いちにぃさん

6F, Stellar Place Sapporo
011-209-5123
http://ichiniisan.jp/

Cooking #02: Beef Stew and Izushi

2011-11-23T23:44:00.000+08:00

I couldn’t wait to eat my mother’s cooking! That night, she prepared me delicious beef stew and a traditional Japanese dish, Izushi.

I do not think people reading my blog know about Izushi, so let me introduce this delicious dish to you. Izushi (飯寿司) is one of local foods usually in cold, snowing part of Japan, such as in Hokkaido or Tohoku. Rice, fish, vegetable, and Kouji (麹) are used, categorized as a sushi, called “cooked rice sushi”. Because raw fish are used during a process of marinated, Izushi is usually cooked in cold season, and need to be sure that the fish is salted well, otherwise easily get food poisoned.

Each family has different receipt for ingredients. My family’s is from my father’s family: salmon, carrot, cucumber, ginger, rice, red pepper, Japanese radish (Daikon), and salmon roe.

p.s. Rimmed Bowl: Wedgwood Samurai, Small Plate: Tachikichi (Kyoto, Japan)

Restaurant #55: Wako, Sapporo

2011-08-24T16:13:00.001+08:00

(Visited in February, 2011)

This was my second visit to Wako. Same as last time, it took me 10 min to decide what I should eat. Everything looks perfectly delicious... Eventually, I chose Shobu Set, 1260 yen.

Organized interior.

Shobu Set

Shobu set (Hire Katsu, Deep Fried Shrimp, Deep Fried Eggplant with minced pork) was served with Oshinko (お新香) and Chawan Mushi (茶碗蒸し: Japanese Egg Custard). Chawan Mushi is my favorite Japanese dish, as well as Tonkatsu. Therefore, you can imagine how much this meal set made me satisfied.

Hire Katsu (一口ひれかつ) was a bit small, but it was okay because other items were more enjoyable; deep fried shrimp (海老フライ) and deep fried eggplant (茄子のはさみ揚げ). I have to say that I have never huge fun of fried shrimp. It is just because I love fresh, raw shrimp, instead of fried one. Yet, it is good to have big fried shrimp!!!

Minced pork said hello to me from between the fried eggplant!

Japanese Egg Custard

I love Chawan Mushi. I sometimes eat it outside, but usually the taste is too strong. However, their Chawan Mushi had perfect taste. If you have a chance to eat Katsu in here, please try Chawan Mushi as well.

I enjoyed this gorgeous lunch as usual. I would love to go back there again and try out other menu! Also, I should introduce other Tonkatsu restaurants to you guys next time.

Total: 1239 yen

Wako: Tonkatsu Restaurant

6F, Stellar Place Sapporo
011-209-5104
http://www.stellarplace.net/floor_guide/SR144.html
http://www.wako-group.co.jp/

Travel #04: Taipei to Sapporo

2011-08-24T15:39:00.000+08:00

(February, 2011)

It was about time to go back home and enjoy white snow and delicious food. In addition, it was a great chance to visit Sapporo Snow Festival. It was a first time in five years to see snow, so I was very excited!

In-flight Meal

Chicken

As usual, I couldn’t eat in-flight meal… I really tried, though… Pork or chicken, I always choose chicken. I should try pork next time…

After four hours of flight, I was already in Sapporo Int’l Airport. It was still clean and neat. I arrived at noon time, so head to Sapporo station to have lunch~!

Taking JR (Japan Railway) to get to Sapporo downtown, 40 min later, I was at downtown to eat Tonkatsu (とんかつ).

To be continued…

Cooking #01: Omi Beef Stake, Sapporo

2011-06-30T01:44:00.001+08:00

Everytime I go back to my home, my mother prepared delicious foods for me. She is a great chef, and also she is lucky to have a chance to use fresh, delicious materials which are grown in Hokkaido. Let me share some dishes from my kitchen table!

Omi Beef Stake

Simple medium cooked stake, with salt and pepper. Beef was…tender!!! Once I bit, it melted in my mouth. It was amazing. Usually, this level of quality of beef was not easy to buy, but my mother luckily bought this Omi beef in Daimaru department store. Today was a lucky day… I wish I could eat this quality of steak outside… in reasonable price.

Fried Tofu & Bok Choy

This is also a simple dish. Fresh Boc Choy, sprout and special tofu from Niseko area. When I go back to my home, my family visits Niseko. Niseko is blessed with pure water from Mt. Yotei, and many travelers from all over Hokkaido bring empty bottles to pull spring water. There are several small stores where visitors can buy fresh vegetables. One Tofu store called “Wakimizu no Sato” became famous because their tofu was made with natural spring water of Niseko. Not only pure simple tofu, but also their original items, festinate me! We only bought spicy tofu this time, but I personally liked their Grounded soybean curd donuts. It was a bit sweet, and healthy as you can imagine. I definitely want to go back there again and buy more various tofu.

Bonito Sashimi

You can enjoy these gorgeous bonito sashimi ONLY in Hokkaido! No fishy smell, because it was so fresh. Don’t forget to eat with Wakame as well. Slices of green perilla (Shiso: しそ) was enjoyable, but doesn’t kill the fresh taste of sashimi. It was purely fresh.

Hmm… Always, mother’s food is the best in the world, right?

Restaurant #54: Kaffe Amadeus, Taipei

2011-06-01T23:24:00.000+08:00

(Visited at Jan 31, 2011)

Kaffe Amadeus is located in SOGO FuXing—easy to access. I like FuXing SOGO, because the building is still clean and organized. This Kaffe Amadeus operates the other branch in Taipei 101, but I prefer SOGO branch with nicer view. My friend and I met at 11:30 for lunch. The café was quite empty, but slowly more and more customers came. I recommend you to go there before noon. I ordered business lunch set—daily soup, salad, bread, main course, and coffee.

Oops! Sorry I forgot to take a photo of a salad.

Daily Soup

Daily soup was pumpkin soup. It was not bad, but I should say it was nothing special. There was no pumpkin’s sweet-taste, it was too mild for me. Oh well, it came with lunch set, so I should simply enjoy it.

Garlic Bread

It was purely enjoyable. I always like garlic bread.

Tomato Cream Pasta with Salmon & Asparagus

Main dish was Tomato Cream Pasta. It is not easy to find good cream pasta in Taipei, but I liked this one. The blend of tomato and cream was quite interesting taste. Asparagus was very fresh, and it was matched with this sauce. I like salmon in general, but the smell of fish might be a bit strong.

Vienna Coffee

I could choose one drink in their gorgeous coffee/tea list. I chose Vienna Coffee. It was so creamy, and the cream was melted in my mouth. My friend chose Hot Chocolate. Hot milk was served with chocolate bar, then the chocolate bar was put into milk, so that the chocolate melted… Tempting... I should try this next time.

Overall, I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant, and foods are also fine. The price is a little bit expensive, I think, but sometimes it is okay to spend a bit more to enjoy different feeling.

Kaffe Amadeus

http://www.kaffeeamadeus.com/home.htm

Restaurant #53: Anzu, Taipei

2011-04-24T16:41:00.000+08:00

(Visited at Dec 27, 2010)

Anzu, a Japanese Tonkatsu restaurant, opened a new branch at Hankyu department store. It is easy to access from MRT station, and there is always a looooong line waiting for delicious Katsu. Anzu came from Kyushu of Japan. Let’s see how they are doing here in Taiwan.

As usual, it was a long line in front of the restaurant. My friend and I waited for 45 min, which is normal in such a busy and crowded city. Workers welcomed us with “Irasshaimase!” Since I heard their greetings with Japanese, my mind automatically started expecting their service.

My first impression towards them was great; workers were smiling and kindly led us to the table. Décor was beautifully organized, and lighting was appropriate as well. Their menu could be a bit expensive for Taiwanese people, but I think it was reasonable compared with the prices among other Tonkatsu restaurants in Taiwan. Those atmosphere and food quantity must make them satisfied. We ordered Hirekatsu set (腰內豬排套餐) (TW$ 290) and Thick Sliced Rosu Katsu set (厚切里肌肉豬排套餐) (TW$ 330).

Appetizer: Kiriboshi-Daikon

As an appetizer, Kiriboshi Daikon (切り干し大根) was served. A bit salty, but it was acceptable. Yet, an accident happened—hair in the food. Well… no one is perfect, I know. I asked the worker to change the appetizer… To be honest, I was just uncomfortable to pay the service fee…

If you like, add grated sesame.

Shredded cabbage

Shredded cabbage is an important side dish for Tonkatsu. Usually, refill free. I like shredded cabbage, so I refilled several times. They prepared house-made dressing, but I prefer Tonkatsu sauce.

Their sauce was not my taste, because it was too sweet, yet my friend liked it.

Hirekatsu Set

Our dishes were finally served. I was very happy to see my dish, ヒレかつ膳, with golden-colored crispy skin. It was perfect!!! Their Koromo (crispy skin) was really Japanese style and crispy~! Meat was tender and perfectly juicy. I was astonished! I couldn’t even find such a Real Tonkatsu dish in Los Angeles. I am glad that I could enjoy in Taiwan. My choice made my day.

Thick Sliced Rosu Katsu Set

My friend ordered Thick Sliced Rosu Katsu set (厚切りロースかつ膳). When we ordered this item, a worker warned us that it would be oily. When we saw the item, her warning made sense. It came with lots of fatty part. There is another Rosu Katsu set with Kurobuta, which was a bit expensive. I believe Kurobuta Rosu would be better than this. Excluding the fatty part, Rosu was tender, and again, Koromo was perfectly crispy. Katsu, cabbage, siso soup and other appetizer… Those made us full and really satisfied.

Although I prefer lighter-taste Kiriboshi Daikon, their food made me satisfied. Please improve their hygiene, so that I can go back there again.

Total: TW$ 682 (for 2 people + 10% service fee)

Anzu: Japanese Tonkatsu Restaurant

http://www.anzu.com.tw/

Restaurant #52: 龐太餛飩舖子 Wonton Shop, Taipei

2011-04-11T18:53:00.000+08:00

(Visited Dec. 22, 2010)

One of my students likes to visit good restaurants. She taught me several reasonable restaurants, and 龐太餛飩舖子 was one of them. The location is not in convenient area, so it is better to access by car. Coincidentally, I had a chance to go to this area.

It is a small restaurant, and interestingly, the décor was amazingly cool. Out of no where, you find such a fashioned tiny restaurant. You can’t even imagine they are selling wonton. My friend and I entered the store. Only two workers and Jazz as background music welcomed us. Menu was quite simple; wonton soup and noodles. We ordered one appetizer (TW$ 30), small noodle (TW$ 40), pork wonton soup (TW$ 55) and shrimp wonton soup (TW$ 80). Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of shrimp wonton soup... (ToT)

Appetizer

As an appetizer (小菜), we choose pork ear ski & Tofu bean curd. Both are popular appetizer of Taiwanese food, and Okinawa people of Japan sometimes eat those. Their pork ear was a bit sweet, but I liked it.

Pork Wonton Soup

Pork Wonton Soup (鮮肉餛飩湯) was the simplest item from their wonton menu, but simple is best. The soup was pure and light without MSG. Seaweed was inside and it kept the good balance of the taste. Although there were only 6 pieces of wonton, but each piece was big enough to make us lightly full. I thought seafood wonton (such as shrimp or scallop) would give stronger taste.

Small Dry Noodle

They prepared three different kinds of noodle menu, and we tried small dry noodle (乾拌麵). It was a right decision to order one noodle, otherwise only wonton soup didn’t make us completely full. I have eaten some dry noodle since I came to Taiwan, but this noodle was the best so far!!! It was not really dry; enough soup with ground meat. I don’t think I should eat this everyday, but eating this once a month would make my stomach happy.

Overall, this tiny cute wonton restaurant offers a sophisticated wonton menu; it is called professionalism.

Total: TW$ 205 (for 2 people)

龐太餛飩舖子: Wonton Shop

No. 169, Section 5, ShiMin Blvd, Songshan Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02- 2748-2338
11:00-21:00

Restaurant #51: Ramen Kagetsu Arashi, Taipei

2011-04-04T14:12:00.000+08:00

I thought it was almost impossible to find a real Japanese ramen outside of Japan, but I was wrong. I finally found the one in Taipei! I know pretty good one in Los Angeles, but this is really like modern Japanese ramen. It is called “Ramen Kagetsu Arashi”, originally from Tokyo of Japan. I am a huge fan of Sapporo Ramen and have some bad experience with ramen of other areas, but this Tokyo style has some interesting flavors!

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi has several branches in Taiwan, and one branch is located in a new department store. 統一阪急百貨台北店 is very easy to access from MRT station. Many people are waiting in line everyday, as well as this day. After waiting for 10 min, a waiter led my friend and I to a small table. We ordered Chinese Chive & Egg Fried Rice (鉄板イタめしニラ玉味) and their signature item, Garlic Genkotsu Ramen (ニンニクげんこつらあめん), and an extra small Garlic Pork Rice (ニンニク豚めし).

Chinese Chive & Egg Fried Rice (韭菜玉子鐵板炒飯)

韭菜玉子鐵板炒飯, TW$ 160, was my friend’s choice. It was a great choice for not only taste but also entertainment. On the Teppan plate, beaten egg, rice with some ingredients and Katsuobushi were prepared. A waitress mixed all those in front of us beautifully. Of course, we could do it by ourselves, but first time is better to see how the professional do. (^^)

It was some sort of art that the color of beaten egg slowly changed, and smell of katsuobushi was mouth-watering. After mixed with rice, it was okay to eat right away, or also find to wait for a while to make Okoge.

Garlic Genkotsu Ramen (大蒜拳骨拉麵)

My choice was Garlic Genkotsu Ramen (大蒜拳骨拉麵), TW$ 160. For the first time, I was surprised that taste of the soup was Real. Lots of grated garlic and Seabura (背脂) make the soup strong and a bit salty. Taiwanese friends are all told me that the soup was too salty for them. Then, you can ask the worker to add boiled water to adjust saltiness.

Chashu was beautifully lying on the soup surface. Two slices; juicy and tender. If you like Chashu, you can order Chashu Ramen or add extra slices.

A half of boiled egg was in perfect condition. Bamboo Shoots didn’t have strong taste as other Taiwanese dishes, so that it didn’t kill the good smell from the soup, which was great. Green onion (negi), two slices of Chashu (チャーシュー), and Nori (Seaweed: のり) were all decorated perfectly.

If you like, you can add extra topping. I added Wakame Seaweed (わかめ) with extra TW$ 30.

Garlic Pork Rice (蒜香肉燥飯)

We ordered extra small rice called 蒜香肉燥飯 (ニンニク豚めし) (TW$ 45). This was a bit disappointment. A worker might have forgotten to bring the item right away. Once they served the rice to us, it was already cold and the meat over the rice was dry… If it was a real quality of this item, then they must improve the quality.

Overall, I love their ramen and service. All workers were friendly and energetic. Since this first experience, I frequently visit there and enjoy real Japanese ramen. (^^)

Total: TW$ 435 (for 2 people + 10% service fee)

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi: らあめん花月嵐
http://www.kagetsu.co.jp/index.html (Japan)
http://www.gbj-tw.com/ (Taiwan)
# Please check the closest branch from your location.

FastFood #06: iCon Chicken Diavolo, McDonald’s Japan

2011-04-03T23:23:00.002+08:00

November, 2010. McDonald’s Japan introduced us four iCon Chicken burgers. I already introduced German Sausage Burger on this blog, and fortunately, I had a chance to try one more chicken burger, Diavolo, during my stay at Sapporo, Japan.

Diavolo is known as “小悪魔風” in Japanese. Spicy sauce with tender breast chicken, toasted buns, bacon, cheddar cheese, and slices of lettuce must make me full.

One bite, two bite… The sauce was not as spicy as I expected; it was actually a bit sweet. Since I expected spicy sauce, so it was a small disappointment. I believe the sause was too strong and it killed the natural taste from the chicken. Too bad… Breast chicken was thick, had tender and meaty texture. However, German Sausage burger used much tender chicken.

Overall, I enjoyed this new taste from McDonald’s, but if they add new iCon Chicken burger on their iCon list, I prefer German Sausage, although Diavolo made my stomach full. I want much spicier sauce!!!

# This burger was sold from November 5 to November 14, 2010.

Total: 660 yen (as a meal)

McDonald’s Japan

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/index.html

Japan needs your help!

2011-03-15T20:51:00.001+08:00

We need your help!!!

How to Help
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/

American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/

Taiwan Red Cross
http://web.redcross.org.tw/

日本赤十字
http://www.jrc.or.jp/

Restaurant #50: Yoshimi Kitchen, Sapporo

2011-02-28T04:07:00.000+08:00

I visited Yoshimi Kitchen once before, but this time my friend made a reservation for cheese fondue course, including all you can drink. Yoshimi Kitchen is located at Parco building—easy to access, and I especially like their various menus for drinks. I like their simple décor and the lighting color of the restaurant.

Since I don’t drink alcohol, I enjoyed their non-alcohol cocktail menus. Yet, I also enjoyed their delicious course dishes.

Appetizer

Interesting appetizer was served: quiche with cresson, and beef kidney stewed with tomato sauce. Kidney was very juicy, and melted smoothly once I put it in my mouth. Sourness of the tomato sauce and delicately seasoned quiche made my stomach happy.

Green Garden Salad

Fresh veggies were used in the salad. I was pleased with petite broccoli. Fresh!

Cheese Fondu

This became their signature menu. I understand, because their cheese fondu was totally delicious! Cheese was imported from Switzerland, according to the worker. Ingredients were including healthy veggies, especially I liked eggplants were lightly fried.

Kita Akari French Fries

After the main dish, amazing dishes were still served. Kita Akari (北あかり) French fries were rightly salted. The Hokkaido native, “Kita Akari”, was freshly harvested from local farms. The taste was a bit sweet, although it was well-seasoned.

Shrimp & Tuna Spaghetti with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Oops! I accidentally forgot taking a picture before I started… As you can see through the picture, the quantity was not that much, but after all those cheese fondu and other delicious foods, this amount was enough for two people. The shrimp was a bit small, but tomato sauce was flavored well.

Dessert

I was already satisfied, but I still had extra space for some dessert. What was wrong with my stomach? Pear Pie & Mango Pudding. My friend said a bit sweet, but it was perfect for me.

I went to Yoshimi Kitchen twice so far, but I always satisfied. I think ordering a course is better than ordering a la carte. Don’t forget to try out their drink items! I had a wonderful dinner with my friend.

Total: 6000 yen (for 2 people, free drinks)

Yoshimi Kitchen
8F, Parco
Minami 1-jo Nishi 3-chome, Chuou-ku
Sapporo, JAPAN
011-214-2205
http://www.yoshimi-ism.com/

FastFood #05: Burger Chicken BOX @ Lotteria

2011-02-22T15:45:00.001+08:00

Lotteria is one of my favorite fast food restaurants in Japan. My favorite burger is always Shrimp Burger. It passed quite long time since I tried it, so I simply visited there on the way back to my home.

Ebi Burger + Chicken Set

I ordered バガチキBox (pronounce “baga-chiki”) (770 yen), baga-chiki means burger and chicken, including one choice of burger, French fries (M size), one piece of juicy chicken and one drink (R size).

The Ebi burger made me satisfied, but I felt a little bit salty. I believe it was because of Tartar sauce. Juicy chicken was okay, but most people would like it. I ate Lotteria’s original (!?) juicy chicken back in 20 years ago, and I still remember THAT taste. No one can beat that taste.

Pepper Pork Egg Sandwich

Also, I ordered extra Pepper Pork Egg Sandwich (ペッパーポークエッグサンド). Wow nowadays, Japanese fast food chains really create astonishing items. Taste of black pepper was light, and it really matched with egg and lettuce.

Hmmm… McDonald’s Japan, Lotteria, Mos Burger, and more and more burger stores… Who would be a winner among their battle?

Lotteria
http://www.lotteria.jp/index.html

Restaurant #49: Sushi Zen, Sapporo

2011-01-16T14:23:00.001+08:00

Aww my poor writing cannot catch up with the actual visited date to the restaurant. This visiting to Sushi Zen was in November, 2010…

Sushi Zen is Sapporo based fresh sushi restaurant, and a few branches opened in Tokyo area. Originally opened in Maruyama area in Sapporo, later slowly opened other branches. I personally recommend Maruyama branch (本店) because of the atmosphere and the design of the restaurant, but please check the prices online before you go. Each branch targets the different customers, so cost range is also different. I usually go to Daimaru department store branch, especially lunch time, which is easy to access and price is reasonable among other branches.

Since this branch is located the top floor of the restaurant, don’t expect too much to the décor of the dining area. Cleanness and well-trained workers satisfied me enough. A worker led us to the table and brought us a cup of green tea.

Lunch set (offers between 11:00-14:00) is in reasonable price! I chose Suzuran(1575 yen), served with Siromi (白身: white meat fish), Akami (赤身: the leaner meat from the sides of Tuna), Ika (いか: squid), Hotate (ほたて: scallop), Botan Ebi (ぼたんエビ: jumbo sweet shrimp), Kanpachi (かんぱち: mature amberjack), Salmon, Zuwai Gani (stripped snow crab), Ikura (いくら: salmon roe ) and Atsuyaki Tamago (thick fried egg).

Here it comes!!! 10 pcs of Nigiri were beautifully lined up on a rectangle Japanese plate, with a bawl of Osuimono and a cup of green tea.

Unfortunately, Kanpachi was out, so two pieces of Akami were served. Ika was amazingly tender and juicy. It was the best “neta” of the day!

Zuwai Gani was also great! The meat was sweet and it really matched with Shari (sushi rice).

I was a little bit disappointed that their Atsuyaki Tamago was dry. Atsuyaki Tamago is not actually main sushi neta, but most people love it.

After I ate 10 pcs, my stomach wanted more. I ordered extra Natto & Yamaimo maki.

Yamaimo

Their Yamaimo maki was interesting, lightly colored with Ume shiso (梅しそ); take a look closely, yamaimo is pink, right?

Natto

Rice for makimono was a bit stiff, but I guess it depends on your taste. Natto maki is always my favorite.

After I finished eating all, a worker served me another cup of green tea.

Good service, good food. Now I am satisfied!

Total: 5355 yen (for 3 people)

Sushi Zen

http://www.sushizen.co.jp/

* Happy New Year 2011 *

2011-01-01T15:39:00.000+08:00

I wish you all happy new year~! I'll eat good stuff in 2011! o(^^)o

FastFood #04: German Sausage Burger, McDonald’s Japan

2010-12-12T17:29:00.004+08:00

Today, I would like to introduce the limited special menu from McDonald’s Japan.

McDonald’s Japan started a special campaign of Chicken sandwiches. Four types of Chicken sandwiches—Cheese Fondue, German Sausage, Diavolo and Carbonara—were prepared. Each sandwich was available for a few weeks. Although I stayed in Japan only for a week, I could try German Sausage and Diavolo. How lucky I am!

German Sausage

German Sausage was served with a slice of sausage, crispy tender chicken, mozzarella cheese, shredded cabbage with mustard sauce. First of all, their chicken was “real”. It was so juicy, and with a slight taste of lemon. It tasted like a big piece of Karaage (から揚げ). Sausage was a bit spicy, a style of bologna sausage. Gently steamed rye buns, dill and mustard, and German-style cabbage (Sauerkraut?) were perfectly matched together.

I am very satisfied with this burger, although a bit small. I added French fries and a cup of coffee. As for French fries, it was not salty enough for some reason. I like the states’ better.

I know McDonald’s serves junk food, but if you are in Japan and want to eat some fast foods, please check their items. Attractive menus are waiting for you!

Total: 660 yen (as a meal)

McDonald’s Japan
http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/index.html

Sapporo Travel Guide

Restaurant #48: Amataro BBQ restaurant, Sapporo

2010-11-29T00:06:00.007+08:00

I went back to Sapporo in November!!! Yes!!! Although I mostly stayed home during the trip, I couldn’t resist going to Japanese BBQ. There are several good BBQ restaurants in my area, and this time I choose this restaurant. Their specialty was not only BBQ, but I thought their meat was not bad all. Amataro, 甘太郎, is a Izakaya-style Japanese restaurant. BBQ and Shabu Shabu are available for all-you-can-eat, and other various dishes. All-you-can-eat was a bit too much for us, so we ordered some BBQ and side dishes.

The décor was quite interesting. Once you entered the restaurant, I only saw dark brown partitions. They made small rooms for each table, instead of just setting tables on the floor. So customers have some privacy. We also took off our shoes.

The workers were friendly. They always smiled and energetic, but they occasionally served items slowly. We ordered Pork Skewer as an appetizer, but it came quite after the main dish… (^^;)

There was a small electric panel on the table to order dishes. Interesting!

Special Mixed Plate and Horumon

At First, Special Mixed Plate (特選盛り合わせ) was served, included Tender Beef Sirloin (やわらかサーロイン), Premium Kalbi (上カルビ), Geta Kalbi (ゲタカルビ), Beef Lion (牛ロース) and some veggies (1468 yen). Pork Horumon Intestine (豚ホルモン) (313 yen) was also served.

I haven’t eaten beef for more than six months, so I was hungry for steak! Their Tender Beef Sirloin was very juicy and tender. Special sauce was covered over the meat, but I could also enjoy it purely with salt. It was flavorful~!

Horumon Intestine was a bit hard than I expected, but still juicy enough. Yet, I ate better one before, so this was alright.

Kimchi

Kimchi came as Otoshi (お通し: Appetizer).

Pork & Negi

We ordered Pork and Onion Skewer (豚串: Butakushi) (??? yen) from their today’s special menu.

Fresh Kotchori Salad

Fresh Kotchori Salad (新鮮！チョレギサラダ) (418 yen) is supposed to be a Korean style salad, but it was only used Korean style dressing (sesame oil & soy sauce) on regular green salad. It was still tasty, but was a little bit salty for me. Negi on the top gave me a bit of bitter taste.

Rice

Don’t forget to order steamed rice! (208 yen)

Sirloin Steak

Hmm… I needed to eat more beef! I ordered extra Tender Sirloin Steak (やわらかサーロイン) (523 yen). It was only $5. It was cheap, but the taste was much better than US beef. (I know Gyu-Kaku charges more…) The meat was melted once I put in my mouth, and it was appropriately oily. Delicious!

Pork Liver

Some people might be surprised that some Japanese eat sliced liver. Sorry the picture would be a bit grotesque, but I like it! In Taiwan, people eat liver soup with noodle. (Well, they even eat blood jelly… Awww…) Some people eat liver sashimi (レバ刺し), which is also delicious. Anyway, this time my family member ate it. It was 313 yen.

Harami Skirt Steak

We ordered Chicken Harami Skirt Steak (鶏ハラミ) (313 yen). I ate Gyu Harami before, but it was first time to eat Tori Harami. Personally, I liked Harami better than Horumon intestine.

Premium Kalbi

Premium Kalbi (上カルビ) (523 yen) is a popular item in most BBQ restaurants. No need to explain. Go for Kalbi!

Gyu-Tan

Gyu-Tan (牛タン) is thin sliced beef tongue, which is also pretty popular in Japanese BBQ. Unfortunately, their Gyu-Tan was dry and didn’t have much oil. So it was overcooked easily… 523 yen. This was the only disappointment for that day.

Mixed Sausage

Five different sausages were fun to eat, and one was extremely spicy!!! Japanese sausage is always flavorful. I once tried Taiwanese sausage, but it was sweet. If you like meat, please try some sausage dishes in Japan.

Roasted Salmon

The last item that I ordered was Roasted Salmon with Salmon Roe (炙りサーモンいくら添え) (523 yen), which was in good price. Aburi (炙り) means roast, and it didn’t grilled completely. So the inside of sliced salmon was perfectly raw. Salmon didn’t have extra seasoning, so I tasted a bit too much of onion. You may like it, or maybe not.

Oh my... I ate too much! I was more than satisfied our meal and precious time with my family. BBQ is a great meal for a family. Eat, drink, talk and have fun together~! (^^)/

Total: 9080 yen (for 4 people, including some drinks)

Amataro: 手作り居酒屋甘太郎
http://www.amataro.jp/

Restaurant #47: Saizeriya, Taipei

2010-11-28T17:44:00.005+08:00

Saizeriya (サイゼリヤ) is a Japanese chain of Italian family-style restaurants. Recently, they opened several branches in Taipei, so I went to the branch just opened at new 統一阪急百貨台北店. I actually tried their food in Japan, and didn’t like it. One of their sales points is that all items are in reasonable price. Yes, I agree. Their menu is economy-friendly, but the taste was so-so. Yet, sometimes those Japanese family restaurants become a good dating spot in other Asian country, so I expected the warm hospitality from them.

統一阪急百貨台北店 is a department store, just opened, located at City Hall MRT station. Easy to access, and I like their variety of restaurants. Saizeriya is one of their attractive restaurant collections. My friend and I got in right away at 6pm. The waitress led us to the table smoothly, and we were ready to order…. Yet, no one come back to take an order. Most of workers don’t look at our table for some reasons. 10 min later, finally I told a guy that we were ready. He said, “OK, wait for a moment,” then he never came back. I found another waitress, but they kept saying “wait for a moment.” We waited enough moments… Finally, one waitress noticed us and took an order another 15 min later. Wow it took us 30 minutes to order.

They have a serious management problem. While we were waiting for our dishes, we found a teenage group right next to us. They, five girls, actually came after us, but waitress took an order before us… When their dishes were served, one dish was slipped from the waiter’s hands. The food was spilled on the table. Oh my… The waiter told them sorry, and brought a towel. Some other waitresses brought extra towel, however, they were all laughing… Why? A few minutes later, a manager came to the table and talked to the waitresses, yet, this manager were again smiling and kept chatting with waitresses, never say sorry to the customer. I was surprised those girls didn’t say anything to such a poor service.
I almost couldn’t tolerate such a lousy service and behaviors, but then, our dishes were served. Oh well…

Spaghetti with Chicken & Genovese Sauce

Here is my friend’s choice, 青醬雞肉義大利麵 (TW$ 90). Most of Italian restaurants in Taiwan have this item, either with chicken or clam. Saizeriya use their original sauce, but it was much oilier than Japanese branch. The taste was no problem, but the quantity was a bit less compared with regular Taiwanese dish’s quantity.

Grilled Chicken with "Diavola Salsa"

This is my choice, 惡魔風莎莎醤雞排 (TW$ 110), and I added a steamed rice (TW$ 20). Chicken was TOO SMALL! (>o<) Garlic taste over the crispy chicken was good, but it was just too small. If you want your stomach full, you need to order one more dish.

The crispiness was appropriate, and the chicken was juicy enough.

Overall, I liked their dishes. I really hope they improve their service. I am sad that they represent “Japanese restaurant”, but the quality of the food and service was quite far from Japanese one. If they welcome the customer saying “Irasshaimase”, then PLEASE improve the service.

Total: TW$ 220 (for 2 people)

Saizeriya: 薩莉亞義式餐廳
# Here is the Website for 統一阪急百貨台北店
http://www.uni-hankyu.com.tw/taipei/index.asp

Café #05: Café Kuroshio, Taipei

2010-11-23T23:30:00.002+08:00

After my friend and I had great lunch at DongMen Dumpling Restaurant, we found a small café on the way back to the school. The café is called “Kuroshio” (咖啡黑潮) (yes, Japanese)! It seems that they open from 1:30pm.

Inside, there were a few customers, and soft rock music was played. WiFi was available, so some customers brought their laptop and enjoyed the free internet. It was simple, but I liked quiet atmosphere. (It is very hard to find such a quiet café in Taipei city…!)

They offer coffee, tea, some juice, and sweet cakes. Their specialty seems coffee, so I ordered simple Café Latte.

Café Latte

My friend’s choice

At the patio, there are some tables. If you are a smoker, you can enjoy the quiet nice Taiwan atmosphere at the patio. :)

I definitely recommend this place to enjoy good coffee and free quiet time. All workers were friendly.

Café Kuroshio: 咖啡黑潮
No. 9-1, Ln. 141, HePing S. Rd, Da-an Dist.
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2357-0018

Restaurant #46: DongMen Dumpling 東門餃子館, Taipei

2010-11-22T23:30:00.001+08:00

It has been quite long time since I found a real good restaurant. DinTaiFung is too popular, and others are pretty good but have no service or have some hygiene problems. So, I went to the Japanese book store and read some guild book magazine. DongMen Dumpling Restaurant was on the magazine right next to DinTaiFung, most of magazine recommend their dumpling repertories. OK let’s try out!

A gorgeous big sign represent their name and pride.

The exterior is quite interesting. A big sign of the restaurant and KOI in an outdoor small koi pond welcome customers. Unfortunately, this restaurant is not barrier-free. At the entrance, we need to across the big stairs...

The interior was quite simple, but workers were friendly, and quickly guided us to the table. Table was clean as well as on the floor. It seems in good hygiene. :)

They offer steamed, boiled and fried dumplings as well as other popular Chinese dishes, including Hot Pot. We ordered Tofu with Shrimp (蝦仁豆腐), steamed pork dumpling (豬肉蒸餃), and steamed rice.

Tofu with Shrimp, Steamed Rice

Tofu dish had three kinds (with Shrimp, with Pork and Veggie, with Pork and spicy sauce). You were able to choose S/M/L size.

We ordered small one, but it was enough for two people. 蝦仁豆腐 (small) (TW$ 100) was served with tender tofu, middle-size shrimp, and green peas. It was a bit salty for me, but once I put steamed rice into my mouth, the taste was balanced.

Steamed Pork Dumplings

This steamed pork dumplings (豬肉蒸餃) (TW$ 90) was so delicious! So far the best steamed dumpling in Taipei! Once I put into my mouth, I became speechless! The tender pork was appropriately cooked, still in good temperature, and tasty juice spread in my mouth. It was not oily at all, and was not too much. Everything was perfectly balanced—not too much, not too less. 10 pcs only cost TW$90. I strongly recommend you to try this!!! It was amazing!!!

We went there at noon, and enjoyed our meal and time. They let us stay until 3pm~. I was satisfied with their hospitality and food. I definitely want to go back and try other dumplings soon.

Total: about $250 (for 2 people)

DongMen Dumpring Restaurant: 東門餃子館
No. 37, Lane 31 Sec. 2, JinShan S. Rd., Da-an Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
http://tungmen.redirectme.net/

Restaurant #45: Jin ji Yuan金鶏園, Taipei

2010-11-22T00:03:00.004+08:00

YongKang Street has been a popular tourist area in Taiwan. Many good restaurants are waiting for you. The most famous dumpling restaurant, DinTaiFung, and mango shaved ice, YongKang 15 (originally known as Ice Monster), are the most well known shops in this area. From National Taiwan Normal University, it takes only five minutes to get to YongKang Street, so it is easy for me to try out all kinds of restaurants.

The 金鶏園 (JinJiYuan) has been popular for 小籠包 (steamed dumpling) lovers. Their dumpling is big and tasty. DinTaiFung is a competitive restaurant in this area, but many like to come to JinJiYuan because of the price. Of course, other menus are popular. I think their price is reasonable, and their service is not bad at all. Since it is close to the university, I see many students here coming for lunch.

First floor is a kitchen, so we go up to the second floor. All workers welcomed us. At the second floor, three waitresses were working, and immediately led us to the table. All workers didn’t smile, but worked quickly. I always go there for lunch by myself, but this time I invited my friend to join me. We ordered 排骨飯 (TW$ 80), 小籠包子 (TW$ 80), and 菜肉蒸餃 (TW$ 90).

Fried Pork Chop Rice

排骨飯 (Fried Pork Chop Rice) is a popular dish in Taiwan. I usually order fried chicken, so it was a first time to try pork chop. It was pretty good, but I have to tell you that their pork chop was nothing special. (^^;) Good part of ordering this for lunch is that it comes with three different side dishes (小菜)—seeweed wakame, green beans and bamboo shoots. You see some meats over the rice? That is called LuRouFan (魯肉飯), which is one of popular Taiwanese dishes. Minced, ground fatty pork stewed in special soy sauce and spices, and served on steamed rice.

It is easily prepared--but tasty--dish. If you prefer white rice, you can ask the waitress “no LuRou over rice”.

Pork Steamed Dumplings

This is their signature menu, 小籠包子!!! It is much bigger than the one in DinTaiFung, and also price is reasonable. It is only TW$ 80 for 8 pcs! It was served quick enough, and dumplings were hot! Once I bit, delicious soup was spread in my mouth. First dumpling was without any sauce, the second one was with a bit of soy sauce and sliced ginger, and the third one was with vinegar. All kinds of sauce you can enjoy.

Vegetable Steamed Dumplings

小籠包 is always my favorite, but don’t forget about 餃子. There are three types of dumplings—boiled, fried, and steamed. I love all those, especially fried dumplings (not deep fried, though). Recently, I discovered the vegetable steamed dumplings were healthy and tasty, so I tried theirs. Once I bit, the soup came out slightly; it was from the vegetable. After that, I felt some sweet taste. I am not sure if it is purely from veggie or MSG. This sweet taste stayed until the end of the lunch time, and personally I was not a huge fan of it. If I have a chance, I would like to try it again and want to figure out what this taste is.

Overall, I go to this restaurant very frequently, and I enjoy their food. It worth to try.

Total: TW$ 220 (for 2 people)

Jin Ji Yuan 金雞園永康店
No. 28-1, YongKang St., Daan Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2341-6980
09:00-21:00 (closed on Monday!?)

Restaurant #44: 阿3的義大利麵 A3’s Pasta, Taipei

2010-10-08T23:17:00.003+08:00

Finally, I found a reasonable, tasty spaghetti restaurant in my area! (It took me almost for a year to find.) I already wrote about Gino pasta, but this阿3的義大利麵 is much easier to access from MRT YongChun station. Their signature menu is cream mushroom pasta. It is not only tasty but also in reasonable price. If you have a chance, please visit them and try their food!

Going to 阿3的義大利麵, it only takes about 5 minutes from MRT YongChun station by walk. Dining area is in appropriate size, and take-out is also available. From kitchen area, an owner’s wife welcomed us. All workers are friendly, and lead us to the table. Décor was simple, or I should say typical Taiwanese restaurant style, but organized.

Cream Sauce with Mushroom & Bacon

Cream Sauce with Mushroom & Bacon (奶汁菌菇培根麵), NT$100, is a signature item. Their cream sauce is quite special, especially with some cheese powder. If you are a vegetarian, you can order it without bacon (NT$ 90). Tasty juice from mushroom (Shitake & Enoki, and might be also Eryngii) and creamy sauce really matched. Don’t forget to add some cheese powder~!

Vongole

Every Italian restaurant serves Vongole, but their Vongole (白酒蛤蜊) was used fresh clams and taste good, and it costs only NT$ 90. I didn’t taste the butter, so I believe they sautéed minced onion with olive oil, then added a cup of white wine. Taiwanese basil doesn’t have strong flavor as much as I expected, but it kept the good balance of flavor and it matches with vongole. “Cream Sauce with fresh clam” is also available. I tried it but I prefer eating clam with white whine sauce.

Creamy Pesto Risotto with Chicken

Their risotto is… not a real risotto. lol What should I call it… soup rice?!? Well, they serve five kinds of “soup rice”. I tried Creamy Pesto Risotto with Chicken (奶油青醬雞肉燉飯) (NT$ 110). You can also choose this flavor with spaghetti. I tried the pasta later on, but the pasta didn’t make me full unless I add extra spaghetti, so I recommend it with rice. I was amazed how tender the chicken was, and pesto sauce came with shredded parmesan cheese.

Since then, I sometimes go there and try out different items; A3 became one of my favorite pasta restaurants in Taipei. All workers are friendly, especially the owner’s wife. I would recommend their cream sauce item and also pesto chicken risotto. I have never tried their tomato sauce, so I definitely want to eat it next time.

Total: NT$ 300 (for 3 people)

阿3的義大利麵: A3’s Pasta
台北市信義區忠孝東路五段524巷1弄3號
02-2728-3017

Restaurant #43: California Grill, Taipei

2010-09-21T00:01:00.003+08:00

California Grill serves, as you can tell, California-style big fat burgers! There were two branches in Taipei, but it seems one at Dun Hua (敦化) just closed. I hope Yong Kang street (永康街) branch is still okay. Anyway, near by National Taiwan Normal University have several burger stores. I already went to 1885 Burger Store, which was great. This California Grill is another one in this area.

I went to Dun Hua branch. Unfortunately, this branch was already closed, but you might try Yong Kang Jie branch. The décor was simple, but it gave the feeling of California. Some old Hollywood movie posters were displayed, and some chairs were American-style diner. They have open kitchen, so you can see how the workers take care of your food.

Their special menu is Tofu burger! It looked very healthy, but I wanted to eat something to make my stomach full! So I ordered Chicken Sandwich with French fries, and my friend ordered Western Burger with salad.

Hidden Valley Chicken

My choice was Hidden Valley Chicken (NT$ 195), and added Fries and drink (NT$ 50). Grilled breast, ranch, bacon, pepperjack cheese, sprouts, red onion… All on wheat bun! Their buns were a bit dry, but sprouts made me so happy! Chicken was juicy enough and extra accent with bacon. This was a great combination. A few things which I didn’t like were the freshness of tomatoes and French fries. Slices of tomatoes were too tiny, and French fries were ordinary. Yet, overall, I liked it!

Western Bacon Burger

My friend’s choice was Western Bacon Burger (NT$ 205), added salad and drink (NT$ 50). You can choose the meet among beef, breaded chicken, teriyaki chicken or tofu. She chose beef. Onion rings, BBQ sauce, bacon & cheese on white bun. It looked very tasty! It reminded me of western burger at Carl’s Jr., actually. Ha ha. She said the taste was okay, but I guess the quantity of salad was a bit less.

Overall, I liked the atmosphere and food was so far so good. I was surprised that all the waiters could speak American English perfectly! They told me that they’ve never been to America. It seems that the owner of this restaurant was from California, and he taught them English very well. Well done, owner! I definitely want to go back there, next time at Yong Kang Jie branch. Oh, let me note that they use USDA beef.

Total: NT$ 500 (for 2 people)

California Grill
YongKang St. #53-1, Taipei City
02-2343-5111
http://www.californiagrill.com.tw/index.html

Restaurant #42: Gino Pasta 吉諾義麵屋

2010-09-02T18:08:00.004+08:00

It is good to be in Taipei if you love B級グルメ. B級グルメ means a cheap, casual but delicious food. Many food stalls and family-owned restaurants on the street of Taipei have tasty, tasty items, and when I find a new one, it feels that I finally find a treasure. This restaurant, Gino Pasta, was one of the restaurants which made me feel that way. It is a little bit far from MRT YongChun station, but this price and the atmosphere, it worth to go there.

Several things I liked about this restaurant. First, their signature menu was tasty with reasonable price. Second, the owner (I believe) was a single, handsome guy. J I went there twice so far, and tried different menus. I believe all the items are in good price and tasty.

The only thing I concern was the hygiene, which is the most important issue when I go to Taiwan’s restaurant. They cook the food in front of the restaurant, but they put the big refrigerator in a dining area. When you get into the store, you see some tables and chairs, and on the side, there is a big refrigerator and a big table. The workers sometimes organize pasta and ingredients on this table. All kinds of customers come to this store, and some might cough, some might have a cold… Those directly hit the food. Plus, some remains of the veggies and foods may attract small bugs...

We ordered a cup of pumpkin soup and a variety of pasta. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of pumpkin soup (NT$ 30), but it was delicious.

Vongole Bianco

A lot of crams and quarter bunch of broccoli demonstrate the healthy color combination. Crams were fresh enough, but the taste of white wine was a bit strange. I don’t know how to describe… I am not sure it was white wine or their original sauce. If it was original, I guess I prefer a simple garlic white wine sauce. (NT$ 100)

Spicy Chicken Pasta

I believe this is their signature menu; Spicy Chicken Pasta (NT$ 90). This creamy pasta was special, I really liked it. Without red peppers, I believe the taste is a bit heavy. So spicy taste help us to keep eating and eating… Fresh broccoli and slices of mushroom give light accent in my mouth.

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino

Aww… I simply chose their cheapest menu, Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino (NT$ 70). Peperoncino is my favorite, but it is difficult to find a good one. I only found it at one small pasta restaurant in Japan before. Here, this, unfortunately, was not my taste. They used the mixed herb powder with MSG. Well, the garlic was not fresh, so of course I don’t taste anything but MSG. I don’t recommend this item.

Cheese & Bacon Penne Gratin

A gratin is the most delicious food in the world! Most of gratins make me disappointed, but their gratin was not bad at all, and it costs only NT$ 100 (US$3 or so). As mentioned as menu, the ingredient was only bacon, which was a bit boring. If they put broccoli, mushroom and onion besides bacon, I don’t mind to pay NT$ 120. I definitely want to try their Tomato Gratin next time.

I would like to go back there again if they improve the hygiene issue. I recommend you to visit there before 8pm, because the dining area is still clean and all free drinks are still available.

Total: NT$ 390 (for 4 people)

Gino Pasta 吉諾義麵屋
1 F, No.1-1, 540 Lane, Song-Shan Rd.
Xingyi Dist., Taipei City
02-2726-9020

Restaurant #41: 1885 Burger Store, Taipei

2010-08-26T00:18:00.003+08:00

Since I came back to Asia, every once in a while I’ve been tempted to eat some big fat greasy burgers. Basically, here in Taipei, it is not easy to find big burgers… Burgers here are so tiny!!! I used to be okay with it, but I guess my stomach adjusted to American sized burgers…

I checked some burger stores in Taipei area, especially near by my school, and I found some in neighborhood; 1885 Burger Store, Evans Burger and California Grill. Well, which one should I try first? Let’s start from 1885 Burger Store!

1885 Burger Store serves handmade burgers, American style breakfast (all day!) and some appetizers. They offer daily specials. If you add NT$ 40, you get one drink with free refill. Very nice~!

This afternoon was all packed. There were bunch of students having a lunch party, so it was quite noisy. I would like to go there a bit later, so that I can have quite nice lunch. Their décor was pretty cook with bricks. All workers were friendly. I really wanted to try their beef burgers, but I was not sure which beef they use (NZ, US or…?), so my friend and I decided to try out their chicken sandwiches.

B.B.Q Grilled Chicken Burger

My choice: B.B.Q Grilled Chicken Burger (NT$ 190). I usually don’t eat BBQ taste, but they only had two chicken burger. Taiwan-raised chicken (I hope!) was appropriately cooked, and BBQ sauce was spread. The taste of the sauce was a bit strong, though. They prepared three kinds of buns; roll, cream, and whole wheat. I chose whole wheat bun this time. The burger was served with a cute wooden tray, including crispy seasoned French fries.

I liked the presentation. Slices of lettuce and chicken breast were already on the bun, but veggies were on the side. Fresh slices of tomatoes, onions and pickles. You can eat separately or of cause you can make your own sandwich (with or without onions) as you like—cute!

Seasoned French fries were so tasty! It came with a small bucket. I thought the bucket was full of fries, but don’t worry, a half of the bucket was full, so I eventually ate everything. It made me full!

Mexican Tartar Chicken Burger

My friend’s choice was Mexican Tartar Chicken Burger (NT$ 210). Actually, I was also curious about this… Hmmm Mexican tartar… It was spicy! Jalapeño was added on regular tartar sauce. The combination of the crispy chicken and a sauce was amazing! I just wish that the chicken was a bit thicker for a big eater like me. :)

Overall, I really liked 1885 Burger Store. I definitely want to go back there and try different burgers.

Total: NT$ 400 (for 2 people)

1885 Burger Store
24-1, Pucheng St., Da-An dist.,
Taipei, Taiwan
02-2367-8258
http://www.1885burgerstore.com/

Travel #03: Sapporo to Taipei

2010-08-15T15:34:00.006+08:00

I have to apologize that I couldn’t update any information for a while. Although I don’t have many readers, there are still some who may wonder what I’ve been eating everyday. Ha ha. Taipei’s temperature and humidity went up quite a lot, and I have been struggling with headache and some skin problems these days. Compared with Sapporo, humidity is quite high, and I guess it cause the headache constantly. Anyway, I am still alive, but I don’t eat well… Or I should say I have been cooking by myself, which is… pretty miserable. (I am not a good chef…)

I would like to update about Sapporo trip back in May. On the way back to Taipei, I was happy to see the new international airport just opened a few months ago. It was a brand new, clean, organized one. The only thing I was a bit disappointed was that the flights were limited between Asia. They used to have a flight to Hawaii and Amsterdam, but not anymore… A flight to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea… pretty much that is it. It seemed that the city built for an Asian tourist, not for a citizen of Hokkaido. I hope they will have more flights to other countries later on.

After getting off JR train, the international gate became a bit far, but don’t worry. A lady took me with a cute cart to the gate. Of course, it is only a few minutes for a walk to get to the gate, but I had some souvenirs and wanted to try the cart, so I enjoyed the short ride.

On the way to the gate, you would see some booths displaying each country, such as Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, Thailand…

The departure gate is in upstairs.

This time, I used my mileage for business class, so I enjoyed the lounge. Here the lounge was small but pretty! Less people, so I could relax…

Food was less, but these tiny breads were so delicious! I especially loved the sesame one on the top right. I enjoyed those with a cup of corn potage.

On the way back to Taipei, the business seats were almost empty; flight attendant was friendly, but too casual.

Basically the food was almost out. I wanted to try the Western style lunch, but they said already out. So I had no choice… I ate Sukiyaki. Compared with the food from Taipei to Sapporo, this sukiyaki lunch was MUCH BETTER! OK here is the tip. From Japan to anywhere you go, basically Japanese (or Asian) style meal would be better than western style meal. Their beef was tender, the taste was appropriate. Sukiyaki came with shiitake, negi, carrot, spinach, shirataki and tofu. A piece of sushi made me smile. A cup of rice was warm and fresh enough.

It was only a three-hour flight, but I enjoyed their food and service. In-flight movie was “Invictus”; yeah, my favorite actor/director, Clint Eastwood!!! It all made me happy~!

If you have a plan to come to Japan, please make a few extra days, come and visit Hokkaido!

Restaurant #40: Mia Angela Ristorante & Bar, Sapporo

2010-07-01T20:50:00.006+08:00

There are many great Italian restaurants in Sapporo, and I really wanted to try some of those during my Sapporo stay. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time for Italian food because I had been busy with my family. Mia Angela is a casual Italian café, located at Daimaru department store, which makes us convenient to access from Sapporo JR station. I usually have lunch set menu, but this time, we had a pizza and an extra dessert!

The décor of the restaurant was not bad. The friendly workers welcomed us and guided us to a bigger table. It was lunch time, so the window seats were all full, but might be better to seat close to window, so that the light was blight enough. A worker explained a menu. Besides regular a la cart menu, they offer lunch set menu, which comes with salad, today’s pasta and a cup or coffee. We, three of us, ordered different dishes; two of lunch set and one pizza with a dessert.

Salad and home made Focaccia

Salad was good with Italian dressing. I really liked crispy lotus-root chips on the top of the salad! An appropriate quantity of dressing made the salad healthy. Focaccia was just baked and so tender.

Pizza Margherita

First time to eat a pizza in here. They had several types, and we chose the simplest one, pizza Margherita. I like all kinds of crusts, but this was tender crust, which I liked. Yet more than that, I loved their mozzarella cheese. I thought their tomato sauce was alright, but this cheese brought me happiness.

Seafood Tomato Sauce Pasta

I tried their tomato sauce pasta before, but for me, the sauce was a bit sweet. It matched with seafood, though. It was a decent dish.

Yufutu Chicken and Fresh Veggie Pasta

Yufutsu’ Jidori chicken (勇払産鶏のパスタ) was perfectly cooked with a garlic sauce and some broccoli. Jidori is a Japanese term meaning “chicken of the Earth”. These chickens are naturally grown with no hormones. It was a simple dish, but good taste.

Caramel Pudding

At the end of lunch meeting, we shared a piece of pudding. It was kind of small to share, but we were already full, plus, I don’t eat sweet stuff that much. However, this pudding was perfectly delicious item for an ending.

Overall, their food made us feel satisfied. The atmosphere was friendly so it is okay to go there alone and have a dessert and read some books.

Mia Angela Ristorante & Bar
http://www.eastone.co.jp/miaangela/index.html
# There are several branches. I went to the one at Daimaru department store, 8F.

Restaurant #39: Tototo, Sapporo

2010-06-25T22:42:00.004+08:00

Totoro is one of my favorite restaurants in Sapporo station area. My friend and I went there for first time in five years. Menus were changed a bit, but still, they have fresh seafood and tofu! The restaurant is located in front of Sapporo JR station, so it is very easy to access.

My friend and I went there without a reservation, but since it was weekday, there were a plenty of seats. Unfortunately, this restaurant allows smoking. It is still common for people to smoke in public in Japan. Luckily, people around us didn’t smoke, therefore I didn't have to suffer from extra frustration. The décor was modern and elegant, kept Japanese Izakaya style. Jazz music was played and it would be recommended for a date or friends’ meeting.

Salad with Steamed Sesame Chicken

We started with a salad with steamed sesame chicken ( 蒸し鶏の胡麻たっぷりサラダ ) (609 yen). Some pieces of sunny lettuce, colorful bell pepper, shredded Daikon (Japanese radish), steamed chicken with oriental sesame sauce, covered with shredded Negi. Domestically raised chicken was steamed well, and it was so juicy! Veggies were fresh, especially paprika.

Ladled Tofu

This fresh tofu was named “引き上げ掬い豆腐” (504 yen). The worker brought just made tofu to us with a big wooden container, and served us some scoops of tofu. Of course it is okay to eat just a tofu, but usually enjoy it with some ingredients, called Yakumi (薬味). Four different yakumi were served; negi, ginger, salt, and katsuobushi. Tofu was great! Once I put it in my mouth, it melted right away with fresh soy bean taste.

Deep-fried Yuba Bundle with Prawn & Cheese

海老とチーズの湯葉包み揚げ (714 yen) was one of my favorites at that night. We wanted to eat more, but sadly just two pieces were served. Yuba was golden colored and crispy, and the taste of a big fresh shrimp and creamy melted cheese were really matched! They served right after they cooked, so it was hot and juicy!

Pork Yakitori

豚串 (one stick 189 yen). It was quite a long time since I ate yakitori last time. I love yakitori~! (^-^)

Kimo yakitori

砂肝串 (charbroiled gizzard) (one stick 189 yen). Very fresh!

Chicken & Negi yakitori

ねぎま串 (Negima: one stick 189 yen). I liked Negima the most.

Overnight-dried Aburi Squid

いか一夜干し (504 yen) was chewy enough.

Japanese pickles

漬け物 (Japanese pickles: 445 yen). My friend's favorite. She always order this. ha ha. Taste was fine, but I thought it was a bit expensive...

Chicken Rice

The last item that I ordered was Chicken Ochazuke (鶏飯) (504 yen). My “shime” item is always onigiri or ochazuke. This chicken ochazuke was lightly flavored, but the chicken was steamed well, and the broth was from this chicken. If you’d like, put a little bit of Wasabhi; it gives a surprising accent at the end of the great meal.

Overall, I really enjoyed the meal here. The only disappointment was that the restaurant was not non-smoking. Unfortunately, in Japan, many restaurants, especially Izakaya style, allow customers smoke. I really hope that they at least arrange some area for non-smokers…

Total: 4498 yen (for 2 people with some drinks)

Tototo Asty 45: 地鶏と旬魚手づくり豆冨　ととと
1F Asty 45 Bldg. Kita 4-jyoNishi 5, Chuo-ku
Sapporo, JAPAN
011-219-4566
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/h061900/

Travel #02: Taipei to Sapporo

2010-06-03T19:42:00.003+08:00

Yes, Sapporo trip! I miss Sapporo~! Several direct flights from Taipei bring us to wonderful city in Japan, Sapporo. I took China Airlines this time by using my friend’s mileage. Therefore, the airfare was for free this time. In addition, I could take a business class.

The privilege for flying for business class is that the usage of a lounge. I enjoyed the lounge at Narita last year, and their foods were pretty good. This time the lounge at Taipei international airport was okay. Unfortunately, there was no onigiri, but they prepared three kinds of noodles, pork, beef and vegetables. I tried vegetable noodle and some pieces of steamed dumplings. Noodle was good, the soup was simple and light flavor, but tasty enough for me to relax before the flight.

This flight was Boeing 737, so the business class is not quite same as the international flights. I thought the flight attendant was friendly and served us properly. The food was… interesting. I chose chicken as a main dish, with Takana rice and steamed veggies. Rice was in good condition, so as veggie. Chicken was too salty for me, though.

Salad was delicious. Lettuce was, I believe, fresh, and the crabmeat was wrapped by a slice of fresh ham.

Dessert looked fine, but I only ate fruits because I don’t eat sweet stuff.

After 4, 5 hours of flying, I safely arrived at Shin-Chitose Airport. I took a train and headed to meet my friend!

Restaurant #38: 阿弟仔大腸麵線 Intestine Thin Noodle, Taipei

2010-06-02T16:15:00.005+08:00

I am a noodle lover! As Japanese, I like Ramen, Soba, Udon, Somen, and now Taiwanese noodles. The good thing about Taiwanese noodles is that the soup is pretty light tasted—simple, quick but tasty. However, this time I found a strong flavored soup, intestine thin noodle. Yeah the name is… pretty direct, but the taste was amazing.

In the Taipei guide book, there is one famous thin noodle store at Ximending called 阿宗麵線. This comes with oysters, not with intestine. I would like to try oyster noodle someday soon, but I found a small, friendly thin noodle store right next to fried chicken store that I always go. I’ve seen the lady taking care of the soup everytime I visited the chicken store, and this day, I finally tried her noodle.

The store is so small, and a woman takes care of the soup at the entrance. Probably three or four people can sit there and eat. Nothing fancy, but the inside was clean. I ordered a small bawl of the intestine thin noodle, TW$ 35, for take-out. She asked me if I wanted all the ingredients. Well, it was my first time and didn’t know what she would put, so I said yes…

The noodle soup was cooked for a long time. Don’t know like… a day or even more. She added some slices of intestine, grinded garlic (yummy), some kind of sauce (soy sauce!?), spicy sauce (you can ask no if you don’t like), and 香菜 (cilantro).

I was afraid to eat in the beginning, but once I put the noodle in my mouth, it was amazingly delicious! The broth was different than other Taiwanese noodle soup. I tasted katsuobushi taste believe or not. I am not sure whether they put the oyster or not, but I felt some ocean flavor.

Noodle was thin, but still chewy. I don’t like overcooked noodle, like Taiwanese spaghetti, but this kind of noodle was still in good shape even though it was stewed for a long time. It was chewy, but was thin, so not difficult to eat.

Pork intestine was stewed enough; juicy and tender. The saltiness was perfect. I was right to add spicy sauce and grinded garlic, because those sauces erase the smell associated with intestines. Also, I didn’t smell the star anise. Yes! I am not a huge fan of that taste…

Overall, I was very satisfied with this noodle. Small bawl was actually enough to make me full. I am just wondering how they deal with those during summer time. All ingredients were simply put in the outside of the store. Should I go back there after summer?

Total: TW$ 35

阿弟仔大腸麵線: Intestine Thin Noodle
Lane 30, Young-Ji Rd., Xinyi Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2767-2828

Night Market #01: 士林夜市 Shilin Night Market, Taipei

2010-06-01T23:39:00.008+08:00

The best sightseeing spot in Taiwan is the night market, and the biggest, most popular night market is this Shilin night market (士林夜市). This was my first time to visit there. Most tourists say that Shilin night market is an amazing place, so I was very excited.

To access to the market was convenient; take a red line subway and get off at Jiantan MRT station. Just follow the crowds so that you can reach the night market within about five minutes. The market was big! I found a big food court building, so I decided to find some snacks over there.

Inside of the building was full of small restaurants. Chicken, drinks, ice cream, sausages, beef noodles, oyster omelette, and so many other night snacks. I personally like those foods and was ready to try all of those, but once I saw how they made those, I noticed to be careful to choose the item. Some restaurants were fine, but some had a serious problem in their hygiene. Some tourist might not care because of the exoticness, but I do! I just can’t eat food right next to the rats… Just want to say, look at each restaurant and check how they cook the food…

I found a fried chicken store. I tried some other similar chicken, but this chicken was really huge! One chicken was the same size as my face! There were a long line for this restaurant, but it only took me five years to get a slice of fried chicken, TW$ 50.

Crispy Fried Chicken

It was fresh, and was hot! Outside was a bit greasy, but the meat was so tender. I felt that the chicken was marinated too much spices, though. I liked the strong taste. You must try this if you go to this market.

Since last summer, I became a fan of pan fried stuffed dumplings (水煎包). I found one store near by the chicken store. It was small, but it cost only TW$ 10, so I bought one piece.

Some sausage stores were there. The one near by the chicken store was interesting. The sausages were… HUGE! How can I eat that?!? I really wanted to try the big one, but I was already full with a fried chicken and a dumpling, so I tried a black pepper sausage, served with the mochi rice wrap. Next time, I definitely want to try the big one.

The only regret was that I didn’t eat oyster omelette, one of popular Taiwanese snacks. I tried to find a good store, but after I saw them cooking with the plastic plates directly putting on the heated pan (it’ll melt!) and saw them adding water to the beaten egg, I lost my appetites…

After I ate some snacks, I walked around the market. So many people were taking a walk and enjoying the evening by watching clothing and dessert stores. I would recommend this night market for a tourist. For me? Nah… I liked the atmosphere and some foods, but again, I couldn’t be a fan of their hygiene. Weird smell and the rats’ voice… Maybe I am just picky… I prefer smaller night markets but better hygiene or at least no rats…

Total: TW$ 110

A short trip to Sapporo...

2010-04-30T20:47:00.002+08:00

Due to my visa status, I am going back to Sapporo next week for 5 days. Awww 5 days aren't enough for me to eat all good foods. I am thinking Japanese BBQ, Italian and my mother's dishes! I can't wait~~! :)

Restaurant #37: Primo Trattoria, Taipei

2010-04-24T23:30:00.000+08:00

I have been struggling to find a good Italian restaurant in Taipei area. I mean, of course I can find a good one if I pay enough, but the reasonable trattoria would be difficult for me to find. My friend told me that this restaurant is pretty good, so I decided to go and see how their food is.

Trattoria di Primo is located in the back of Pacific SOGO department ZhongXiao, or I should say it is on the way to Breeze Center from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. It was easy to find this restaurant, and I found many other interesting restaurants around them.

Once I got in to the restaurant, I told them “just one person”. For some reason, the manager (I guess) and a reception started laughing at me aloud, in front of me. I was very surprised their poor manner. Ah…. What? (^-^;) The reception was still giggling, and then guided me to the tiny table at the very corner. Between my table and the next table, there was a staff room, and the workers in and out of the room, which really annoyed me.

I could’ve leave right away, but it was raining outside and I was hungry anyways, so I decided to stay here. After 20 minutes later, finally the waitress came to my table to take my order. I was surprised that they don’t serve a glass of water for free, and they also had a minimum charge of TW$500 on weekends. Oops, I should’ve checked the menu carefully before I entered. Well, they charge 10% of service fee, but I couldn’t feel any service from them. Is that because I was alone?

Crema di Funghi

Crema di Funghi (TW$ 120) was a creamy mushroom soup. The soup was served. It looked good! I sipped one spoon carefully, but I didn’t taste anything… I tried one more, but still the same. OK... Then I ate some mushrooms! OK those have taste, and I believe it was fresh.

Calamari con Calamari Fritti all’Arrabbiata

The pasta, Calamari con Calamari Fritti all’Arrabbiata (TW$ 380), was delicious! Calamari was just served from the kitchen—warm and tender. Their tomato sauce was quite amazing with garlic and some slices of jalapeno. On the top of that, the pasta was al dente! Taiwanese people usually prefer to eat tender pasta, for me, it is overcooked. Yet their pasta was in perfect condition. I am not sure if rucola was their homemade, but it was also fresh. I really enjoyed their dish.

Overall, I satisfied with their food, but as I mentioned above, I really hope they do improve their service. Again, they charge the service fee, so I expect “service”. I may go back there again, but not too soon.

Primo trattoria
#14, Lane 107, Section 1, Fu-xing South Rd, Da-an Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2711-1726
http://www.mr-cheese.com.tw/Default.aspx

Restaurant #36: Kitchen 12, Sheraton Taipei

2010-04-23T23:07:00.006+08:00

Enjoying a hotel buffet has been popular in Taipei, but the expensive price was always the problem. I checked several hotels for a lunch/dinner buffet, but for me, I felt it was quite expensive. Since I needed to add some starwood points on my spg card, I checked Sheraton Taipei if they have a great buffet or not. The review was good, especially for afternoon buffet. So, I went there for enjoying my lovely afternoon. (^-^)

Sheraton Taipei’s Kitchen 12 offers international buffet for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. I believe the afternoon tea buffet is the most reasonable one. They call it “Afternoon Tea”, but they offer enough hot dishes. The price is TW$ 490 (on weekdays) plus 10% service fee, which is about US$16. This cost is counted for starwood points as well.

Afternoon tea buffet started at 2:30pm. My friend and I arrived at the hotel at around 2:15pm. We went to the entrance and confirmed a reservation. If you are planning to go there, I recommend you to go there 10 min early. As long as you make a reservation, they keep a seat for you, but the food counter immediately gets busy. The atmosphere of the restaurant was lovely. It was huge, and the sunshine came in from the ceiling of glasses. The friendly waitress guided us to the reserved seats.

First plate

The food choice was, I thought, quite good. I chose Sheraton because I heard that their sashimi was delicious. So, once we knew our seats, I went to pick sashimi plate. I saw a chef cutting more sashimi, and put on the plate. If you like sashimi, you’d better pick sashimi dish first, otherwise the sashimi would be not fresh enough later… I ate sashimi plate three times, but the first one was the best freshness. At sashimi section, there are some salads and maki sushi, but it was not pure Japanese style, so I didn’t eat those this time.

Second plate

After I ate sashimi plate, I went to seek delicious hot dishes. Chinese, Asian and Western dishes were there as well as noodle section. Noodle dishes were cooked in front of you by a chef. I tried some Chinese food. Clockwise from top left, Asian style crispy chicken, komatsuna, pepper stake (but I didn’t see any peppers…) and Chao Mian. It was a bit disappointed that their Chinese dishes were OK, expect Komatsuna. I mean, here is Taiwan, so I expected delicious dishes…

Third plate

Clockwise from top right, creamy fish stew, smoked pork and rosemary BBQ chicken drumstick, from Western food section. Creamy fish stew was my disappointment, because the fish smelled badly. Pork and chicken was pretty good; I especially liked smoked pork.

Forth plate

I tried one pasta noodles. They offered three kinds of sauce, and I choose this pesto. A chef cooked in front of me, so the dish was hot and smelled good. As you can see, it was OILY!!! Next time, I need to tell the chef not to put too much oil…

Fifth plate

I thought sandwiches became a break from heavy dishes, yet it turned to made me full easily. In addition, their sandwich was another disappointment. I believe they use cheaper tuna. (>o<;)

Sixth plate

I am getting full, so this became my last dish. I picked some fried rice noodle, German potatoes, Komatsuna again, and some Chinese snacks. All the items were delicious! I finally found good ones!!! Sheraton prepared some sweets, but I could not eat it. I am sure these Chinese snacks were better than strawberry cakes. It was still warm, and not too sweet…

Bread Pudding

My friend ate many sweets, but I only ate this bread pudding. This was also great, not too sweet and had strong pudding taste. Next time, I would like to try some cakes.

I ate… a lot! I ate those six dishes plus extra two sashimi plates, bread pudding, pineapples and a cup of coffee and tea. The time passed so quickly and it became 5pm. OK time’s up.

Overall, my friend and I really enjoyed their food and atmosphere. Workers were friendly, and I got starwood points! Yey! If you want to try out some buffet in Taiwan, I strongly recommend one at Sheraton!

Total: TW$ 1078 (for 2 people including 10% service fee)

Kitchen 12, Sheraton Taipei
http://www.sheraton-taipei.com/english/index.htm
# Please make a reservation for buffet.

Restaurant #35: 三商巧福 San Shang Ciao Fu, Taipei

2010-04-16T21:21:00.003+08:00

三商巧福 is a chain restaurant focused on beef noodle, but recently they offer several seasonable menus. I tried this restaurant several times, but I usually eat from their rice menu. This time, I tried their seasonable menu 鴻運虎掌麵, the pork menu.

The branch that I went was located near Taipei Main Station. There are some branches in this area. The interior was simple but organized, and 80% of the capacity was full at around 6pm. In this area, there are so many cram schools, therefore young hungry students run to this restaurant and eat noodles quickly before they rush to cram schools. Anyways, I ordered 鴻運虎掌麵, and my friend ordered 紅燒排骨飯.

Kimchi

An appetizer came with my noodle dish. It is always better to use the coupon! This kimchi was not bad at all, but of cause you can’t expect too much. So far in my life, I ate a REAL kimchi only at a Korean restaurant in New York. I really regret that I forgot the name of the restaurant, but it was real and was amazing. My Korean friend told me that their Kimchi was the best, so could someone please let me know if one knows which restaurant I am talking about?

Chashu Noodle with Pork Knuckle Tendons

鴻運虎掌麵 (TW$110) was one of their seasonable items. I actually liked it than their other menu. Although the soup was probably used for other noodle items, I basically enjoyed the light taste of the broth. Some pieces of tendon were pretty good. You may be able to cook better one, but the balance of the soup, noodle and the ingredients was my taste, with this reasonable price.

Braised Pork Chop Rice

紅燒排骨飯 (TW$ 79) was, I believe, a fair price with such a quantity. Unfortunately, I didn’t eat this, but my friend told me it was pretty good. I should try it next time… All rice items come with a cup of soup.

Overall, this chain restaurant is a good place for students or people who are rush to have a meal. I think the atmosphere was fine, but I couldn’t relax and enjoy meeting with my friend. It is like a fast food restaurant.

Total: TW$ 189 (for 2 people)

三商巧福: Beef Noodle Restaurant
http://www.3375.com.tw/index.aspx

Restaurant #34: 小樂天餃子館 Dumpling Restaurant, Taipei

2010-03-28T02:55:00.007+08:00

Let me introduce one of my favorite restaurants in my area. I am the person who always wants to try new things. I tried some restaurants around my area, but unfortunately, I only found a few good restaurants. 小樂天餃子館 is one of good restaurants so far I know.

小樂天餃子館 is located near Taipei City Hall MRT station—easy to access. Workers wear the orange colored uniform. The manager, or an owner, is a friendly guy; he always welcomes customers. It is a typical Chinese restaurant, but I feel they organized the décor and furniture well.

Their signature menu is, as they named, dumplings! 水餃 (boiled dumpling) and 鍋貼 (fried dumpling) are their popular menu. I personally like fried dumpling, so everytime I go to this restaurant, I eat 鍋貼.

Pork Gelée

I usually do not order an appetizer (called 小菜 in Chinese) but this time I found interesting item, called 猪肉凍 (Pork Gelée) (TW$50). It was very delicious and amazing! Once you put the small piece into your mouth, it slowly melted and the taste of pork spread into your mouth. Amazing! The price is reasonable, so I would like to try this again.

Hot and Sour Soup

酸辣湯 (hot and sour soup) (TW$25) is always my favorite! For some reason, this restaurant does not offer 酸辣麺, but at least I could enjoy the soup. Actually, they use the same soup a 大滷麺, with vinegar and pepper. lol

The soup contains Tofu, carrot, Kikurage, Shitake mushroom, shredded bamboo shoots… And you see the green leave on the soup? It is called 香菜. I heard many Japanese people do not like it, so I was a bit scared. Well… I know this taste, it is cilantro! Yeah I love it! Oh now I miss Mexican food… The soup was pretty tasty.

Fried Dumpling

We ordered 10 pieces of 鍋貼 (TW$80). Their dumplings made of only grinded pork and Nira (韮: Chinese chives). I sometimes make dumpling by myself, but I use Chinese cabbage because it makes the dumpling so juicy. In Taiwan, it seems that cabbage is not used. I like both Japanese and Taiwanese style. Outside of the fried dumplings were very crispy! I always expect that inside would be juicy, but since two sides of dumpling were all opened, the juice from the pork and Nira comes out. Hmm… I really liked their fried dumpling, but I just hoped that the inside would have been a little more moisturized.

Da Lu Mian

Their noodle menu is pretty various, but I am not sure which one is the best. I usually order small-size 大滷麺 (Da Lu Mian) (TW$80), which is similar as 酸辣麺 but no spicy. The noodle is chewy and well-marinated with tasty soup. Ingredients were shredded pork, Shitake mushroom, tofu, egg, lettuce, shredded bamboo shoots, a few pieces of carrot (yes, it is true), and Kikurage. The soup is really like 酸辣麺… I hope they make it a little bit spicy… Da Lu Mian contains lots of vegetables, so it is healthy. So far I like this among their noodle menu.

Noodle with Zha Cai and Shredded Pork

榨菜 (Zha Cai: ザーサイ) is a type of pickled mustard stem, originating from Sichuan area of China. Some people are not fun of this, but I can eat anything! 榨菜肉絲麵 (Zha Cai Rou Si Mian) (TW$70, small size) was much simpler than 大滷麺. The soup broth was very tasty. Some slices of Chinese cabbage, green onion and Zha Cai, with roasted garlic (it is always used in Chinese dishes, but I don’t know what it is called.) It seems that they use the same-type noodle for all noodle dishes.

Overall, I liked their foods and service, and the price was reasonable.

Total: TW$ 305 (for 2 people)

小樂天餃子館: Dumpling Restaurant
1F, No. 151, Section 5, ZhongXiao East Rd. Xinyi Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2753-0793

Restaurant #33: Capricciosa, Taipei

2010-03-26T22:25:00.004+08:00

Capricciosa is a popular Italian trattoria restaurant chain in Japan. The first restaurant was opened at Shibuya, Tokyo, in 1978. Since 1991, they started opening some branches in out of Japan, such as in Guam, Korea and Taiwan. I had never been there before, but I found this restaurant at SOGO in Taipei, and I missed Japanese style pasta. So why not?

First of all, I liked their service. They at least try to keep the service quality from Japan. So far what I saw, all waiters/waitresses kept smiling and being friendly. I just hope they walked around more often, so that we didn’t have to wave our hands and ask for a glass of water so many times. The kitchen was opened, so we could see how the chefs worked, which is, I believe, not common in Taipei so it would be fun to see. The décor was simple and neat.

Their pasta menu was various! We wanted to try everything! One plate of pasta is for 2-3 people, so we decided to order one pasta and one salad. As for the price, I thought it was okay. Pasta was between 380 and 460, and pizza menu was a bit cheaper. It is close to Japanese price, so it may be a bit expensive for Taiwanese people. It would be nice to go there for some special events.

Lemon-marinated Grilled Chicken Salad, Cooled with Tomato Salad

Lemon-marinated Grilled Chicken Salad (TW$220) was a simple Caesar salad covered by grilled chicken breast. I thought grilled chicken was well marinated and tasty, but it was small. Caesar salad was used too much dressing and it ruined the natural taste of lettuce. Well, the lettuce did not look fresh, so they needed to use more dressing, I guess. I recommend you the salad at Olive Garden, because it was much better.

Linguine with Smoked Salmon in Cream Sauce

I have told you already that it is difficult to find a good Italian restaurant in Taiwan. This restaurant is Japanese customized, so it is not a pure Italian. However, their pasta was delicious! This time, we tried Linguine with smoked salmon (TW$460), but I also tried several others before. Averagely, their pasta items are tasty and I can recommend it to you. Pieces of smoked salmon was cooked well but was tender.

I am wondering how to make cream sauce pasta in Taiwan, because I have never seen whipping cream in regular supermarket. I tried some cream pasta in other restaurant, but it always taste… different than I have eaten before. If I could buy whipping cream, it would make me much easier to cook Carbonara…

Overall, I liked visiting Capricciosa. Food was great, and the service was friendly. Thank you for reading. (Report: Feb. 21, 2010)

Total: TW$ 748 (for 2 people, including 10% service fee)

Capricciosa: Italian Restaurant
http://www.capricciosa.com.tw/

Restaurant #32: Hung Kan Restaurant 紅磡港式飲茶, Taipei

2010-03-20T02:14:00.007+08:00

It was not difficult to find several great dim sum restaurants in Los Angeles. Here in Taipei, however, oh boy it is very difficult to find a good one with reasonable price! I am sure you will be able to eat delicious dim sum at a five star hotel, but I rather want to find a reasonable price. Hung Kan Restaurant is a chain dim sum restaurant in Taipei, and one is located in Ximen area, which my friend and I visited. I chose this place because they are open for 24 hours and it is near the subway station.

This restaurant is located near MRT Ximen station, so it is easy to access. The building is old, and the escalator was broken. Well, so-so impression so far… We were only two people, so the waitress led us to the window seats. The restaurant was huge; sometimes it is used for wedding banquet. I think their service was alright—nothing special. I hope they improve friendly service more since they charge 10% service fee.

We ordered five dim sum items and Oolong tea. My friend has a shrimp allergy, so we tried to find vegetarian menus. Unfortunately, most of dim sum items are included shrimp, even though the menu did not mention. Sorry my friend…

Baked Creamy Chinese Cabbage

奶油焗白菜 (Baked creamy Chinese cabbage) was an interesting item among five dishes. It was TW$120. Chinese cabbage (白菜: Nappa), Shitake, shrimp, crabmeat, and mushroom were marinated with cream sauce and baked. It was used two different kinds of shrimp; tiny Sakura shrimp and Sushi shrimp. I liked the taste of dish, but was a bit distracted by the strong taste from Sakura shrimp. I would like to order this again if they put less or no Sakura shrimp.

Pan-Fried Turnip Cake

腊味蘿蔔糕 (Pan-fried turnip cake) (TW$68) was my friend’s favorite. I like it when it is hot. Outside was crispy and tasty, but inside was a little bit dry. I felt it was not fresh enough… Disappointed. :(

Fried Spring Roll (left) and Deep Fried Leek Roll (right)

雞絲炸春捲 (Fried spring roll) (TW$88) was delicious! It was served right after they cooked. The skin was golden brown and crispy. A big piece of shrimp was sweet and tasty. I sometimes cook spring roll, but the one at the restaurant is always crispy. It would be great if they put more vegetables.

This deep fried leek roll (脆皮韮菜角) was the tastiest item among five for me. It was TW$88. Nira tastes might be a bit strong, but I loved it! Some pieces of shrimp were inside, although the menu didn’t mention. It would be great if they serve some veggie items. This leek roll would be good for veggie-only. Please try this leek roll if you have a chance.

Steamed Shrimp Dumpling

紅磡鮮蝦餃 (steamed shrimp dumpling) (TW$88) was many people’s all time favorite, and I am one of them. Unfortunately, the dumpling was served when it is cold~~~! NO~~~! It has to be warm~~~! It was not bad, but I ate better one before. I hope next time they serve better one.

This restaurant was, I think, so far okay. They serve various menus and the atmosphere was not bad at all. I was surprised, however, their price. For example, one item was TW$88, which is about US$2.75. Therefore it is almost same price as some restaurants in California. Compared to living expense in here, I believe it is a bit expensive…

However, my friend and I enjoyed the atmosphere and we had a good meeting. I would like to go there again with more friends. (Report: Jan. 31, 2010)

Total: TW$ 550 (for 2 people, including 10% service fee and extra)

紅磡港式飲茶: Hung Kan Restaurant
http://hungkan.wa24hr.com/

Yatai #01: Sichuan Noodle Stall 四川特色滷味麵攤, Taipei

2010-03-02T23:30:00.004+08:00

Yatai (屋台) is a Japanese word meaning “a stall”. We, in Sapporo, enjoy eating in Ramen stalls at Susukino or ice cream stalls at Odori Park. Here in Taipei, many types of food/snack stalls do business and those are quite successful; they sometimes make much more money than the regular store/restaurants. Near my house, there are so many food stalls, but I found a quite popular noodle stall for Taipei native, called “Sichuan Noodle Stall” 四川特色滷味麵攤 (actually this noodle stall does not have a name, but I named it in English!)

This is one of popular restaurant/stall in this area. Every time I go there, there is a long line waiting for the food. I cannot recommend you if you hate waiting, but it only takes 15 min max to get a ball of noodle. Their menu is quite various. Besides about sixteen noodle/soup menus (they may have some secret menu), they also offer variety of 滷味 (luwei). 滷味, lu-wei, is a Taiwanese-style stewed food; different kinds of food and vegetables are stewed in soy sauce with Chinese medicine and seasoning, including Chinese’ favorite, Star anise (八角). 八角 (Hakkaku in Japanese) has a strong special taste, and some Japanese people cannot eat this. I think it is just because we do not use Hakkaku in our food and don’t get used to it. In the beginning, I couldn’t eat Hakkaku at all, but now I can eat it no problem!

Three workers constantly cook and serve the dishes. One cooks noodles, one takes care of order and serve Luwei, and the other one takes care of others, such as serving the food and bills. NEVER STOP! They are always busy, which is great for their business. I heard that a lady who takes care of Luwei came from Sichuan area of China. According to her, they use good and expensive ingredients, so that the taste of their sauce is fresh. I agree. When I ordered some luwei, I told her not to put any sauce because it might be sweet. She told me that their sauce is not sweet at all because they use good ingredients, but many restaurants use sugar to make this type of sauce, that is why I feel it is sweet… I believed her and tried their sauce. Wow… She was right. It was not sweet and was actually fresh.

You can eat besides this noodle stall, but there are only 2, 3 tables available, therefore I usually bring noodles back and eat in my house.

Tan Tan Noodle

Their specialty is Sichuan style, so I ordered 川味担担麺 (Tan Tan Mian) (NT$ 45). It was SOOO SPICY! I like spicy food, but it was different spiciness than Korean or Thailand’s. I like it, though. Thin noodle was used, and the soup was made of 麻醤 (Majiang), 辣油 (La-yu), and their original Sichuan pepper sauce. Crushed peanuts, fresh green onion added more delicious flavor. The smell of the sauce spread immediately after I opened the container. I think the quantity of noodle and sauce was appropriate. I also liked the thin noodle.

Yang Chun Noodle

陽春麺 (YangChun Mian) (NT$ 30) is the simplest noodle of their menu; it contains only thin noodle and green vegetable. The soup is simple but solid flavor, so this item is good for quick dinner or night snack. If you are a big eater, then I definitely recommend you to order some Luwei on the side.

Chao Shou Noodle

炒手麺 (Chao Shou Mian) (NT$ 60) is so far my favorite. You can choose spicy or non spicy. Chao Shou is a Sichuan style wonton, and it is delicious! They have Chao Shou only (紅油炒手) (NT$ 40), but the quantity is less for me, so I like it with noodle. This Chao Shou Mian contains six pieces of wonton over Majiang noodle. You can enjoy the taste of both popular menus!

Well, they serve more items, so I will update some info when I try new items. You go there and try some. I am sure you would fine some of your favorite!

Thank you for reading.

四川特色滷味麵攤: Sichuan Noodle Stall
Lane 30, Yong Ji Rd. Xinyi Dist.
(Intersection of Yong Ji Rd. and Song Long Rd)
Taipei, TAIWAN
0926-765-661
18:00-01:00 (close: wed & thu)

Restaurant #31: Ramen Sanpachi ラーメンさんぱち, Taipei

2010-03-01T23:30:00.002+08:00

I went to New York New York, the popular mall in Xinyi district, to have Dim sum. Unfortunately, the dim sum restaurant was used for two weddings and was not available for dinner that day. Oh well… I needed to change our plan. My friend and I went to downstairs to find some restaurants, and oh my… I found one ramen restaurant there… from… Hokkaido!

I know I already ate Ramen yesterday, but I couldn’t stop myself. I entered the restaurant unconsciously! This is called さんぱちラーメン (八八八拉麵), Ramen Sanpachi. The last time I ate at Ramen Sanpachi in Sapporo was about 15 years ago, therefore I could not compare the taste between original and Taiwanese-style. According to the menu at the store, all the sauces and ingredients were imported from Hokkaido. It sounded good! We ordered Shoyu Ramen and Shio Ramen (NT$ 160 each).

Workers were friendly and well trained, but they chatted loudly when they don’t have enough customers. I hope they talk a little quietly. The décor was organized and spacious.

Shio Ramen

Our item was served quickly. The soup looked good so far. They used curly, middle-size noodle (中太ちぢれ麺), and contained sprout (もやし), nappa (白菜), seaweed (わかめ), bamboo shoots (メンマ), a slice of Japanese fishcake (かまぼこ), Chashu (チャーシュー) and green onion. I sipped the soup. Hmmm not bad! Sesame seeds were floating happily in the soup. Chashu was also tasty! The only thing I want them to improve was the quality of seaweed. It was dry, and was not fresh at all. I hope they use better seaweed…

Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen came with same ingredients, except seaweed. Unfortunately, the soup was too salty to finish up. I don’t remember the original taste of the soup, but I thought this soup was too much. After we finished the dinner, we were very thirsty. Was that because of MSG or just soup was too salty? Also, both noodles of Shio and Shoyu were, in my opinion, overcooked. Most of my Taiwanese friends like well-cooked noodle, but I prefer less cooked noodle. I believe I can ask them to cook less…

Overall, I enjoyed the dinner with my friend. However, the soup was salty for me. (Report: Jan. 24, 2010)

Total: NT$ 320 (for 2 people)

八八八拉麵: Ramen Sanpachi
New York New York Department Store Restaurant Place
B1, No. 12, Song Sou Road, Xinyi Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2723-3152

Restaurant #30: Kurume Ramen 魁龍拉麵, Taipei

2010-03-01T21:09:00.005+08:00

I often see Japanese Ramen restaurants in Taipei, but most of the restaurants look different than the actual Japanese style. I am not looking for a real Japanese ramen, because I don’t think Taiwan people like Japanese ramen, especially Hokkaido style. Hokkaido ramen use seafood, Miso and the soup is oily, rich flavor. I heard from my Taiwanese friends who went to Japan, especially Hokkaido, that they felt the Ramen soup in Hokkaido was very salty. So, here in Taipei, many Japanese-style Ramen restaurants use light, Tonkotsu soup, like Kyushu style.

魁龍拉麵, located in the basement of Caesar Park Hotel in Taipei Station area. Easy to access, and there are some other restaurants in the basement. I accidentally found this new Kyushu-style Ramen restaurant. My friend and I already ate dinner, but I really wanted to try… So I asked them if it was okay to order one dish and shared… They usually set a minimum charge, but this time they allowed us to order one dish. So I ordered simple Tonkotsu Ramen (NT$ 160).

Tonkotsu Ramen

Tonkotsu Ramen contained thin noodle, sprout, corn, Chashu, egg, seaweed, bamboo and green onion. Ingredients were all fresh, and I liked it especially chashu. It was so tender… You may want to add more slices of Chashu as an extra topping. The soup was white, pork based soup called Tonkotsu. To be honest, I am not a huge fun of white Tokotsu soup because the taste is too light. However, this soup was appropriate. I guess I got used to Taiwan flavor, or I eat too oily stuff everyday… The noodle was served with pretty noodle ball. I liked it!

I might come back here again to try some other items. I hope I would find an authentic Hokkaido Ramen restaurant in Taipei soon.

Thank you for reading! (Report: Jan. 23, 2010)

Total: NT$ 176 ($160 + 10% service charge)

魁龍拉麵: Kurume Ramen
Caesar Park Hotel B1
Jhongsiao W. Rd., Jhongjheng Dist.
Taipei, TAIWAN

Restaurant #29: Jin Din Lou 京鼎樓, Taipei

2010-02-17T23:30:00.004+08:00

I heard about Jin Din Lou Ebisu branch @ Tokyo with good review, but never heard about Taipei’s headquarter, so I went there to try. Jin Din Lou is a small chain Chinese restaurant, emphasizing steamed dumplings. The owners (brothers) were actually trained at Din Tai Fung before, and then they opened their own dumpling restaurant. So, their signature menu is, of course, steamed dumplings, and other items are similar to Din Tai Fung’s.

京鼎樓 that I went was located near Zhongshan MRT station. I asked my Taiwanese friend to join me. When we arrived at the restaurant, we saw some workers making dumplings lazily. One worker was reading the newspaper on the corner, and a few others were talking over dumplings without a mask. Their hygiene has some problems and it didn’t look great. Inside of the restaurant was alright, but it was not blight enough…

Once I entered the restaurant, a waitress guided us to the basement. The staircase was too steep and very dangerous. Awww… basement didn’t have any windows, and the air was not fresh. There are less than 10 big tables, and ALL customers were Japanese that night. Two waitresses smiled and welcomed us in Japanese. However, once my friend started speaking Chinese, their face literary changed annoyingly, and they took us to the smallest table in the corner.

Their unfriendly service made me uncomfortable, and I was upset to see all the Japanese customers that why they needed to go there and ruin their dinner with such an expensive price. Most of their faces were not happy… I felt that they were trying to enjoy the atmosphere. Oh well, I was one of them, so I can’t complain that much. We ordered 小籠包 (steamed dumpling) (10 pcs) (NT$170), 元盅土雞湯 (chicken soup) (NT$170), and雞肉蛋炒飯 (pork fried rice) (NT$110).

Chicken Soup

Now, foods were served. We got chicken soup first. Plates, menus, I mean everything reminded me of Din Tai Fung. Do they want us to compare with them? Or they try to beat them with their taste? I tried one, two sip of the soup. For me, it was oily. Chicken was kind of dry and not tender enough, and I didn’t feel it was fresh at all.

Pork Fried Rice

Pork friend rice was served next. It was… too shiny; they might be using animal oil. Egg was a bit overcooked, even though it was tasty. The only thing I didn’t like is that the rice was not tasty. Are they using California rice or what? If they use fresh, Taiwanese rice, I would have liked this item much more.

Steamed Dumpling

Their signature item was served, finally, at the end, but it seemed the chef forgot to serve in the beginning. After we complained to the waitress (because we waited for more than 30 minutes!!!) the chef himself served the item, and started arguing with two waitresses in Taiwanese. Oh Geez… I am not sure how many people understood what they were arguing about, but definitely my friend was embarrassed. Dumpling was actually pretty good. I liked it better than Din Tai Fung. Yet the fact that we have been waited for so long and caused the argument, I was not happy.

I brought a Japanese guidebook with 5% discount. I was so embarrassed to do so only for 5% discount. My friend was already unhappy, and he even felled down at the dangerous staircase. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

I really hope that they will improve their service and hygiene, if they charge such a high price. So far, I’d rather go to small local restaurants which offer same items with a half price, or go to Din Tai Fung, similar price but better service.

Total: NT$ 428 (for 2 people, with 5% discount)

京鼎樓: Jin Din Lou
No.47, Changchun Rd. Zhongshan Dist.
Taipei City, TAIWAN
02-25236636

Restaurant #28: Quan An Viet Nam

2010-02-16T23:30:00.003+08:00

It was a first time for five years that I ate Vietnamese food. I barely eat it, because they use a lot of MSG for the soup and I easily got headache back in the States. But since I saw many Vietnamese restaurants in Taipei, I wanted to try!

This small family restaurant is located near HOLA and B&Q (like Home Depot). You need to take a bus to get there. The décor is simple but organized. I think the hygiene is okay. There is a menu on the table, so you choose some items and give those to the chef/owner at the counter. My friend and I ordered猪排烤肉飯 (Com Suong Nuong: Grilled Pork Chop Rice) (NT$60) and 猪肉河粉 (Hu Tieu: Pork Noodle) (NT$65).

Grilled Pork Chop Rice

This was my friend’s choice. This was very good. The pork was marinated with a bit sweet sauce, but I could eat it. Slices of cucumber made the dish colorful. It came out with a cup of soup and sour and sweet sauce. Quantity was appropriate for one person.

Pork Noodle

I chose this, even though I know that I would get headache again. I really like all kinds of noodle. Their noodle was simple; rice noodle, pork, sprout, and garlic. The soup had a great taste, but a bit sweet and unfortunately MSG taste. After I finished a half of the bawl, I became thirsty… This item came with a cup of soup, but I rather have noodle only with NT$60. Am I too stingy?(^^;;;)

Since I barely eat Vietnamese food, I cannot tell their food was good or not. At least I enjoyed their decent hospitality and their food. I would like to go back there, and want to try their fresh spring rolls next time.

Total: NT$ 125 (for 2 people)

Quan An Viet Nam
No.693, Jingping Road
Zhonghe City, TAIWAN
02-22431372

Restaurant #27: World Soymilk King

2010-02-15T23:30:00.000+08:00

世界豆漿大王 is a 24-hour-open Chinese restaurant located in my area. It seems that there are some branches. They offer breakfast items and lunch items. It seems that recently they remodeled their restaurant and now have more space for seating. Of course you can eat dinner, but you may want to eat more… It would be great place for night snacks.

I went there in lunch time, because I saw steam coming out from the dumpling containers outside. I ordered the lunch set, which came with 8 pieces of 小籠包 (steamed dumpling), 蔥餅 (Chinese Bread with Green Onion), 蔥花蛋 (Scrambled Egg with Green Onion), and 冰豆漿 (Iced Soymilk).

Please don’t expect for the décor. It is a stereo type Chinese restaurant, so the inside was simple; just some tables and chairs. Hygiene was alright. Self service corner for extra plates, shredded ginger and some sauces.

Scrambled Egg with Green Onion

Scrambled egg was with green onion. Nothing special but this is popular menu as Taiwanese breakfast menu. I didn’t like the sweet (!?) sauce, so next time I would tell them no sauce. Soymilk was homemade. Usually in Taipei, the milk is sweet, unless you tell them not to put the sugar. So if you like non-sweet soymilk, be careful!

Chinese Bread with Green Onion

I liked Chinese bread, again with green onion. They heated up for me, so it was pretty hot. I already tried this bread several times, but most of times I like it. I should try other breads next time…

Steamed Dumpling

I LOVE steamed dumplings. When I was in the States, I sometimes went to the famous dumpling restaurant, 鼎泰豐Din Tai Fung, which was originally from Taiwan. Please do not expect too much for their steamed dumplings at世界豆漿大王. Their specialty is not a dumpling. However, their dumplings were pretty good with this reasonable price. Their steamed dumpling (8 pcs) was only TWD 70! Good price! Yes, almost an half price of Din Tai Fung. I really enjoyed their dumpling.

I already tried some other items at this restaurant. Most of items are pretty good in reasonable prices. Yet, so far my favorite is steamed dumpling. I would like to try their breakfast menu next time!

Total: 80 TWD

世界豆漿大王
http://www.soymilk.com.tw/

Dessert #02: Tsumugi

2010-02-14T23:30:00.000+08:00

I don’t eat dessert that much, because I prefer salty stuff than a sweet one. However, once in a while I am craving desserts. When I came to Taipei, I stopped by at some souvenir stores to buy some Hokkaido cookies, and I found this Baumkuchen. This is Ishiyaseika’s new item. Ishiyaseika’s signature item, 白い恋人 (Shiroi Koibito: it means “a white lover”), is still a huge hit as a popular souvenir of Hokkaido. Yet, I would like to recommend this baumkuchen, so called Tsumugi.

The package is professional. The color of the box is calm and sophisticated, and the font is not that bad. This box is also strong, so it is useful. Baumkuchen was in appropriate size (as a souvenir) and the taste pretty good. It was not that sweet, so it was my favorite taste. I also liked the fact that I can bring it back without an ice. Sometimes these souvenir need to be in cool place, but this one is easy to carry without an ice.

If you come to Hokkaido, please try this Tsumugi and see if you like it.

Tsumugi @ Ishiyaseika
http://www.yawarakoi.com/

Restaurant #26: Emperor Foods, Taipei

2010-02-14T18:43:00.003+08:00

Sorry guys. I was away from my blog for a while… It was just because I had been busy for my struggling life in Taipei. Now I am on a New Year vacation and have more time, so let me tell you about 君悅排骨 (Emperor Foods), the fried pork restaurant near by my house. 排骨 (paigu) originally means pork ribs, but as I know, or at least in Japan, 排骨 is a Chinese style deep fried pork. I wrote an article about Ramen that I ate at Yokohama. That was paigu ramen. Paigu has a special taste; it comes from Chinese powder called 五香粉 (Wu3xiang1fen3). So if you are not familiar with Chinese food, you may feel strange in the beginning, but don’t worry, once you eat this delicious paigu, you would love it!

This restaurant, 君悅排骨, is a chain restaurant in Taiwan. There is one branch near by my house, so I tried back in November. (Oops! Sorry about my laziness.) Their menu is quite simple. Besides their signature menu, 排骨, they also have chicken, beef and fish as well. One menu, curry pork rice, was known as Japanese style in here, but their pork is not Japanese Katsu, so it is quite different. Most of rice items can be replaced with noodle. We tried their signature item, 排骨酸菜飯 (pork rib rice) (TWD 145) and 鶏腿酸菜飯 (fried chicken rice) (TWD 160).

The décor of the restaurant was very simple and boring, but at least it looked clean, which is rare in Taiwanese restaurant. Their service was decent, but I was expected a bit friendlier service since the items were not cheap.

Fried Pork Rib Rice

Items were served quickly, expect Paigu. It took some extra minutes to serve pork ribs. Rice with some veggies and small soup were served with pork/chicken. Veggies were cooked cabbage, sour cabbage, Chinese nappa, Chinese style tofu, and cooked grinded beef. I liked the veggies, but it was oily. Next time I may ask them to serve those separately. Paigu was served while we were tasting veggie rice. It is simple, but was quite tasty and fresh. The meat was tender enough, so that you don’t need to use knives.

Fried Chicken Rice

Chicken was my choice. To be honest, I liked this chicken better than the pork. In this picture, you may feel it was overcooked, but actually it was perfectly crispy, and fresh pepper was plus. Outside was deliciously browned, and inside was juicy and tender. This chicken was quite good.

Most of their branches are located in near by subway station. Therefore the price is pretty expensive. If they want to charge like this, then I expect more special menus and a little better service. However, overall I enjoyed their food. I would like to go back there one more time and try fried fish rice next time. (Report: Nov. 2009)

Total: 305 TWD (for 2 people)

君悅排骨: Emperor Foods
No.135, Section 5, ZhongXiao Rd. Xinyi Dist.
Taipei City, TAIWAN
02-8787-0918 or 02-2751-9783
10:30-21:00

Where is great food?

2010-01-28T20:25:00.004+08:00

Ah... I have been trying all kinds of food in Taipei, but unfortunately, most of the stuff have strong taste. Spicy might be alright, but I just can't eat sweet stuff... Also, noodle soup contains lots of MSG...

But I still have a hope that sooner I will find a great restaurant around my area!

Restaurant #25: Wonton Noodle, Taipei

2010-01-06T01:40:00.005+08:00

On the day of my arrival, I found a wonton restaurant, 玉口香扁食園, near by my house. It was 10pm, and there are some people eating inside. OK I should try!

The décor was very simple. There are six small tables or so, and on the wall of each table, there are some boxes. I saw it carefully. It was a tissue box—it is cute! Their menu is simple; each category, such as rice, wonton, noodle, has four or five different flavor or style. So it is easy to choose as a foreigner. It was my first time and I had no idea. I ordered pork wonton noodle (鮮肉扁食) (TW$ 65) and veggie wonton noodle (菜肉扁食) (TW$ 65). One noodle costs about $2. Do you think it is SO cheap? Yes!!! At least for me, the first time. However, when you think about their living expenses, it is okay.

Veggie Wonton with Noodle

Both items were very similar. No wonder many Chinese noodles are served quickly. Soup, noodle and some other ingredients were same, except the type of wonton dumpling. My choice was pork wonton with noodle. The soup was probably chicken broth and juice from pork, no more than that. Wonton was tasty and it made me full easily. I also liked the type of Chinese noodle. Veggie wonton with noodle was a bit less broth in the soup, but I liked this wonton better than a simple pork one. Over the noodle, some pieces of Chinese lettuce were used.

Pork Wonton with Noodle

People in Taipei are, I think, very busy, and they try to finish the meal as quick as possible. Therefore, many restaurants have to serve the food quickly with simple, convenient menu. I feel that the important thing is if you can be full or not. People don’t mind about the décor or what kind of plates they use… It is interesting. Japanese people are always busy as serious workaholic, and I was one of them. Yet, we try to spend more time for the meal. Of course, it depends on the job, but I felt the cultural difference here. Well, for me, the most important thing is the taste and the health issue. Those noodle made me full easily, and it was pretty tasty. Do I want to go back there again? Yes, maybe just one more time to try different menu. (Report: Nov. 2009)

Total: 130 TWD (for 2 people)

玉口香扁食園: Wonton Noodle Restaurant
# There is no website available.

A Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-05T00:07:00.003+08:00

Yippy! 2010 started! Wow 2009 was sooooo fast. I guess I am getting old, because I feel time passes very quickly. Good thing is that I still feel JOY when I eat delicious food. I never get tired of it. :)

In 2010, I definately start my career in Asia, and keep studying languages. I am hungry for knowledge. I know I can't be perfect, and I am not a book smart at all. I am a slow learner. Yet, I like to learn new things, because it makes me happy and fulfilled. So, this year I will move forward!

How was your New Year's day? Did you see countdown? I was happy to see Taipei 101 fireworks in front of me~!

Travel #01: Narita to Taipei

2009-12-21T22:48:00.005+08:00

I was lucky in this Taipei trip. I took China Airlines this time. I ordered my air ticket on the Internet, and they gave me a priority coupon, which allowed me to have a priority check-in, a pass to their lounge, and a priority tag on my luggage. My flight was at around 2pm, so I left Shin-Yokohama at around 9:30am, and then went to YCAT to take a Limousine Bus (shuttle bus) towards Narita Airport.

At 11:30am, I arrived at Narita Airport, but the check-in counter was still closed. So I bought new batteries for my camera to be ready to take some pictures and walked around a little bit to see if anything interesting. Narita Airport was not crowded on this day.

The check-in counter opened at around 11:45. I immediately checked in my big luggage, and rushed to the lounge. I used to have a chance to enjoy United lounge, but now they charge us to use it, so I barely take United… I miss their better services. The lounge was actually empty. I was the first one, and then one business person came in right after me.

Their food menu was alright. They had some cookies, breads, onigiri, noodles and so on. Reasonable, but nothing special. Regular drinks were ready. I was hungry, and I knew I could not eat an airline meal, so I picked two Onigiri (rice balls) and a small cup noodle. Too much? ^^;

I stayed there for an hour--writing articles for the blog and killing some time, then headed off to the gate. It was relaxing time at the lounge... It only took for four hours or so to get Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, and as I predict, I couldn't eat an airline meal.

Yes, I am here in Taipei now, and it has passed a month already. I am trying to stay here for 6 months or hopefully a bit longer to improve my Chinese skills.

If you know good restaurants, especially "good" Italian Restaurant, please let me know!

Restaurant #24: Shabu Shabu Onyasai, Shin-Yokohama

2009-12-13T01:00:00.004+08:00

This dinner became a last meal with my friends in Japan. ShabuShabu place, Onyasai, is located near by on Shin-Yokohama station. This restaurant becomes a big chain and several restaurants are already located in Sapporo. I heard about them, but this was my first time to try.

I had a chance to meet with my Hokkaido friend. She moved to Tokyo area a few years ago. She went to the same college in the USA. I was glad to meet her in such a short notice. I introduced my other friend to her, and three of us went to Onyasai together having a dinner.

The décor was pretty. It was a bit dark and Jazz music was played as the background music. Workers were fine, but I felt they were not friendly enough. It was late, so they might be tired... Unfortunately, my camera was out of battery, so the pictures were taken by one of my friend’s mobile phone. (I think it looks amazing! Thank you, my friend!)

Shabu Shabu Set

The menu is complicated; we have several choices for soup, meat, veggies and other side dishes. It is fun to choose each of them, or you may feel much easier to order set menus. Since we were not that hungry, we ordered Shabu Shabu Set (1580 yen), which came with your choice of soup, meat, veggie, and Shime Mono (〆物) for two people.

They used Chinese hot pot, so we could enjoy two different kinds of soup. One came with the basic Konbu soup, and the other was our choice, soymilk soup. It was healthy, and it also provided Yuba (湯葉: tofu skin).

Japanese Kuroge Beef set and Veggie set

Meat set that we chose was "Hayashi Farm’s Mochi-Buta and Japanese Kuroge Beef Set" (林牧場のもち豚と国産黒毛牛セット), which was served with three types of meat; Mochi-Buta Prime Rosu (prime pork loin), Mochi-Buta Prime Kalbi (prime rib), and Japanese Kuroge Beef Prime Rose. All were tasty and tender, but I especially liked prime pork loin. It matched with both kinds of soup.

Our vegetable choice (食物繊維たっぷり野菜の盛り合わせ) looked gorgeous; yam, spinach, Daikon (大根: Japanese radish), Gobo (ごぼう: burdock root), carrot, lettuce, Eringi (エリンギ: emperor mushroom), brown Enoki mushroom, and Nameko mushroom (なめこ). I preferred eating vegetables with Konbu soup, but amazingly, Gobo really matched with soymilk soup. Earthy flavor of Gobo easily becomes strong among the others, but with soymilk soup, it turned to the creamy, gentle flavor. Gobo is a very healthy vegetable, it really help us to digest foods well.

Aww the veggies were really good, so we ordered another Basic Veggie Set (880 yen); lettuce, cabbage, Hakusai (白菜: napa cabbage), Mizuna (水菜), Nira (韮: Oriental garlic chives), carrot, Daikon, Shungiku (春菊: chrysanthemum greens), bok choy, sprout, and spinach. I was not a huge veggie lover before, but once I passed the certain age, I was able to taste the freshness of the vegetables and feel more appreciation to farmers. Oh well, am I just getting old? Shungiku and Nira might have strong flavor than others, but I ate both easily with soymilk soup.

Finally, Shimemono (〆物) came. “Shime-mono” means a closing item of the dinner. After the main dishes and drinking, Japanese commonly eat not only delicious but also like taste rice / noodle item, such as Onigiri (おにぎり: rice ball) or Ochazuke (お茶漬け). Since we chose the soymilk soup, shimemono was “Soymilk Cheese Risotto”. They adjusted the quantity of the soup first (add more or take it out a bit), and add some rice. Over the rice, they shredded the fresh cheese and grinded pepper. It only took a few minutes to complete creamy risotto. It tasted different than I expected, in a good way, since the soup was soymilk. It was a great item to finish up the gathering.

Overall, I and my friends enjoyed this evening with healthy vegetables and tasty meat. Shabu Shabu is becoming popular even in the U.S.. Doing Nabe (hot pot) is a cultural thing for Japanese people; family and friends gather and eat hot pot together in cold season. America’s shabu shabu use a small pot for one person, but we use a huge pot, and put all veggies and meats, and eat them together. This is Japanese/Chinese style, and I always enjoy it!

Total: about 6000 yen (set menu for 2 people, some drinks for each)

Shabu Shabu Onyasai
しゃぶしゃぶ温野菜
http://www.onyasai.com/index.shtml

Café #04: Lettre D’Amour, Shirokane

2009-12-12T00:58:00.006+08:00

I apologize that I have not updated my food diary for a while, and the article is getting behind…

On the way back to the hotel, my friend and I found a cute dessert shop called “Lettre D’Amour”, located at Shirokane-Dai, Tokyo. They sell sweets at the first floor, and at the second floor, a fashionable cafeteria offers the relaxed place for us to enjoy their desserts. I felt lucky because it is not easy to find such a fancy place at Tokyo, unless you know the area well. So we decided to have a tea in here.

Such a sweet little building. Two workers welcomed us carefully when we opened the door. Then a lady guided us to the upstairs. There were only four or five round-tables in the cafeteria, and well-trained waitress brought us a cute menu. Most of items had pictures so it made us very difficult to pick, because it all looked gorgeous.

My friend chose chocolate cake and hot café au lait. Sorry I forgot the name of the cake. It was too fancy to memorize it. :D It looked gorgeous, and I liked the snowflake on the cake. The red sauce on the plate was raspberry sauce.

Fleur

Beautiful color combination! Creamy, rich flavoured Litchi’s mousse, called "Fleur", was served artistically with the red (pink?) shell. Blueberry on the top nicely provided a slight sour taste. The shell around the mousse was actually a white chocolate! It was amazing. The chocolate was pretty sweet, but it helped to keep the nice balance of the sweetness between the mousse and the chocolate.

Hot Tea with La France flavor

I ordered hot tea with the aroma of La France. La France is the one kind of European pear, and Japan also produces one for picky Japanese customers. The pear itself is pretty expensive, compared to crispy Japanese pear, Nashi (梨). Luckily, my mother bought some La France for me this summer, and it was so fresh and juicy. I still remembered the sweetness of the pear. This hot tea reminded me of that taste. I also liked the cute idea of the sugar stick. While the tea was hot, you put the sugar stick into the tea, and waited for a few minutes. The sugar started melting.

Lettre D’Amour means a love letter. Chef de Patissier, Mr. Katsuhiko Kurashima, won second place for Grand Gateau division at Japan Cake Show Tokyo 2008. If you have a chance to visit Tokyo, it is worth to stop by this shop.

Lettre D’Amour
on Platinum Street
5-17-1, Shirokane-dai, Minato-ku
Tokyo
03-5488-5051
10:30-20:00
http://www.okasix.com/

Restaurant #23: Maharaja, Yokohama

2009-11-30T23:30:00.000+08:00

Cubic Plaza became a symbolic mall at Shin-Yokohama area. They provide foods, clothes, bookstore and some nice restaurants. I didn’t have enough time to take a look each floor, but I went to the 10th floor to eat lunch with my friend.

I used to have an Indian friend in California, and she cooked me some Indian food before. I really liked it, especially a curry. This Indian restaurant, Maharaja, offers lunch menus with a large quantity of curry. The décor was simple, but neat and clean. I liked it. There were two Indian waiters serving. It seems that their menu is a mixture of North India and South India’s local menus.

My friend and I ordered Today’s Lunch, 900 yen, and Malai Kabab (2 pieces), 600 yen. Lunch set came with a salad, today’s special curry, and choice of nan or rice. Wow that was huge quantity for me… It made me full easily.

Today's Lunch

Today’s special curry was a chicken curry. I tried to memorize the name, but they said it was not on the menu… I forgot the full name… But it was extremely spicy and tasty! I tried with rice, and my friend tried with nan. This curry was matched well with rice, but the rice was too much. I wish I could’ve brought some to the hotel. Japanese restaurant doesn’t offer the boxes, so we need to eat everything.

Malai Kabab was also a great item as a second dish. However, we were full with the curry, and had a tough time to finish up everything. I am not sure how they cook Malai Kabab, but I could taste Indian spices and some creamy taste; it could be some whip cream or yogurt. It had a strong flavor because of the spices, but it was my taste than tandoori chicken.

I tried Indian food several times, and now I am getting into it. Next time I go back to Japan, I definitely want to try out some restaurants. Oh well, I will find some here in Taipei… If you have some Indian friends, you should ask them some popular recipe.

Total: 2400 yen (for 2 people, without drinks)

Maharaja, Yokohama
9F, Cubic Plaza Shin-Yokohama
2-100-45, Sinyokohama, Kouhoku-ku
Yokohama
045-350-6324
11:00-23:00 (L.O. 22:00)
http://www.maharaja-group.com/

Restaurant #22: Teppachiya, Yokohama

2009-11-29T23:30:00.000+08:00

I used to live in Kanagawa province for about a year, due to my job. So I have some friends in this area. Luckily, I could meet up with one of my friends in short notice. She took me to Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant, called Teppachiya (てっぱち屋). Some of you may imagine something like Benihana, but actually, our teppanyaki style is quite different than Benihana. Either customers cook by themselves or the stake chef cook quietly and elegantly in front of you. Not that much entertainment as Benihana. Although I like Benihana style, this restaurant was the place that you enjoy “teppanyaki” with your friends.

Teppachi Tamagoyaki

“Teppachi Tamagoyaki with Ground Chicken and Cheese” (てっぱち玉子焼き　鶏そぼろ＆チーズ) (730 yen) was a fantastic item to start with. My friend and I could cook, but we asked the waiter to do teppanyaki for us. He quickly beat some eggs, and put onto the heated Teppan.

Cooked ground chicken, shredded cheese, sprout and green onion were added immediately.

Right after he put all ingredients, he started wrapping it with Tamagoyaki.

Then cutting in four…

There you go. It’s done! Delicious Teppachi Tamagoyaki! Taste was fine. I liked the taste of cheese, though I thought that the ground chicken was a bit too sweet. They probably used the sweet soy sauce. Tamagoyaki (玉子焼き) is a type of Japanese omelet, usually made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg.

Fresh Cabbage

Fresh Cabbage (ばりばり塩キャベツ) was 330 yen. Don’t forget to eat enough veggies!

Tomato Pork Maki

Six pieces of “Tomato Pork Maki” (トマト豚巻き) (530 yen) looked cute and was fun to eat. Petite tomatoes were wrapped with slices of pork and Shiso.

Put the stainless cover on it and wait for about 10 minutes…

Beautiful Pork Maki is ready! Because tomatoes were small, Shiso taste was pretty strong. If you like shiso, then you should try this item! Tomatoes became hot, and pork slices were juicy with rich flavor of Shiso. Three different tastes were magically mixed.

Kujo Negi with Pork

“Kujo Negi with Pork” (九条ねぎまるごと豚巻き) (690 yen) was a dynamic item! We enjoyed cooking this. Loooong Kujo Negi was wrapped with slices of pork. The waiter grinded the fresh salt and pepper in front of you.

It was a simple item, but fun to cook and taste great. Just need to cook the pork, so negi was still fresh and even close to raw. The pork was juicy. I loved the contrast of the firmness. I also thought that the color of the head of green negi whetted my appetite.

Avocado with Red Wine and Shoyu

Last item we chose was Avocado with Red Wine and Shoyu (アボガドのワイン醤油焼き), 530 yen. The waiter brought us some slices of avocado, butter and red wine. He told me to put the butter on the Teppan first, cook avocado for five minutes or so, and then pour the red wine right before we eat it.

Red wine gave the accent at the last. Slices of avocado were so tender and melted in my mouth. Especially with the butter, I felt the avocado had much richer flavor.

I really enjoyed their Teppanyaki style. I hope that there are some restaurants with similar style of Teppanyaki in Sapporo. Workers were friendly enough, but could be possible to work faster a bit. Hmmm maybe it was just because we sat at the side of the room. I would like to go back there and try some other items if I have a chance.

Total: About 4800 yen (for 2 people)

Teppachiya, Yokohama
2F, Masuni Daiichi Bldg
2-4-6, Shin-Yokohama Kohoku-ku
Yokohama
045-470-6488
http://www.teppachi-ya.com/index.html

Restaurant #21: Ramen Tessho, Yokohama

2009-11-28T23:30:00.002+08:00

As I mentioned, I moved to Taipei, Taiwan. Before I came here, I needed to get Visitor Visa, so I went to Tokyo to do some paperwork. I stayed at Shin-Yokohama for several days and met with my friends.

After the paperwork, I came to Shin-Yokohama to find a hotel. I found a reasonable hotel called “Super Hotel Shin-Yokohama”, located at close to Shin-Yokohama train station. I stayed two nights and it only costs about only 7800 yen, including a simple breakfast. The room is kind of small, but it is enough space for one or two. I was so hungry after checking in, so I went back to the station and found a ramen place for lunch, called Ramen Tessho (らーめん鐵匠).

I used to work in Tokyo area, and I already tried Tokyo ramen several times. The taste was quite different than Hokkaido ramen and did not like it. Sorry! It is funny that I always expect Tokyo ramen to get better taste, even though I already know the taste is still the same… Ramen Tessho has a variety of menus in reasonable price. It seems that they have Chinese style menu. So I ordered Chicken Paiku-Men (鶏パイクー麺: 900 yen).

Chicken Paiku Men

Chicken was thin and crispy—easy to bite. The chef just deep-fried it. I could smell and taste the special Chinese spices (sorry I don’t know what it is called.) Crinkle, curly noodles were thick, and easy to mix with the soup. I personally thought noodle was a bit too thick. Soup is always difficult to be judged, it is because it really depends on personal preferences. I prefer rich flavored soup. Tessho uses duck and chicken for the main broth, so it was “assari” (light) taste. Plus, Paiku is a Chinese-style chicken, so this ramen tasted very different than regular Japanese ramen, although it had an original flavor. The ingredients were simple—Paiku and bok choy.

I was impressed that the chef was nice and friendly. There were only two workers, and sometimes the waitress was busy to take care of some customers. Then, the chef himself brought the dish and welcomed the customers. Those services are sometimes important to attract more customers. People have various reasons to go out to eat. The main reason would be that they want to eat delicious food. Yet, some could be to chat with the chef or workers. It really happens, and the simple conversation makes a customer happy.

Again, ramen is a personal preference, so it is the best that you go and taste it and decide if you like it or not. As I always say, I would like to try all kinds or ramen, but my favorite is always Hokkaido ramen!

Total: 900 yen

Ramen Tessho
Bekkan 1F, Cubic Plaza Shin-Yokohama
2937, Shinohara-cho, Kohoku-ku
Yokohama
045-471-1100

Restaurant #20: Ramen Tetsuya, Sapporo

2009-11-27T23:30:00.002+08:00

One week passed since I moved to Taipei, Taiwan. I’ve already missed Sapporo’s delicious food, although Taipei food is delicious enough. It is just some of my favorite dishes are hard to find in Taipei. That is all. Ramen is a great example.

Noodle place, Tetsuya, is from Sapporo, Hokkaido, but now, it seems there is one branch in Tokyo area. I don’t know Tokyo people like this kind of taste, but I hope they will be successful. There are 5 or 6 branches in the city of Sapporo, and one is in my neighborhood. I am just lucky!

The décor is very simple. It is neat but small. I only know a few branches, but usually there are only 10 to 12 people can eat on the counter table. That is all.

Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen (Soy sauce taste: 醤油らーめん) (735 yen) is their signature menu. As you can see, it comes with Negi (green onion: ねぎ), Memma (bamboo shoots:メンマ), Nori (seaweed: 海苔) and two slices of Chashu (チャーシュー). The soup’s broth is basically from pork; they use selected Genkotsu (pork bone), Baraniku (pork belly: バラ肉) and Tonsoku (Chinese Braise Pork Knuckle: 豚足), and cooked the soup for over 12 hours. The broth doesn’t smell the pork at all, and the color is purely white. The soup of Shoyu Ramen is coved with Seabura (pork backfat: 背脂), produced from the domestic pork. If you like lighter taste, then you might feel this soup is too strong. I personally like their kotteri soup a lot!

Miso Ramen

Miso Ramen (みそらーめん) was 840 yen. The ingredients were almost same as Shoyu; instead of seaweed, Miso came with Moyashi (sprout: もやし) and Wakame (wakame seaweed: わかめ). The soup was thicker than Shoyu, because Miso was used. In addition, I smelled the garlic. Ah… Yummy! The noodle (麺) was provided by Nishiyama Seimen, the famous noodle company in Sapporo. “Chijile” (curly), medium thick noodles nicely matched with the rich soup. Miso is also their popular item.

So, which Ramen do you want to try? :)

Total: 2415 yen (for 3 people)

Ramen Tetsuya
1F, Art MS, 2-19, Minami 7-jo Nishi 12-chome, Chuo-ku
Sapporo
011-563-0005

Restaurant #19: Nangokushuka, Sapporo

2009-11-26T23:30:00.002+08:00

My family went to see Ken Watanabe’s new movie, “Shizumanu Taiyo” (沈まぬ太陽). After the movie, my family and I met in front of the train station and had lunch together. I wanted to try Kyokaro, the Chinese restaurant I wrote before, but this time my aunt told me there is another Chinese restaurant at Sapporo Stellar Place, the building next to Daimaru. OK, let’s try different atmosphere!

“Nangokushuka” is a Chinese chain restaurant, originally from Harajuku, Tokyo. It seems that the décor was modern and cool, although I like Kyokaro’s décor better. We needed to wait for twenty minutes due to the weekend, but it was worth to wait. The waiter and waitress were friendly enough. It is quite different mood compared to Kyokaro. Kyokaro, the Chinese restaurant at Daimaru department store, have more gorgeous, elegant service and atmosphere. On the other hand, Nangokushuka is more friendly and energetic. I like both style.

Su La Tan Men

I chose “Su La Tan Men” (Suan la Tang Mian: スーラー湯麺) (1050 yen). I think I tried the only soup before, but with noodle, it made me full easily. It was an interesting taste. I mean I liked it a lot, but my family told me that it tasted special Chinese spices they’ve never eaten before. Hmm… I guess I ate enough Chinese food and it doesn’t bother me at all. The soup was thick & creamy, and spicy from the pepper with shrimp, squid, scallop, shiitake, bok choy, komatsuna and egg. Even though I am a big eater, this was huge! It would be nice if I share with some friends.

Lunch Set with Soy Sauce Chicken

Lunch menu comes with today’s dish (you can choose one from three choices), one piece of Dim Sum (点心), 2 pieces of side dishes(副菜), Rice or Chinese bread, Today’s soup, Kou no Mono (香の物), Today’s dissert or Chinese tea. Soy Sauce Chicken (愛知県産えぞゆきのした真狩産ボロ葱入り鶏肉の醤油炒め) (1260 yen) was very tasty enough and made me satisfied qualitatively and quantitatively. Ezo Yukinoshita, known as Enoki, was from Aichi Province, and Chicken and Green Onion sauté with soy sauce was from Makkari, Hokkaido. Chicken was so juicy and interestingly it looked like a pork. Negi (green onion) always matches with chicken. You may sauté with sour and sweet sauce, but my favorite is usually with soy sauce.

Half & Half Lunch Set: Gomoku Ankake Tsuyusoba

Gomoku Ankake Tsuyusoba (五目あんかけつゆそばセット) (1365 yen) was hard to finish up. It was... too much! It was my uncle’s choice. It didn’t make sense that the Tsuyusoba, like a Chinese ramen, comes with today’s soup. They should come with either Dim Sum or dessert. Unfortunately, soup was already getting cold and my uncle didn’t enjoy it. The ingredients, though, were tasty. Fried Rice was great, he said. Simple, but with proper taste. Shrimp, egg, and komatsuna mixed with rice, and they used the special pepper who gives the taste of Chinese.

Lunch Set with Three kinds of Seafood

Lunch set with seafood sauté (茨城産パクチョイ入り海鮮三種: 天然海老、帆立貝、絞甲いかの天日塩炒め) (1470 yen) was my aunt’s choice. Fresh ingredients from all over Japan were used in this dish. Bok Choy from Ibaragi province was sauté with natural shrimp, scallop and squid. It looked interesting that they also used pumpkins and negi. Yes pumpkins with seafood. I need to taste it next time.

Overall, we enjoyed their food and atmosphere. I was especially satisfied with the quantity of their dishes. That is how the Chinese food is supposed to be: provide the food until the customer can’t eat anymore.

Total: 5145 yen (for 4 people)

Nangokushuka
6F, Stellar Place Sapporo
5-banchi, Kita 5-jo 2-chome, Chuo-ku
Sapporo
011-231-7592
11:00-23:00 (L.O. 22:00)
http://nangokusyuka.co.jp/

FastFood #03: Ebi Burger @ Lotteria

2009-11-25T23:30:00.001+08:00

As I mentioned before, I love junk food! I never get bored with hamburgers and French fries. Yet, I barely eat beef hamburgers recently since the safety issue of the beef was raised. Japanese fast food restaurants have a variety of sandwiches of chicken and others, besides regular beef hamburgers. One of my favorites is Ebi Burger (shrimp sandwich). Lotteria, popular Japanese fast food chain, created this item in late 1990s, and now McDonald’s even have those.

Ebi Burger

Ebi Burger (290 yen) comes with their original buns and deep fried shrimp croquette, a piece of lettuce, and original tartar sauce. This is one of their original menus, and it amazed people when this item was introduced.

You see many Lotteria stores in South Korea, and people may thinks it is Korean fast food restaurant. However, Lotteria is a Japanese fast-food chain since 1972, then spread to some other Asian countries including South Korea. I believe they produce their original menus. When I go to South Korea someday, I want to try their menus as well.

So far, this Ebi Burger is my favorite at Lotteria.

Total: 290 yen

Lotteria
http://www.lotteria.jp/index.html

Bakery #02: Donguri, Sapporo

2009-11-24T23:30:00.000+08:00

After eating Gyu-Tan with my friend, we found a great bakery called “Donguri” near by Kotoni train station. This is a bakery chain, so you may find one in your area if you live in Sapporo city. According to my friend, the bakery Donguri became popular because TV program introduced their “Chikuwa Pan”, which I tried this time.

Most of their items looked great. Their items were various and took time to choose. The size was bigger than other bakery so far, which was great for me! I’ve been frustrated to eat petite foods in Japan these days. lol

I bought five pieces of bread, but I accidentally ate one before I took some pictures. From the top right, Chikuwa Pan (ちくわパン) (136 yen), Saku Saku Curry (Crispy Curry Bread: サクサクカレー) (147 yen), Puchi Kuromame (Petite Black Beans: プチ黒豆) (52 yen) and Cheese Age (Fried Cheese Bread: チーズ揚げ) (68 yen). Deep fried breads were so crispy but it was nicely oily, so it is better to have those for lunch.

Among those, my favorite was Crispy Curry. Usually, curry breads are filled with curry sauce, but cannot find any veggies. But this one came with large pieces of veggies and meats, like regular curry sauce we eat with rice! Wow...

Chikuwa Pan

Their signature item, Chikuwa Pan, was an amazing idea. Chikuwa (ちくわ) is a Japanese food made from fish surimi. It is a tube-like food, so they put Tuna into the hole of chikuwa, and wrapped with the bread, mayo on the top of the bread. If you like tuna, you definitely like this Chikuwa Pan!

I definitely go back to Donguri and want to try other items.

Total: 529 yen (for 5 pieces)

Donguri
1F, Daiei Kotoni Branch
2-2, 2-jo 4-chodme, Kotoni Nishi-ku
Sapporo
011-788-5518
8:00-21:00
http://www.donguri-bake.co.jp/

Restaurant #18: Oonoya, Sapporo

2009-11-23T23:19:00.002+08:00

Gyu-Tan Teishoku

My friend took me to this popular Gyu-Tan (牛タン: Beef Tongue) restaurant, called Oonoya (大野屋), located near by Kotoni train station. Recently, Japanese restaurants need to treat beef carefully, due to the safety issue of US beef. Oonoya had a notice at the door that they use Japanese and Australian beef.

My friend and I went there at 8pm, and we were shocked that they were already closed! What!?!? We saw some people inside and the light was still on. My friend got into the restaurant and asked them if they already closed or not. It seemed that they had many visitors earlier all at once, and they could not handle anymore, so they closed early on that day. Luckily, they let us in and enjoy their delicious Gyu-Tan.

The décor was simple and old. I feel that they don’t spend much time and money for the décor. I feel that the inside was a bit dark. I know they already have enough customers, but if they refurnish the interior, that would attract more customers, especially young generations.

Their menu is very simple. Gyu-Tan Teishoku (牛タン定食) is prepared in small or regular size, and a few other dishes. Since I don’t drink alcohol, I am not sure about Sake menu, but I heard that their Sake menu is various. I ordered “Gyu-Tan Teishoku”, with 5 slices of beef tongue. (2300 yen)

Gyu-Tan Teishoku was served with rice, 5 slices of beef tongues, takana (高菜), and beef tail soup. Those were served with simple, light blue-color plates. In my opinion, it would look better if those were served with white colored plates. It gives the brightness on the table. Beef tongue was very tasty and chewy. Awww… limited 5 slices made me wanting more! Beef tail soup was in great saltiness, and the beef broth had enough rich flavor.

Overall, I enjoyed their food and the service. I hope that they might change the décor or color combination soon.

Total: 2300 yen

Gyu-Tan, Oonoya
1F, Oonoya Bldg
2-jo 5-2-2, Kotoni Nishi-ku
Sapporo
011-642-9432
11:00-13:30 (lunch) / 17:00-21:30 (dinner)

Café #03: Starbucks, Sapporo

2009-11-22T23:30:00.000+08:00

Filone Holiday Chicken Sandwich and Assam Black Tea Latte

I do not need to write about Starbucks, because it is in everywhere! I want to know some countries that do not have Starbucks these days. Most of their items are the same. Do you like Starbucks, or are you anti-Starbucks? I personally like them, because their coffee is in reasonable price. I cannot believe, however, how terrible their foods are… Sorry if you like it, but hey… I tried sandwiches and some sweets, but I don’t think those were tasty.

Starbucks Japan has similar menu as American ones. Their original menu that I like is “Assam Black Tea Latte” (short: 370 yen). As a tea lover, this is very tasty and they use enough tea leave. It is a royal milk tea. If you pay extra, you can change milk to soy milk, which is even healthier.

I also tried one sandwich this time, called "Filone Holiday Chicken Sandwich" (420 yen). This sandwich was the first one so far that I liked. Thick-sliced roasted chicken came with grilled potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes over meat sauce and parmesan cheese. It was nicely toasted. I really liked the grilled potatoes; it matched with the tomato sauce.

Sapporo’s Starbucks seem a popular place to hang out with friends. There are always packed and noisy. I sometimes go there to enjoy black tea latte, but not an appropriate place, at least for me, to read some serious books.

Total: 790 yen

Starbucks Japan
http://starbucks.co.jp/

Café #02: Mister Donut, Sapporo

2009-11-22T00:14:00.004+08:00

Hamburger Pie and a cup of Tea

Mister Donut is a popular donut chain, like Krispy Kreme in the U.S.A.. Their donut menu is amazingly various! Once you enter the store, you need time to think which donut you would choose. All kinds of donuts ask you “pick me, pick me” but you can’t eat everything!!! In November, they just released 13 new donuts, plus some stores have several types of Chinese noodles. Welcome to the paradise!

The ones I ordered this time were a pot of tea (262 yen) and a hamburger pie (168 yen). They made the pie warm for me. I like their pie menu and this would be one of them.

The only thing I don’t like is that the branch that I usually go in Sapporo train station is not completely non smoking. People still smoke in the back of the store, and without any partitions. Therefore, I still smell a cigarette and feel allergic. Otherwise, Mister Donut is a pretty good place to meet up with friends or reading books with tasty snacks and refillable coffee or tea.

Total: 430 yen

Mister Donut
http://www.misterdonut.jp/index.html

Restaurant #17: Tsuchiyasai, Sapporo

2009-11-15T19:00:00.002+08:00

It is tough to survive in Sapporo’s food business. Under a depression, people go out less but still look for great food and service. Many restaurants prepare fresh, organic veggies and meats, but need to provide extra something.

Tsuchiyasai (土やさい), the Nouka Dining, has an interesting idea for attracting customers. This restaurant prepares a variety of vegetable menus and several meat items, which is good for meat lovers. After the meal, they prepare a great surprise for customers. They gave us a bag of organic veggies, for free! Their food and service were appropriate, but I liked the idea of this present. It simply made me happy.

Pink Grapefruit Juice and Mango Milk, with fresh cabbage

We did “kanpai” with drinks. Pink grapefruit juice was very fresh and not sweet that much. People might prefer sweeter one better, but I like less sweetness. My friend’s choice was mango milk. She immediately finished it and ordered oolong tea. She said it was too sweet...

Assorted Japanese Pickles

First item served by them was Assorted Japanese Pickles (土やさいの漬物盛り合わせ) (577 yen). Seasonable veggies were beautifully presented. From the left, Daikon (Japanese radish: 大根), Cabbage, Rakkyo (Japanese Shallot: 黒糖らっきょ), Turnip (かぶ), and Cucumber. I personally liked cucumber and cabbage. Japanese usually eat shallots with curry rice. I couldn't eat shallots even with curry rice, kids’ favorite, when I was a child. I simply didn’t like the taste. Now, since I became an adult, my taste dynamically changed, and I can eat anything! These shallots were from Miyazaki Prefecture (宮崎県), and it was pickled with brown sugar, which interestingly brought ginger flavor. I felt brown rakkyo was fruitier than the regular one. Tasty!

Fried Sweet Yam with cinnamon

Fried Sweet Yam with cinnamon (さつまいものシナモンスティック) (399 yen) was crispy, but too sweet as the second item. Cinnamon smelled perfectly, but there was sweet syrup all over the yam. We regretted that we should’ve order this as a dessert or much later. Yet, taste was good.

Vegetable Cheese Fondue

I think this was the main dish for us of the day; Organic Vegetable Cheese Fondue (有機お野菜のほくほくチーズフォンデュー) (1155 yen). Hmmm… smelled good! Tonight’s veggie selections were: Mizuna (水菜), Lettuce, Broccoli, Potato, Carrot, Pumpkin, Cauliflower, and a piece of French bread. All veggies except mizuna and lettuce were lightly steamed and it was still warm. In this season, pumpkin matches with hot cheese sauce and it makes our bodies warm. At the last, eating fresh mizuna and lettuce made us cool down, and again, it reminded us that all the veggies were fresh, just came from Japanese farms.

Besides tasting the delicious food, it was fun to do fondue with my best friend. We talked a lot and laughed a lot. Doing fondue brought us more conversation.

Baked Yam

For me, Baked Yam (減農薬のまんまやまいも焼き) (472 yen) looked too fancy. Ha ha. Sliced yam was baked lightly, then Umeboshi (pickled plum: うめぼし) was sadly laid on it. It could be beautiful, or could be too fancy. Besides that, inside of a slice of yam was fresh and juicy, and outside was crispy. I enjoyed the contrast of food texture. I tried to understand the reason why the chef used umeboshi like this. It tasted great, but it really looked sad… Lonely umeboshi…

Ten-Grain Rice Creamy Risotto with Shrimp and Green Asparagus

Risotto is my all-time favorite, besides penne gratin. I guess I like the taste of cream white sauce with a bit of butter. Ten-Grain Rice Creamy Risotto with Shrimp and Green Asparagus (海老とアスパラの十穀米クリーミィリゾット) (924 yen) came with a taste of tomato sauce. I was surprised that the quantity was much less than I expected, so it helped that we ordered this as our last dish. I could tell that pieces of shrimp were fresh and it was cooked nicely. The color combination (white/green/red) was beautifully provided, and a taste came along with it. Rich flavor of the butter, mixed with tomato sauce, stayed in my mouth for a while. Well done.

Pumpkin Ice Cream and a cup of Japanese Tea

My friend found a coupon to get free dessert, so we got free pumpkin ice cream for each of us. I was amazed by the usage of cell phone in Japan. I knew the functions of a cell phone developed much quicker than American-used cell phones. Japanese people basically use it for the internet and e-mails. I see business people and kids are always busy to type some on the cell phone on the train; playing the game or net-surfing. Once we entered the restaurant, my friend started using her cell, and she found an online coupon. Wow… Thank you, my best friend!

The meeting with my best friend was fun. Healthy food warmed my heart as well. I have known her for 7 years already. We struggled and survived at the same college together. She got marreid now, and I am in and out of Japan--two different lives. I am happy that I still have her as my best friend and am still able to share our stories like the old time.

Total: About 5600 yen (all the items above, plus some drinks. Sorry I don't remember the exact price.)

Tsuchiyasai
Agasha Bldg
Minami 3-jo Nishi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo
17:00-1:00AM (L.O.24:00)
011-242-0831
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/h045802/

Moving again...

2009-11-15T12:08:00.004+08:00

I started this blog two months ago, and I need to tell you guys already that I will move to another country again. Next destination would be Taipei, Taiwan. Well, of course I will continue sharing my experience (mostly food), but I am sad that I cannot share good-looking Sapporo foods for a while, which was my purpose to start this blog…

I am still same person who loves to eat and find delicious food with reasonable price, and there is a direct flight between Taipei and Sapporo. I am sure I try to come back here as much as I can, or I go traveling to Taiwan, Japan or other Asian countries.

I will stay at Tokyo for a few days, then leave to Taiwan in the middle of this week.

If you know any good local restaurants, please let me know!

Restaurant #16: Toppii, Sapporo

2009-11-14T23:30:00.001+08:00

It was so cold today at Sapporo. I saw the snow covering the top of the mountain. Several days ago, one of popular ski resorts was opened. Yes, skiing/snowboarding season came! I really wanted to eat sushi for lunch, so my family and I tried Kaiten-zushi called “Toppii”.

I used to eat fresh, expensive sushi only, because my grandfather was a fisherman. Our family can tell the difference, fresh or not, easily. But since I was away from Hokkaido for a while, now I start eating all kinds of sushi, cheap or expensive it does not matter. Kaiten-zushi (回転寿司), also called sushi-go-round, is like fast-food sushi. Usually, the price is reasonable and neta (raw fish for sushi: ネタ) is so-so. Recently, many Kaiten-zushi use fresh neta, otherwise customers don’t go back there.

Sushi plates are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past every table and counter seat. You may order directly to the sushi chef, or simply pick the moving sushi plates on the conveyor belt. The bill is based on the number and type of plates. For instance, this restaurant has three types of plates; pink (105 yen), red (130 yen), and red with white edge (240 yen). You often see Chicken Karaage (Japanese style Deep Fried Chicken: 若鶏のから揚げ) or Chawan Mushi (Savoury Egg Custard: 茶碗蒸し) or other extra dishes.

First round: clockwise from the top left, Samma (さんま), Salmon (サーモン), Toro Salmon (とろサーモン), and Chawan Mushi with urchin (新鮮うにの茶碗蒸し). I barely eat Chawan Mushi (Savoury Egg Custard) outside, because their Chawan Mushi is usually sweet. Yet, this one was not sweet… However, after I ate some bites, I saw urchin and the taste immediately changed from perfect to salty! Hhmmmm… I liked the taste of urchin, but they used it too much. Toro salmon was my favorite among those four.

Second round: Squid with grinded ginger (いか) and Chicken Karaage (若鶏のから揚げ). I know I know. This is a sushi place… I guess I was so excited to see all kinds of dishes passing through in front of me on the conveyor belt. It is just funny to see it. I accidentally picked chicken. Oh my… the taste was not good... What was I thinking? Well, now I learned… My mother and aunt enjoyed squid.

Third round: clockwise from the left, Saba (Mackerel: さば), Aburi Toro Salmon (Broiled Toro Salmon: 炙りとろサーモン) and Chu-Toro (中トロ). Chu-Toro came with 240 yen plate. I don’t know I usually have to pay for it in regular sushi restaurant. This Chu-Toro made me very satisfied; this price and this taste… It is reasonable.

Scallop

My family ate scallop (ほたて), so I missed it.

From the left: Hamachi (Young Yellowtail: はまち) and Aburi Anago (Broiled Conger Eel: 炙りあなご). I liked yellowtail. Taste was fine, but neta was very thin. Aburi Anago was my aunt’s choice, so I didn’t eat it… I should’ve try one…

Octopus

Octopus (たこ) was very fresh! It had appropriate firmness and tasty. How come they put a slice of lemon on the neta? It looks pretty with it, but it tastes better without it.

Natto Maki

Natto (納豆) is a traditional Japanese food, made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis. People from overseas often surprise (or is confused) its strong smell and sticky consistency, even people from some area in Japan. I, as from Hokkaido, like natto and natto maki (納豆巻き). This natto maki pleased me with shredded squid and green onion.

Toro Salmon

We ordered Toro Salmon again as our last dish. With or without onion, salmon was fresh enough with this price, and definitely it was today’s favorite.

Overall, we really enjoyed it. It costs only $14 per person and ate a lot! It is reasonable price, don’t you think? If you want more variety of sushi and small dishes, there is another good Kaiten-zushi in Otaru. I will write a report next time I go there.

Total: 4000 yen (240x12, 130x7, 105x2: for 3 people)

Toppii
http://www.toppii.jp/

Café #01: Inoda Coffee, Sapporo

2009-11-13T23:30:00.003+08:00

After the lunch at The Buffet, my friend and I enjoyed window shopping at the department store for a while. I found some beautiful plates and tea cups. I often appreciate dinnerware and pottery. Japanese and European style… Beautiful pottery makes the food delicious. I like enjoying the meal by stimulating all my five senses; taste, smell, sound, firmness of the food and beauty of the food’s layout.

We stopped by at small old café at Daimaru, called Inoda Coffee. This café, since 1940, is originally from Kyoto. The interior reminds me of old fashioned café from Showa period (Dec 1926 to Jan 1989). They have variety of coffee menu, plus some popular café dishes, such as sandwiches and spaghetti. Of course, they prepare some dessert menu, including Japanese sweets! Wonderful! I tried Iced Café au Lait (560 yen), and my friend ordered regular Iced Coffee (530 yen).

Iced Café au Lait and Iced Caffee

Both items came with crystal glasses, beautifully poured. Let’s take a look how much they poured the coffee. Maybe some people think they should put more Iced Café au Lait. Yet, I feel the beauty that they don’t pour too much or too less. The quantity of ice was perfectly controlled. It was beautiful. I asked them to put a bit of syrup, so that the taste of café au lait became rich and creamy. The evening view of Sapporo downtown from the window was stunning… Time passed very slowly, and we enjoyed our conversation for another two hours.

Total: 1090 yen (for 2 people)

Inoda Coffee
7F, Daimaru Department Store Sapporo
7, Kita 5-jo Nishi 4-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo
10:00-20:00 (non smoking)
011-271-7712
http://www.inoda-coffee.co.jp/index.html

Restaurant #15: The Buffet, Sapporo

2009-11-13T10:19:00.003+08:00

On Tuesday, I met my friend at Daimaru department store. Ha ha, yes I went there again! This department store is my favorite place these days. I’ve known this friend since I was in college. I used to work at a movie theater as a part time job. She was one of the part-time workers like me.

My friend told me that she had never tried this buffet restaurant, called “The Buffet”, located on eighth floor of Daimaru. I’ve been there several times. The price is attractive; all you can eat for lunch (90 minutes) is 1490 yen. Their food choice is various, and the taste is not bad. So we decided to have lunch here.

We came here after we had some snacks and coffee, but we were already hungry. We came here at around 1:30. I recommend you to come here either early (11:30) or late like us, otherwise you need to wait for a while on the long line. The décor was simple, but huge! And you can see the view of beautiful Sapporo downtown. Lunch view is nice, but dinner view would be much better and romantic. The regular all-you-can-eat course does not come with drinks, so we added drinks (210 yen).

Pasta Plate

I liked their pasta. I chose three different tastes of pasta; clockwise from right, Karasumi Spaghetti (カラスミのパスタ), Carbonara (カルボナーラ), and Tomato Spaghetti with mushroom and squid (きのこと烏賊のトマトパスタ). There was another one with Kimchi, but I didn’t try it this time… Carbonara was the best among these three.

Chinese Plate

The plate in the front was my choice. From the top; Squid and Eggplant with Chinese sauce (烏賊と茄子の油淋ソース掛け), Shrimp with Sauce Aurore (海老のオーロラソース), Stewed Tofu Nuggets in Cream sauce (豆腐ナゲットのクリーム煮), Shumai (焼売), and Spinach Dumpling (ホウレン草餃子). All-you-can-eat I tried last time was at Grand Park Otaru. Their food choice was less than here, yet, to be honest, the quality was better over there, especially their Chinese dishes. My friend didn’t like most of Chinese dishes in here. I understand… For me, it was okay. I finished everything anyway. Unfortunately, most of Chinese dishes were already cold. It has to be hot…

Main Dishes

Their main dishes were better than last time. I prefer, however, Terrace Brasserie at Otaru. Sorry… The plate in the front is mine. From the top right; Coleslaw with Broccoli (コールスロー), Tofu Salad with Rock Laver and Shrimp (岩のりと小海老の豆腐サラダ), Organic Millet Rice Salad (16穀米のサラダ), Grilled Salmon with Yuzu Mustard Sauce (サーモンソテー柚子とマスタードのソース), Potato Croquette, French Fries and Chicken Chasseur (ポテトコロッケ, フライドポテトとチキンシャスール), and Fritto di Samma with Genovese Sauce (秋刀魚のフリットジェノバソース). Among those, my favorite was Salmon. Salmon was warm enough and perfectly salty. It came with Mizuna, which gave the freshness into my mouth. Chicken Chasseur was appropriately tender and a bit sweet because of the fresh tomatoes. Good! Tofu salad was one of healthy items they had, and I liked it. But tofu is not special, so please don’t expect too much.

Last Plate

This was my last plate, because it passed 90 min already! Too fast! We talked too much! We should’ve concentrate on eating more… My last plate was my favorite items of the day, and added sliced pizza with ham and tuna, and petite donut in the middle. Donut was still warm and was not that sweet. It was my taste.

I really should’ve tried more items… But no time... I couldn't eat desserts...

Overall, their food choice was various enough, and I enjoyed their dishes. If you care about the quality, you should pay more and go to a hotel buffet. If you want to eat different dishes and eat a lot, The Buffet is a good place to try. I really think they should allow people more time to enjoy lunch. How about 120 min instead of 90 min?

Total: 3400 yen (for 2 people)

The Buffet
8F, Daimaru Department Store Sapporo
7, Kita 5-jou Nishi 4-chome, Chuo-ku
Sapporo
011-828-1263
http://www.buffet.jp/the/index.html

FastFood #02: Gura-Koro Burger @ McDonald’s

2009-11-12T20:06:00.003+08:00

I am not a huge fan of McDonald’s. Their French fries were unhealthily salty and not hot. Their menu is not special compared to other burger stores. Yet, the good thing for them is that their target is kids. Most of their stores have playground; kids are playing games and running around, happily. I was amazed by their business strategy. McDonald’s Japan, however, has to think different strategy, because they cannot only focus on kids. Our McDonald’s doesn’t have a playground, although we have special menu for kids. Creative original menu, free McCafe and reasonable price brought them business successful in recent years.

I usually eat shrimp sandwich (えびフィレオ) at McDonald’s in Japan, but this time I tried a limited item called Gura-Koro Burger (Gratin Croquette Burger: グラコロ) (300 yen).

Gura-Koro Burger with a cup of coffee

Macaroni Gratin is my favorite dish in my life so far. The important part of making perfect gratin is white sauce. Not too creamy, definitely not sweet. The perfect white sauce can make the delicious gratin. Of course, I didn’t expect perfect sauce for this burger, although the taste was pretty good. Korokke (コロッケ) is the Japanese name for a deep fried dish originally from French croquette. Inside of korokke, there are macaroni and shrimp mixed with white sauce. For me, the sauce was too creamy and a bit sweet. So bulldog sauce on the korokke helped me to adjust the sweetness.

By the way, one thing I thought it was interesting is that chicken sandwich is called “Chicken Burger” here. Anything with hamburger bun and meat is called “burger”. In the U.S., people distinguish burgers (beef) and sandwiches (other meats). No wonder workers made face to me everytime I ordered saying “filet-o Fish burger”. (^^;)

Total: 300 yen

Restaurant #14: Brasserie Avion, Sapporo

2009-10-31T23:30:00.003+08:00

Appetizer (Plate: Hana Sarasa, Noritake)

Today was a great day. My friend called me to have lunch together. This restaurant, Brasserie Avion, was the one that she tried to take me a few months ago, but unfortunately, the restaurant was booked for a private party on that day. So finally, I could visit there with my friend. She recommended me because she loved their lunch course. Okay let’s try!

The restaurant is located in near Hokkaido University, so it is easy to access. You may take a walk on campus after you eat delicious lunch. The restaurant was pretty quiet. The décor was organized and beautifully decorated! It was interesting that the chef sometimes draw cute pictures on the wall. I saw some recipe books on the shelf and some ingredients. There are one chief and a waitress. Waitress was friendly, and each time she served foods, she explained about the dishes. If you want to go, it is better to make a reservation.

They provide three lunch courses; 1700, 1800 and 2000 yen. Each have slightly different, and also their main dishes are also different. I ordered 1700 yen course, and my friend ordered 1800 yen. The difference was that my order came with the pasta, instead of today’s special soup which came with my friend’s order.

Hot Lemon

They served a hot lemon for to serve my tea at the end with the dessert. This hot lemon was actually home made my friend. I asked them, and it was not sweet that much when it was hot. After 5 min, sweetness became stronger.

Appetizer

All the dishes came with beautiful Noritake plates. One was with a new design called Hana Sarasa, my recent favorite from Noritake. Appetizers looked gorgeous with beautiful layout. Five pieces of appetizers on a plate: spinach Spanish omelet (ほうれん草のスパニッシュ・オムレツ), beet bavarois with Italian herb (ビーツのババロア、イタリアン・ハーブ添え), lotus root pizza (レンコンのピッザ風), “Awakening of Inca” potato gratin style (インカの目覚めグラタン風), and their homemade smoked salmon (自家製スモークサーモン). All items tasted fantastic. I especially liked “Awakening of Incas” gratin style. “Awakening of Incas” is a new brand for potatoes, produced in Hokkaido. The color is yellowish and sweet. Gratin is my favorite dish so far in my life, and this one was pretty tasty as I expected. Smoked salmon was also delicious.

Potage of Purple Broccoli

After the delicious appetizers, my friend’s special soup and my pasta were served. The special soup of the day was “purple broccoli’s potage” (紫ブロッコリのスープ). I just tasted one spoon, but right after I put the spoon in my mouth, the smell of the broccoli spread. The soup was, of course, tasty, but more I enjoyed the joy of vegetable!

Tomato Spaghetti with Shrimp and Seasonable Vegetable

Tomato Spaghetti with Shrimp and Seasonable Vegetable (エビと季節野菜のパスタ) was pretty tasty, but I felt that it was a little bit less shrimps. They only used two shrimps and one was cut in half. It could be possible that the chef somehow used a seafood broth, but I wanted to see a bit more shrimps. The chef used fresh Komatsuna. Vegetable magic—wonderful.

Homemade Bread

Before they served the main dishes, homemade bread just was finished baked. It was cute, small bread, and it just came out from the oven. Hot, hot, hot! Extra virgin oil was crystal clear, and my friend even drank it all! It is healthy. We quickly finished eating all, so the waitress gave us another one.

Roasted Pork

Main dishes were finally served. My friend’s dish was roasted pork, with some slices of a turnip and fresh tomatoes with pure virgin oil dressing. Pork was nicely salted, and the pepper was just grinded. It looked, though, a bit small for my friend’s lunch course. It would be nice that if it came with more vegetable or extra bread.

Roasted Chicken

My dish was roasted chicken with green beans and mushroom. The chicken was cooked perfectly. Interestingly, the green beans were a bit hard, which gave me a hit of vegetable magic again. I felt the chicken was a little bit salty, but the portion was appropriate, so it should be no problem for other people.

Dessert Plate

Three desserts on the plate: fig, persimmon sorbet and Miso pudding. I was surprised when I heard Miso pudding. It was sweet but basically tasted miso. Among those three items I definitely loved Miso pudding.

Overall, I liked their delicious food as well as their pretty décor. The chef was welcomed us personally, even though he was busy for cooking. The waitress was well trained and friendly. In addition, they saved the best seats for us! Great hospitality.

Total: 3500 yen (for 2 people, including tax and tip)

Brasserie Avion, Itarian French
2F, Kensetsu Consal Bldg
5-1, Kita 13-jo Nishi 4-chome Kita-ku
Sapporo
011-728-7500
http://ggyao.usen.com/0004014237/

Dessert #01: The Fruitscake Factory

2009-10-29T23:30:00.000+08:00

I sometimes mentioned in my blog that I barely eat desserts. It is because I prefer salty stuff than sweet. I rather eat potato chips or senbei (Japanese crackers) than a slice of strawberry shortcake. I guess I do not like whipped cream… But now, I found some delicious patisserie; it is from “The Fruitscake Factory,” located in Daimaru department store. (Yeah I thought it was Cheesecake Factory at first.) They make tasty dolce, using fresh, sweet fruits from Hokkaido farms; it is organic and natural.

Kouhi and blueberry tart

Although the price is a bit expensive, it is worth to try. I am happy to eat those because all the fruits are organic and are from Hokkaido. Their signature item is a strawberry tart, but it was sold out when we went there. So we bought two slices of “pear and strawberry tart” (洋梨と苺のタルト) and a slice of “Kouhi and blueberry tart” (紅姫とブルーベリーのタルト). Kouhi (紅姫) is a new kind of kiwifruits—red flesh. It is rare, and is sweeter than a regular green flesh kiwifruit.

pear and strawberry tart

Both tarts tasted great, and it looked beautiful. I tried their tarts several times, and so far my favorite is pear and strawberry tart. Their pear is so fresh and juicy. They use some whipped cream, but it is not that much, so I can still eat it or take it on the side and eat some fruits and custard cream.

It is unfortunate that my photo skills are not good enough to show you how delicious these tarts are, but hopefully you’ll have a chance to try those soon. Their café just opened in this month, so I note the café’s address below.

The Fruitscake Factory
Minami 1-chome Nishi 4-chome, Chuo-ku
Sapporo
011-251-0311
http://www.fruitscakefactory.com/index.html

Restaurant #13: Ajisai, Sapporo

2009-10-28T23:30:00.004+08:00

There is a place called “Ramen Kyowakoku” (ラーメン共和国), the 10th floor of the ESTA building, in front of Sapporo JR station. As a ramen lover, I frequently come here and try different ramen. You’ll find eight ramen shops from around Hokkaido and a gift shop in this ramen park. Shops are in and out every 6 months or a year, so visitors can always enjoy different shops. Don’t forget to stop by at the gift shop to find some ramen goodies. It would be fun to take a look at this park, because the décor is quite fascinating that they reproduced the old style Japanese small town.

It has been five years since this park was opened. In October, some new shops were opened; one of shops is called "Ajisai" (あじさい), from the city of Hakodate. Hakodate ramen is famous for shio taste broth. I tried another Hakodate ramen a few months ago, in Ramen Kyowakoku, and I liked it. So I was excited to try Ajisai’s Shio Ramen.

Ajisai’s menu was various; even though Shio is the most popular item of them, I found them trying to invent new items, such as curry ramen or ikasumi (イカ墨: squid ink) soup! I was really interested in ikasumi soup, but since it was my first time here, and I didn’t want to be adventurous, so I chose a simpler item. We ordered Ajisai Shio Ramen (750 yen), Seabura Ramen with Shoyu (850 yen), and Menma Ramen with Shio (850 yen).

Ajisai Shio Ramen (味彩塩拉麺)

I believe this is their signature menu. Simple is the best! I heard that their soup is crystal clear, and now I know it was true. The broth is made of pork and chicken based, added vegetable and seaweeds (昆布). All the extract essence from those is for a dignified taste. If you prefer heavy taste, then you might feel that something is missing. It might be the reason why there are many ingredients over the straightened noodle. Two thick slices of Chashu (roasted pork) were melted in my mouth and no need to chew. Negi (green onion) almost covered the clear soup. Because the soup’s taste is light, strong taste of negi gives more appetite.

Seabura Ramen, Shoyu (背脂拉麺: 醤油)

My choice. Seabura (背脂) is pork back fat, and it is popularly used in ramen. I usually don’t eat seabura that much, because it is too oily. This time, however, I know the soup taste lighter than my preference, so I tried this with Shoyu (soy sauce) taste. I actually chose the right one. Adding extra seabura pork lard, shoyu based soup had much richer taste and seaweed broth matched with shoyu. Amazing! Noodle was beautifully strengthen, and easily made me full. Tons of sliced negi and chashu (チャーシュー) covered over the tasty soup, and my favorite mizuna (水菜) gives a fresh taste. Lastly, a crispy fried wonton was laid under menma (メンマ: bamboo shoots).

Menma Ramen, Shio (メンマ拉麺: 塩)

Basically, it was Shio Ramen, with extra menma (bamboo shoots). However, the soup became much richer flavored because of extract essence from menma. If you like menma, go for it. My brother ordered this, and he loved it.

Overall, I enjoyed their taste. It really depends on your preference when you enjoy ramen. Soup, noodle and ingredients… The best way to find your own favorite is keep eating all kinds of ramen and know what you like the most.

Sooner, I need to go back to Ramen Kyowakoku, because “Nantsuttei” (なんつッ亭) from Kanagawa just opened! I just need a little more time to save some money…

Total: 2450 yen (for 3 people)

Ajisai
at Sapporo Ramen Kyowakoku
10F, Sapporo ESTA building
Kita 5-jo Nishi 2-chome, Chuo-ku
Sapporo
011-213-2111
http://www.sapporo-esta.jp/ramen/ (Sapporo Ramen Kyowakoku)
http://www.ajisai.tv/index.php (Ajisai Official Web)

FastFood #01: Chicken Pot Pie @ KFC

2009-10-27T23:30:00.004+08:00

I love junk food, even though I know it is not healthy. I just can’t stop eating those. When I was in the U.S., I usually went to In’n’Out, which is my favorite so far. Unfortunately, there is, I believe, no In’n’Out in Japan yet, and no Burger King in Sapporo, but we have some good fast food chains, such as Mos Burgers and Lotteria. Slowly, I will update some Japanese hamburger chains and their original menu.

Today, I went to KFC and stayed there reading some books for hours. It only takes a few minutes from my house to get there, and their place is always quiet. That is the reason why I frequently go there. I usually drink a cup of coffee or have lunch, but today I found a seasonable item on the menu—Chicken Pot Pie! It is available only in fall and winter seasons. Wow, I haven’t eaten this for a long time. So I bought this as a snack.

The item came in the box, which was fun to open it. A pie was in the box, of course. LoL By using the spoon and opened the pie’s cover to see what was inside. The creamy chicken soup said hello! The taste was a bit strong, but it was warm and pretty good. It is fun to try if you have never eaten this. The only problem is that it costs 350 yen. I think it is quiet expensive if I compared with the quantity. 280 to 300 yen would be an appropriate price, or the quantity should be increased more.

Anyways, I finally finished reading "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks. What should I read next?

Total: 300 yen (with a coupon. Original price, I believe, is 350 yen)

KFC: ケンタッキーフライドチキン
http://www.kfc.co.jp/

Looking for Great Food

Restaurant #58: Tokuju, Sapporo

Field Trip: Otaru

Restaurant # 57: Ozonico, Sapporo

Sapporo Snow Festival 2011

Restaurant #56: Ichi Nii San, Sapporo

Cooking #02: Beef Stew and Izushi

Restaurant #55: Wako, Sapporo

Travel #04: Taipei to Sapporo

Cooking #01: Omi Beef Stake, Sapporo

Restaurant #54: Kaffe Amadeus, Taipei

Restaurant #53: Anzu, Taipei

Restaurant #52: 龐太餛飩舖子 Wonton Shop, Taipei

Restaurant #51: Ramen Kagetsu Arashi, Taipei

FastFood #06: iCon Chicken Diavolo, McDonald’s Japan

Japan needs your help!

Restaurant #50: Yoshimi Kitchen, Sapporo

FastFood #05: Burger Chicken BOX @ Lotteria

Restaurant #49: Sushi Zen, Sapporo

***** Happy New Year 2011 *****

FastFood #04: German Sausage Burger, McDonald’s Japan

Restaurant #48: Amataro BBQ restaurant, Sapporo

Restaurant #47: Saizeriya, Taipei

Café #05: Café Kuroshio, Taipei

Restaurant #46: DongMen Dumpling 東門餃子館, Taipei

Restaurant #45: Jin ji Yuan金鶏園, Taipei

Restaurant #44: 阿3的義大利麵 A3’s Pasta, Taipei

Restaurant #43: California Grill, Taipei

Restaurant #42: Gino Pasta 吉諾義麵屋

Restaurant #41: 1885 Burger Store, Taipei

Travel #03: Sapporo to Taipei

Restaurant #40: Mia Angela Ristorante & Bar, Sapporo

Restaurant #39: Tototo, Sapporo

Travel #02: Taipei to Sapporo

Restaurant #38: 阿弟仔大腸麵線 Intestine Thin Noodle, Taipei

Night Market #01: 士林夜市 Shilin Night Market, Taipei

A short trip to Sapporo...

Restaurant #37: Primo Trattoria, Taipei

Restaurant #36: Kitchen 12, Sheraton Taipei

Restaurant #35: 三商巧福 San Shang Ciao Fu, Taipei

Restaurant #34: 小樂天餃子館 Dumpling Restaurant, Taipei

Restaurant #33: Capricciosa, Taipei

Restaurant #32: Hung Kan Restaurant 紅磡港式飲茶, Taipei

Yatai #01: Sichuan Noodle Stall 四川特色滷味麵攤, Taipei

Restaurant #31: Ramen Sanpachi ラーメンさんぱち, Taipei

Restaurant #30: Kurume Ramen 魁龍拉麵, Taipei

Restaurant #29: Jin Din Lou 京鼎樓, Taipei

Restaurant #28: Quan An Viet Nam

Restaurant #27: World Soymilk King

Dessert #02: Tsumugi

Restaurant #26: Emperor Foods, Taipei

Where is great food?

Restaurant #25: Wonton Noodle, Taipei

A Happy New Year 2010!

Travel #01: Narita to Taipei

Restaurant #24: Shabu Shabu Onyasai, Shin-Yokohama

Café #04: Lettre D’Amour, Shirokane

Restaurant #23: Maharaja, Yokohama

Restaurant #22: Teppachiya, Yokohama

Restaurant #21: Ramen Tessho, Yokohama

Restaurant #20: Ramen Tetsuya, Sapporo

Restaurant #19: Nangokushuka, Sapporo

FastFood #03: Ebi Burger @ Lotteria

Bakery #02: Donguri, Sapporo

Restaurant #18: Oonoya, Sapporo

Café #03: Starbucks, Sapporo

Café #02: Mister Donut, Sapporo

Restaurant #17: Tsuchiyasai, Sapporo

Moving again...

Restaurant #16: Toppii, Sapporo

Café #01: Inoda Coffee, Sapporo

Restaurant #15: The Buffet, Sapporo

FastFood #02: Gura-Koro Burger @ McDonald’s

Restaurant #14: Brasserie Avion, Sapporo

Dessert #01: The Fruitscake Factory

Restaurant #13: Ajisai, Sapporo

FastFood #01: Chicken Pot Pie @ KFC

* Happy New Year 2011 *