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黒門市場 Kuromon Market @Osaka

2015-12-10 11.24.20We travelled from 京都 Kyoto to 大阪 Osaka and first thing we did after dropping our luggage with the hotel was to visit 黒門市場 Kuromon Market! This market has more than 190 years of history and tradition, and is often called “Osaka’ s Kitchen” because of the number and variety of food and products that it contains.

The market is a must-go whenever we are in 大阪 Osaka because we simply love the hustle and bustle of a very lively Japanese market. Or for that matter, any market in any vacation that we go!

The friendly shouting of the stall holders amidst the selling, the abundance of food for tasting, and the smell of the freshness of the produce made us instantly perked up, despite a very rainy day in 大阪 Osaka!

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Japan, Osaka, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

雅庵 京都六角 Miyabi-an @Kawaramachi

2015-12-09 17.39.00 So this is our final night in 京都 Kyoto, and we just had to have a feast!

Hubby was looking through a magazine in our hotel and found an advertment that showed a しゃぶしゃぶ 食べ放題 Shabu Shabu Buffet with an affordable price, and so here we are!

This is an 180-years old establishment which has a very elegant Japanese garden at the entrance that instantly gave us a calming and welcoming atmosphere as we walked into the restaurant. We ordered the 上牛と特選豚すきしゃぶ食べ放題 Superior Beef and Special Pork Suki Shabu Buffet (¥3680+8% tax per pax with 10% discount from a coupon in the magazine 🙂 ) where we could enjoy both すきやき Sukiyaki (meat cooked in soy sauce broth) and しゃぶしゃぶ Shabu Shabu (meat cooked in clear broth) in the same pot!

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Categories: Dinner, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Pancake Cafe ELK KYOTO @Kawaramachi

We had chanced upon this pancake cafe because of the huge advertisement on its 3D latte art, and we decided that this would be a good resting point after our walk in the nearby Nishiki market.

We were really too full to try any pancakes, so we had カプチーノ Cappuccino, カフェオレCafé Au Lait, and チョコレートミルク Hot Chocolate Milk. Each of the drinks cost ¥680+ (including 3D latte art).

The drinks were just alright, but the latte art were so pretty that we were really careful in sipping our drinks, haha! The staff were also very friendly and helpful, and I managed to request for a less-sweet version of hot chocolate through our very broken Japanese.

We had the sofa seats on the first floor, and chilled for a good hour or so 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 595-5 Uraderacho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto-fu, Japan 京都府中京区裏寺町595-5
  • Nearest Station: Gion Shijo Station 祇園四条駅
  • Direction: A short 5 minutes walk from the station.
  • Websitecafe-elk.com
  • Hrs: 9am – 10pm
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

一蘭ラーメン Ichiran Ramen @Kawaramachi

So I have been wanting to relive the what I call 一蘭 Ichiran experience over again ever since I tried it in 福岡 Fukuoka many years ago. This is a classic とんこつラーメン Tonkotsu ramen shop that started from the 60s and have been dishing out ramen all over Japan over the years 24 hours a day.

The 一蘭 Ichiran experience starts from ordering your noodle and extra ingredients using a  vending machine (or coupon machine). Then you wait in line for the server to assign you a cubicle. Yes you need to dine in a cubicle ALONE. Haha…

Once you are seated in a cubicle, you will face a wooden window where a server will appear from behind and collect your order. This is also the time when you can indicate your choice of thickness of noodle, hotness of sauce etc. Then you wait for the noodle to be served, again through the wooden window. This, my dear friends, is the 一蘭 Ichiran experience! 🙂

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Categories: Kyoto, Lunch, Travel | Tags: , | 2 Comments

錦市場 Nishiki Market @Kyoto

2015-12-09 12.10.17A first-time trip to 京都 Kyoto would probably be incomplete without paying a visit to 錦市場 Nishiki Market. Despite being a Wednesday, where some shops were closed, there were actually still plenty to see, and it was less crowded too.

We had fun strolling around, just looking at the merchandise, and also snacking along the way. The popular soy doughnut shop was opened, and we got ourselves some Soy Doughnut (¥300). A pity it was not piping hot, but still not bad. It certainly tasted different from the soy doughnut that we had at 嵐山 Arashiyama.

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Day trip to 伏見 Fushimi

2015-12-09 08.29.29 2015-12-09 08.12.35We went to check out the many Torii gates at 伏見稲荷大社 Fushimi Inari in the morning, and we discovered that there were now many more Torii gates compared to our previous visit in 2011, making it an even prettier sight. As we were entering the shrine close to 9am, we saw a few visitors leaving 😮 There were easily at least another 20 visitors making their way up at the same time as us, but most of them were quite quiet and orderly in their movements, so it was a rather pleasant walk. Despite the cold, we soon got warm as we slowly made our way up to the view point. Our journey to and fro the view point was about an hour. We were glad we came early; by the time we made our descent, it became really crowded!

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Categories: Breakfast, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

かつくら・三条本店 Katsukura @Kyoto

2015-12-08 19.21.07Mr J recommended this place to us, and warned us about the long queues at the Kyoto Station outlet, so we were pretty excited when we found the main shop near our hotel! There was a little entrance next to Lipton cafe, and opposite Jeugia, a guitar shop, and we had to walk through a small alley before reaching the restaurant.

We were comparing the English and Japanese menus, and discovered that for the English version, the main pork dishes all come in sets (additional ¥300 for unlimited servings of barley rice), but since we wanted to minimise our carbohydrates intake, we ordered via the Japanese menu instead:

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Categories: Dinner, Kyoto | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Day trip to 嵐山 Arashiyama

We travelled to 嵐山 Arashiyama in the morning, to experience the lovely stroll in the bamboo groves. It was an easy walk from the 嵯峨嵐山駅 JR Saga Arashiyama Station, as we basically just followed the crowd.  This meant that there was quite a fair number of people attempting to take photos at the more popular spots within the bamboo groves, including 2 Japanese dressed in kimonos, with an entourage of photographer and assistants, and they attracted plenty of attention from all the tourists! Aside from this, it was a rather serene stroll 🙂 As we walked along, there was also a lone vendor selling pretty postcards.
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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Japan, Kyoto, Lunch, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

寅や Toraya @Takamatsu

2015-12-06 20.18.21We were quite famished for dinner and decided that we should have a great meal for this last night in 四国 Shikoku!

So we found some seats (and drinks) in Seattle Best Coffee in 高松 Takamatsu which had free wifi, and off we went in search of good food in cyberland. 😛

We had listed a few and started walking around to find them only to realise that most of them were closed, mainly because it was a Sunday today. So sad…

Then we laid our eyes on this 焼鳥 yakitori shop and the bright lights attracted us. Plus it advertised もつ鍋 Motsu Nabe! We were definitely in need of hot pot to counter this very cold day!

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Categories: Dinner, Shikoku | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

一鶴・高松店 Ikkaku @Takamatsu

2015-12-05 19.15.31-2We had seen so many restaurants and stalls advertising the signature dish of 香川県 Kagawa Prefecture, 骨付鳥 Honetsukidori, or roast chicken on bone, everywhere we went in 高松 Takamatsu, that we decided that we had to try it!

Ms V discovered the must-go place to have this chicken is 一鶴 Ikkaku, so off we went for our early dinner, only to find a snaking queue out in the cold 😮

There was a take-away option, but we wanted to have our food on the spot while piping hot, and since we were not too hungry, we decided to join the queue with at least 17 people in front of us… Cold burns more fat and calories = more space to eat more, right? 😀

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Categories: Dinner, Shikoku | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

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