Japan Eating Trip Vol III

Welcome back to my Japan Eating Trip. Breakfast today was buffet at the hotel again but I decided to try out the famous Japanese fermented soy beans or Natto! I remembered my friend used to love it. I did not enjoy it though, the smell was too strong for me.

Natto aka smelly beans :)
It was so sticky and slimy! Definitely not my type of food!

After our fulfilling breakfast, we headed off to the train station to try out the Shinkansen or the Japanese Bullet Train.

Shinkansen!

The journey on the Shinkansen was more stable than I'd expected given its speed! We traveled during the peak hour so the whole train was packed! The train itself was really clean and the seat seemed really comfortable as most of its Japanese passengers were pretty much asleep.

I spotted a Beard Papa shop at the train station. I wanted to try it out to compare it to the ones I've had in Bangkok and Melbourne, but unfortunately it was closed. I was still craving for something sweet so I decided to try out the custard in the shop opposite from Beard Papa.

The beautifully packaged custard with its accompanying caramel sauce

This custard was very very creamy. The texture was soft and smooth, almost like eating heavy cream. It did not taste like there was any stabilizing agent such as gelatin at all.

After our short trip on the Shinkansen, we had a long bus ride to Oshino Hakai which had supposedly the best view for the Fuji Mountain. However, it was pretty foggy that day, so we were only able to spot the Fuji Mountain for a very brief time. I was told that we were considered pretty lucky as some tourists never get the chance to see the Fuji Mountain despite visiting several times as a result of the unpredictable weather.

I thought lunch was pretty interesting at first as I was told we were having BBQ on blocks of hot stone (or was it hot iron-cast plate). However, my excitement did not last long as I started getting pins and needles after around 15 min on the traditional Japanese seats.

The meat and vegetables ready for some BBQing action

After lunch, we went to a village which sells souvenirs and traditional Japanese food.

Grilled fish

Pre-grilled red bean mochi

Grilled Red Bean Mochi

Matarashi Dango

Japanese dumpling made out of rice flour, grilled and served with sauce made out of sugar, soy sauce, and starch. This was one of my favorite as the dango was crispy on the outside with a slight charred taste, but it appeared that I was the only one who enjoyed it in my family.

We spotted more soft serve ice cream with different flavors!

I decided to add 50 yen and tried one with different flavors. The one I had was vanilla, peach, and grape. I was very satisfied with the soft cream here as it's one of the better ones I've had!

After some snacks shopping, we proceeded to Gogeon rest house to enjoy more of the scenery.

A famous snack at Mt. Fuji

It's basically a green colored bun baked into little Fuji Mountain shape decorated with cocoa powder and icing sugar. It came fresh and warm out of the oven which was perfect for the cool weather at the Fuji Mountain.

We finally checked in at our hotel which was a Japanese spa resort with Onsen. The rooms were the traditional Japanese type with the Tatami flooring and the sliding door. We were also provided Yukata to wear around the hotel which I was pretty excited about.

For dinner, we had the Taraba Crab Buffet, which tasted even better as our tour guide also brought some Thai seafood sauce. I know it's not exactly traditional Japanese, but it doesn't hurt to spice up the meal, does it? :)

Taraba Crab legs!

We are finally at the end of my Japan Eating Trip Vol III, I will try to get the next one up as soon as possible! Hope you guys enjoy reading about my Japan Eating Trip so far.

Japan Eating Trip Vol II

After a good night rest at Cross Hotel Osaka, I started my day with some yummy Japanese/Western fusion breakfast. I've always love eating Tamagoyaki since I was young, and the real one I had in Japan tasted even better!

Breakfast at the hotel

The tamagoyaki here was really nice so I went back again for a few rounds.

Our first destination was the Todaichi temple.

One of the many deers that were allowed to roam freely around the temple. You can buy Sembe (Japanese biscuits) and feed them, but just be careful as the deers may come at you all at once.

On my way back to the bus, I spotted Haagen Dazs icecream vending machine! I wish they have these in Melbourne too!

We proceeded to Kiyomizu temple, and on our way walking up to the temple, there were lots of shops selling food and souvenirs. It was like an eating heaven for me!

A cream puff shop we spotted on the way to the temple

Unfilled cream puff pastry

Cinnamon Flavored cream puff with vanilla bean custard

These are pretty interesting, very different from the usual Beard Papa Cream puff I was used to.

Imagawayaki being made out of its machine

The shop assistant is doing a Q.C . check and threw out the ones that are not up to standards.

It looked so adorable!

The Imagawayaki that I usually see have red bean filling, however this one has chestnut filling.
It definitely tasted better than the ones I've had in Bangkok and Singapore!

Japanese lady selling mushroom and beef steamed bun.

The beef bun tasted pretty good but it was also pretty pricey at 450 yen each.

Black Sesame soft serve ice cream

This was very nice! Creamy and rich with smooth sesame taste.

For lunch, the tour provided us with Nabe or Japanese steamboat with more vegetable and seafood! Despite being pretty full from all the desserts/snacks above, I manage to eat more!

Our vegetable/varieties of meat and fish balls set

Mini lobster for the Nabe!

Our pot

After our fulfilling lunch, our next destination was the Kinkakuji Temple or the Golden Pavilion. It was a beauty!

Kinkakuji Temple

That was it for the day's itinerary and we were on our way to check-in at our hotel in Hamamatsu where we were suppose to have our dinner. However, there was an accident on the highway, so the traffic was really bad and our tour guide realized we would not be able to make it for dinner at the hotel, so we stopped by a food court for our dinner.

Miso Ramen


Tonkotsu Ramen


Flat noodle with Tempura


Unadon

The food was pretty decent although the ramen wasn't as good as I'd expected but I can't ask too much from a food court can I? It was a good experience though as we had the chance to try out the automated food ordering machine. Hmm, I'm not sure how to explain it but you just select the meal of your choice, add in the money, and the machine will issue you a ticket with a number. The chef will then cook your food and call out your number when it's ready.

This is the end of my Japan Eating Trip Vol II. Hope you guys will look forward to reading Vol III!

Japan Eating Trip Vol I

It's finally time to write about my Japan Trip I had recently after my one week of procrastinating. I've always wanted to go to Japan since I was young but since my parents went there for their Honeymoon, they always pick other destinations instead. After reading lots of blogs about Japan and its food, especially from Grab Your Fork and Tummy Rumbles, it really inspired me to go to Japan. This year, I manage to convince my parents to go to Japan, so it was like a dream come true for me!

Well, this wasn't exactly my perfect version of an eating trip as we were on a tour, and most of the meals are provided by the tour. I did not expect much from tour food, due to previous experiences but this tour certainly did a good job at picking the restaurants. We've got the chance to try variety of Japanese dishes and the quality is also pretty good! Even though we were on the tour, I did not fail to make a list of what I wanted to try if we had the chance to stop by markets/shopping areas.

I think the item I had most often during the trip was Soft Serve Ice cream! It was available everywhere and was perfect for the slightly warm weather we were experiencing.

The first destination was Osaka, and my first meal during the trip was provided by Thai Airways TG622.

Japanese Steamed Mackerel in Miso sauce with Rice. It tasted better than I'd expected!

Welcome to Osaka!

We visited the Minatongawa Shrine and the Kobe Port Tower right after we landed. One thing I really loved about Japan is how clean the country is! The people here are also very polite and friendly.

I'm quite amazed by the varieties of drink available from the vending machine. There are more to come in later posts!

Pokari Sweat, my favorite drink in Japan!
I think they sell this in Bangkok too. Not sure about Melbourne.

While I was at Kobe Port Tower, we spotted this custard at a shop and decided to try it out.

The custard with it's caramel topping

Custard, very rich and smooth! The Caramel topping is slightly bitter, which helps tone down the sweetness from the custard.

Our tour guide informed us tat we were having buffet for lunch, so while we were waiting for the restaurant to open, we decided to try out this Japanese brand burger!

After around 5 min wait, here comes my Cheeseburger, wrapped in a good quality waxed paper.

Oozing cheese! The burger was not bad, but I thought it was slightly too salty and peppery for my liking. I preferred Mos Burger better.

Our lunch is at a buffet restaurant called Fisherman's market which serves variety of Western and Japanese food such as fish and chips, deep fried calamari rings, burgers, sushi, spagetthi, grilled seafood, and desserts. The place was very popular amongst the Japanese too as after about half an hour after the restaurant was opened, we spotted a long queue.

Lunch at Fisherman's Market was better than I'd expected, especially from a tour. I realized Japanese have really big appetite, despite their small sizes!! No wonder they always win the world's eating competition!

Osaka Castle


Interesting Pets I spotted, hope this did not ruin anyone's appetite.

After our visit to the Osaka castle, we checked in at Cross Hotel Osaka. This was my favorite hotel during this trip. Everything was so high tech and the rooms were decorated with a very modern touch. The location was also perfect as it was next to the famous Shinsabashi!

Shinsaibashi!

Osaka is supposedly famous for having Takoyaki in Japan, so I did not fail to try it while I was there.

Grilled Giant Crab Claws

Our dinner for the night was also at a Shabu Shabu restaurant in the Shinsaibashi area. I like Shabu Shabu as it's pretty healthy and it was a good way to increase my vegetable intake for the trip.

This is it for Japan Eating Trip Vol I, Vol II will be coming up very soon!

Buttery Macadamia Shortbread

This yummy Macadamia Shortbread is perfect with a Sunday afternoon tea/coffee! What makes them even better is that you can whip them up in a short time! The result is great too as these shortbread are rich and buttery with the extra cruch from the Macadamias! Thank you Khun Pook from Daily Delicious for this great recipe!

Macadamia Shortbread adapted from Dailydelicious
Dough:
50 g sugar
25g macadamia nuts, crushed
60g cold unsalted butter,
30g cold salted butter (I ran out of unsalted butter)
140g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Topping:
40 macadamia nuts, chopped
20g caster sugar ( I reduced the sugar to suit my taste)

Preheat the oven to 160 Celsius.
I did not have a food processor I had to do the process manually. In a large bowl, sift the plain flour and baking powder and add in the sugar. Cut the butter into the flour using two knifes until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the crushed macadamia nuts and mixed until even. Press the dough into an eight inch square pan. I did not have an 8 inch square mould on hand, so I replaced it with a 9 inch round pan, lined with aluminum foil.

Brush the top of the dough with sugar and sprinkle on the topping. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 min or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cut into squares while the shortbread is still hot. Since I used a round pan, I cut my shortbread into wedges instead. The shortbread will firm and crisp up more as it cools down. Enjoy!