Egg Tempura review

egg tempura - 卵天ぷら

If you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend you to try egg tempura!... it is unbelievably good!

egg tempura 卵天ぷら

I was skeptical at first because how can egg tempura be good? it sounds so... gimmicky... but my taste buds told me otherwise! 

You can think of it like Onsen egg but covered in crispy tempura batter... 

Look for this word: 卵天ぷら if you are interested in trying it.

I ate this at 天ぷら定食まきの at 武蔵小山(Musashi Koyama). (I will do a full review of this place soon)

Address: 品川区荏原3-8-5 東京都, 142-0063

Sukiya 牛丼店 review

how their store front looks

Eversince landing in Japan, I have been seeing Sukiya shops EVERYWHERE! ... they are extremely affordable each set meal would cost from ¥480 - ¥800. The day I finally decided to go was when their store front attracted me... usually guys eat at this place but I saw lots of families in this one so I walked in.

the set

This set was only ¥480!

the soup was a sort of vegetable and pork fat soup. It was tasty but I found it rather fattening... I could see the oil on the surface and the bits of pork fat. However, I find this soup delightful during a cold night.

table layout

Since they serve salads for some of their combos, salad dressing was available. Their complimentary drink was a kind of cold/iced rice/barley tea. The ginger paired nicely with the beef. And if you are not a fan of plain rice, they had a "7 flavoured powder" to sprinkle onto your rice.

only ¥480!

The meals was very filling. The beef was well marinated and the portion was big. I highly recommend this! Especially when you are on a budget :P

Score: 8.5/10

Website: http://www.sukiya.jp/menu/in/gyudon/100100/#tab_menu_set

吉列豚肉專門店銀座梅林 Ginza Bairin @ K11 review

logo

First, I would like to apologize in advance. The restaurant had dim lighting so it was hard to take better quality pictures. >___<

different dressings

I got to try each of the dressings. The Sesame dressing was great with the salad. The Wasabi dressing and Tonkotsu Dressing were great for the Tonkotsu.

chopsticks and wet napkins.. I like their calligraphy font and colour

sashimi

Sashimi

Oooh, this was definitely one of the best sashimi I had in Hong Kong... Although I couldn't exactly tell the fish apart... how shameful of me.

This was their biggest Sashimi dish... I think they want to focus on their Tonkatsu instead of Sashimi. But if you are getting a Tonkatsu dinner (which you should!) this plate of Sashimi is more than enough (we shared it among 3 people)

Tonkotsu set

Tonkotsu!

Even with the bad lighting and blurry picture quality, you can see just how crispy these were.

Impressions

• Super crispy on the outside
• Tender on the inside
• Not oily 
• pork was so tasty

There is a reason why people like Black Pork (?) the most... I have never tasted such great tasting pork... not only was the flavour but there was just the right amount of fat to make it so tender, and it was perfectly moist making it super juicy!

The Tonkotsu was so crispy on the outside and the inside was so tender... although it didn't exactly "melt" in your mouth, it was very juicy. The right amount of fat made it perfect, not oily at all.

another view

The set included miso soup, rice and salad. The Sesame sauce (found on the table) was perfect for this salad (the other sauces didn't work so well... though they did produce an interesting taste).

one of the best Plum wines I have ever had

Plum Wine
They made their own Plum Wine, so unless you visit this place, you can't try it. I loved it... the plum taste was just right! This was the best tasting plum wine I have ever had... I see myself going on a journey to look for good tasting plum wine now :D

Score: 9/10
official website: http://www.ginzabairin.com/en/index.php
Hong Kong website: http://www.ginzabairin.com.hk/

伊呂波 Iroha Japanese BBQ review

Iroha Japanese BBQ

Before visiting this place, I did not know that Japanese BBQ existed... well... at least, not in the form of Korean BBQ style. I was intrigued. I really liked the atmosphere of this place. We had to take off our shoes and walk towards the middle of the restaurant where the seats were. The restaurant felt clean, and unlike most indoor bbq places, this place did not have unpleasant bbq odors.


Price: 500 (+ 10% service charge = $550HKD)

the mini set we got

After several minutes of decisions, my friend and I settled for this mini set. It seemed to have everything we wanted to try and the price was reasonable. As shown both in text and the picture, there is quite a lot of food.

Kimchi and Bean Sprouts

I couldn't understand why a Japanese place would give us Kimchi and Bean Sprouts. It did make me question whether this was an Authentic Japanese restaurant or if it were simply just a Korean/Chinese knockoff. But that aside, the Kimchi and Bean Sprouts were delicious.

Caesar Salad

Next up was Caesar Salad, I'm not sure what's the reason or logic behind it, but it seems that most Authentic Japanese places serve Caesar Salad now. I'm not complaining :). The veggies were fresh and the croutons were well made (they were fresh yet lightly toasted). I liked the size of the croutons, they were thin and flat (making it easy to bite into) yet the surface area was big, making it seem like we weren't eating crumbs.

meat platter for us to cook

And finally, the meat platter comes. This might not look like a lot, but by the end of it, we were so full and we struggled to finish it. My friend and I both liked the Beef Tongues the most.

yummy... waiting for food to be done!

our stove! You can see it is slightly different from the Korean BBQ stoves. I did find it hard to tell when our food was ready, we kept testing the food out to make sure it was cooked properly.

Korean Beef and Tofu Soup

Our meal came with a Korean Beef and Tofu soup. Whenever I eat bbq I tend to get very thirsty, this soup was surprisingly great to quench my thirst. It tasted quite plain though.

Tempura

I can't tell whether it was because we left them out too long or these tempura pieces were not well made... nonetheless, I felt that these were extremely oily and not crispy at all. My friend and I decided to put them on the bbq stove and let them warm up and remove excess oil. The batter was terribly made. We were quite disappointed.

Hokkaido milk pudding for dessert

I really loved this dessert, and it was a surprise to both my friend and I. This Hokkaido milk pudding was extremely tasty and smooth. We were both so excited when we took our first bite! Highly recommend it! I'm not sure if you can order it or whether this was exclusively for this Set dinner we ordered.

Score: 8.5/10
Website: http://www.iroha.com.hk/

Address: 1/F Cameron Plaza, 23 Cameron Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Phone Number: +852 2311 4700

和民 WATAMI Japanese Casual Restaurant [review]

Watami!

I have always wanted to try this place because I see it's advertisement outside my window every day... I asked one of my Japanese friends and turns out, this is a big Japanese Izakaya chain.

Service:

This is actually quite disappointing, I would expect that it would be much easier to grab their attention, but it took too much effort to order or even get "stuff". 

I ordered the set for 2 combo

Price: $278 + $80* (Wagyu Beef upgrade) + 10% service charge = $393.80 HKD (approx. $50.00 USD)

Caesar Salad with Bacon (Half version)

This was a "fixed" item we couldn't choose another option.

impressions:

• fresh veggies
• soft croutons
• Bacon chunks were nicely made
• nicely drizzled amount of Caesar sauce

This was off to a good start... I liked the salad... I found the veggies to be very fresh and "crispy".

Salmon Carpaccio

This was also a "set" item... already fixed... we couldn't choose to have it or not

impression:

• portion was too small
• salmon was very fresh
• lovely black pepper enhanced the flavour

I was also quite happy with the taste, I couldn't tell what sauce they used to make this dish but the black pepper enhanced the sauce's intensity making this a great dish... my only complaint was that the portion was too small.

plum liqueur with soda

We had a choice of choosing Oolong Tea, Hot Honey Ginger Tea, a variety of soft drinks, lemon tea, milk etc. 

Even for Liqueur, we could choose Plum Liqueur on the rocks... we were afraid of the alcohol percentage so we opted for plum liqueur with soda. This was none other than a drink that combined plum liqueur and plain "flavourless" soda.

Impressions:

very tasty

quenches thirst

Deep Fried Chicken Gristle

For those who do not know what Gristles are... they are like knee caps... so these are like Fried chicken knee caps.

Impressions:

• good portion
• nicely fried
• needs more salt and seasoning
• easy to chew

I found these to be slightly plain tasting... although they were fried, I wished they had sprinkled on some salt or powdered herb to make it more flavourful. 

In most places, I find it a bit difficult to chew gristles because the joints tend to be hard, this was not the case for these at Watami, they were easy to bite into!

Rice Cake Au Gratin

This was a fixed item... so we didn't have a choice to get this.

I was looking forward to these the most because I love rice cakes... however this turned out to be the most disappointing dish out of the whole set.

impressions:

• flavourness
• not chewy
• disappointing

If Pot Stickers got their name because they stuck to pots, then these are definitely the most bowl sticking rice cakes ever!... I had to take a knife to ripe them from the pot... they were not flavourful at all and worse, they weren't even chewy. There wasn't even a hint of cheese!

Clams cooked in Stone Pot

This dish was so-so... I was expecting it to be much better... but it didn't turn out as expected. Keep in mind that the picture makes it look much bigger than it really is... 

impressions:

• a good quantity of clams
• there was "sand" in the clams
• soup was nicely made with clams
• soup needed more seasoning

I would suggest that they add some white wine into the soup to make it more flavourful... although the current soup tasted of clams, it was very bland. I was also disappointed that there was "sand" in the clams, they failed to take out the sand making the chewing experience frightful.

Beef rice with Hot Spring Egg Tokyo style

I wasn't looking forward to this but it turned out to be one of the best items on this set.

impressions:

• beef was lovely marinated
• large amount
• extremely tasty

I finally understand why the Japanese love to mix rice with soft egg yolks so much, it really does make a difference in taste, texture and moisture. I will start adding egg yolks to my future rice dishes!

Kagoshima Premium Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki

So, if you were wondering where did the Wagyu beef was... here it is... in the Sukiyaki dish... we had to pay an extra $80 to upgrade to Wagyu beef.

impressions:

love the Wagyu beef

heat was too high

inside the pot: Kagoshima Premium Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki with veggies and mushrooms

To begin with, I was never a big fan of Sukiyaki dishes... I find them to be too sweet. I always think that soup bases should be savoury instead of sweet.

The heat was too high and this made it extremely difficult to cook the beef properly. We had to rush when we were eating the veggies and tofu because they were being overcooked.

I was glad I made the decision of upgrading because the Wagyu beef was delicious!

Verdict:
I found this meal to be slightly pricey, and was disappointed in certain items... I didn't like the service... and was forced to give them 10%. I would come back to try their a la carte, but never their set meals again.


score: 6.0/10
website: http://www.watami.com.hk/menu/menuslide/hkgm_en.html

Yokozuna Ramen review

The Chinese name is: 橫綱日本拉麵店

For those who are wondering, this place is located near (two shops south) Destiny's at Silver Star... I have not been introduced to this place... I find it quite difficult to find despite being beside Destiny's... so I guess that's why it is not very popular.

I like the atmosphere, it is very casual and quiet... only the sound of the TV can be heard (the TV is always showing a Japanese cook show called "Dotch Cooking"). The benefit of watching the show and eating is that you are having Japanese food while watching a Japanese cooking show.

Service is fair, the waiters and waitresses are ok friendly and food is delivered within reasonable time.

Pork Bone Soup Ramen $10.95

Pork Bone Soup Ramen - $10.95

This Ramen is one of the most expensive Ramen on their menu... being a big fan of pork bone soups I had to give it a try.

Impressions:

• Oily
• Very rich
• Ramen cooked to a perfect texture
• Reminds me of homemade soup
• Cha Siu is too lean
• Red ginger adds a nice tough to the flavour

The soup/broth was very different from other ramen broths... due to the soup bones, the soup was extremely oily and quite thick... it tastes nothing like ramen broth... instead it taste like Asian home made soup... it tasted very porky and boney but definitely not a ramen broth... you will either like it or hate it... if you like soups like me, you will like it (because it is a really good soup)... but if you are looking for ramen soup... I suggest you skip this item.

I didn't like the Cha Siu... it was so lean and not marinated... 

I liked how they added shredded pieces of red ginger to make the flavour palette more flavourful. 

Kyuushu Ramen $6.99

Kyushu Ramen - $6.99

I have never had Kyushu ramen so I can't say whether this is authentic or not... I felt that this broth was quite salty. And similar to the Pork Bone soup Ramen, the broth did not taste like your usual "ramen broth".

Impressions:

• Salty miso flavour
• strong miso flavour
• Marinated salty sweet bamboo shoots
• Very clear broth

I didn't really like this Ramen because it was slightly salty for my own taste palette. I did enjoy the marinated sweet salty spiced bamboo shoots. Serving size is quite big... I found it difficult to finish this bowl of ramen.

Cheesy Seafood Maki $9.95

Cheesy seafood Maki - $9.95

List of Ingredients:

• Avocado
• Cream cheese
• Deep fried fish strip
• Masago
• Cucumber
• Sesame
• Grilled cheddar cheese
• Red pepper powder and dry green onion bits

Due to the cold weather, I have found myself savouring any food that contains cheese... so, while browsing through their menu, this sushi caught my attention. This sushi is slightly on the expensive side compared to other places (approx. $1.XX per piece).

impressions:

• nice marriage of the ingredients
• would be better if they didn't use single slice cheddar cheese
• very filling

I am a huge fan of cheesy foods... I really liked the idea... although... as much as I like Single Slice Cheddar cheese, I would prefer and much appreciate it, if they had chosen a Cheddar Cheese that was less "processed"... I found it a bit difficult to tell that the Cream Cheese was there... the cheddar cheese's taste was too overbearing. Besides the cream cheese, the other ingredients made their presence known and made this sushi extremely flavourful and "fun" to eat, the different textures added an intriguing blend to the experience.

Hours:

Mon: 11:30 am - 11:00 pm Wed - Sun: 11:30 am - 11:00 pm

Verdict:
I will definitely be visiting this place again... will probably get the pork bone soup ramen again, but will perhaps skip the other ramen available.

score: 7/10
website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yokozuna-Ramen-%E6%A9%AB%E7%B6%B1%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%8B%89%E9%BA%B5%E5%BA%97/269986869697845

Axia Restro Bar Cafe and Bubble Tease review

photo credits: www.gtarestaurantguide.com

Axia (located at Pacific Mall) has been one of the first Korean/Japanese restaurants I have ever visited (back when I was a kid). It was one of the first Korean/Japanese restaurants which opened in the Markham area.

I remember the craze everyone had when it first opened. This was the first place where I had my first bubble tea... visiting this place was cool when I was kid. (well... visiting Pacific Mall "P Mall" was fascinating to begin with :P).

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to return to this place... and seriously, it was no disappointment... I was really impressed with their bubble tea. I'm not sure if Bubble Tease took over or if it was always Bubble Tease.

I really appreciated how they had a Japanese open style kitchen so that I can see how my food was being prepared.

what I ordered and how it looks

Tempura Cheese cake - $4.99

Description:

• Tempura-ed a plain Cheese Cake
• sided with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Syrup and Strawberry Syrup

Impressions:

• hard
• tasty
• ice cream made the 

Matcha Aloe

Matcha Aloe -  $3.60 (teaser size)

Description

• Matcha milk + iced tea w/ aloe vera

Impressions:

• very good Matcha combo
• lots of Aloe Vera bits

I really like Matcha... but sometimes, I feel that bubble tea shops either overdo or under-do the flavour... so I was a bit skeptical when I ordered this drink. To my surprised... It was really good! The Matcha was very smooth and texture was perfect! Absolutely love this drink!

Tropical Dream

Tropical Dream - $5.10 (teaser size)

Description:

• Coconut ceylon slush w/ starmango jelly

Impressions:

• has a very strong coconut slush
• not a very strong Ceylon taste
• slightly too sweet
• lots of starmango jelly

I got this second bubble tea because the server told me that if I ordered a second one the one with lower price will be 50% off... since the first one tasted so good, I decided to get a second one.

Since the Matcha was so good, I had high hopes for this drink. The find the coconut taste to be very strong, in fact, too strong that I could not taste the Ceylon tea at all!... There was a lot of star mango jelly to enhance the taste... but... I found this drink to be a bit too sweet... 

Environment:

The servers were also very attentive and nice, they were also very helpful. I really liked the environment, the way the tables were set up, I felt like I had enough privacy.

Score: 9.5/10

Website: no website

Uoshiki Sushi Japanese restaurant 四季魚 review

Maki and Sushi set

Today's my birthday, so I will make this review slightly shorter (but I promise I will write it so that everything is covered). There is a Chinese/Japanese name for this restaurant: 四季魚.

This is an All You Can Eat place, but they have a regular dine in menu available. I was introduced to this place by my friend. Since we were planning for a quick dinner, we decided to just order from their regular menu.

Discounts:

If you pay with cash, they will give you a 10% discount.

Food:

Like most Japanese places, each entree comes with a Miso Soup and Salad. The dish looks small, but it's actually quite filling. I almost couldn't finish this plate.... I found that both the maki hand rolls and sushi were both well made. The fish was quite fresh (this was quite surprising for me). (I forgot the exact price for this item... I think it was around $7.99 - $8.99).

Mango Yogurt - Complementary dessert

Mango Yogurt (Complementary Dessert):

I was really happy they provided a complementary dessert, they have a list of items you can choose from, so I got Mango Yogurt. Mango Yogurt was good...

Service:

The service was quite decent... and they were quite attentive.

Verdict:
I will be returning to this place because it is affordable (quality and quantity matches its price). I'm not sure if I will try their All You Can Eat (I am not a big fan of AYCE). But I was definitely impressed by the quality and quantity.

score: 7.5/10
website: no website

Okonomi House Restaurant review

It's actually a year since I have ate at this place, I was planning to do a review but somehow, I managed to lose the pictures... (sigh), I didn't want to create a post with no pictures, so just a few weeks ago, I found them, and here's the review! 

Okonomi (or "Pancake") House has opened since 1978. They claim that they serve good and cheap Japanese dishes.

One of the reasons why I was fascinated was because they seem to serve authentic Japanese dishes that are hard to find in Toronto.

bar table

The restaurant was quite small and casual. There were about 8 tables and 1 long bar table. The seating was a bit uncomfortable as we were trying our best to avoid invading the space of the surrounding tables. The atmosphere was nothing fancy, it was a very normal "casual dining" place.

Chicken Okonomiyaki

We ordered Chicken Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) are Japanese savoury pancakes which contain a variety of ingredients (usually cabbage strips). The name means "your preference grilled". This means you get to choose what you want and they will grill it for you.

The Chicken Okonomiyaki was a little disappointing. They had all the proper basic ingredients including the sauce on top. The pancake was sticky and too greasy, as compared to "usual" pizza like texture and "dryness". Besides that, the taste was quite decent.

Yakiniku Bento

We were a party of 2 and we wanted to try other things other than Okonomiyaki. There was not a lot to choose from so we settled for a bento box. We ordered Yakiniku bento (Grilled Meat Bento). The Beef was not "traditionally" cooked. The beef was cooked very dry. We had to use the Soy Sauce to moisten and marinate the beef.

The food was a bit on the pricey. The total came to be about $30 (tax and tips included) for these 2 dishes.

Score: 5.5/10

(no website)

Shiso clam vongolé Pasta @Shiso Tree Cafe JTown Review

Shiso Tree Menu

please click here for my review about the restaurant and Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine pasta

Shiso Tree is a Japanese-Italian Fusion restaurant. It is famous for their Italian pastas with a mix of Japanese culture. Before I talk about this dish, I want to mention about how much I like this restaurant, the atmosphere is very casual yet elegant, there is a mix of Japanese in its simple interior design. Every time I go, there is Jazz music playing softly in the background.

Impressions:

• Great atmosphere for chatting and hanging out
• service is good
• great pasta, great salad
• skip the soup

When the weather starts to warm up, I find myself longing to come to Shiso Tree @ JTown. It seems to be a very Spring/Summery place to visit with its Japanese/modern decorations and natural lighting and "light food". For this particular visit, I had ordered Shiso Clam Vongolé Pasta from their Wafu Pasta selection.

Shiso Tree complimentary salad

Salad:

With every Pasta set, they provide Garlic Toast and a Wafu Salad. As I mentioned in my previous Shiso tree post, The Wafu salad dressing, it is one of the best tasting salad dressings I have ever tried in a Japanese restaurant. If you visit this place, you cannot miss it. I'm not an expert in salad dressings, so based on my limited understanding and trusty taste buds I would say it tastes like  a clam/mussel soup base combined with soy sauce and sesame oil).

Shiso clam vongolé – white wine, olive oil, garlic, bacon, tomato, fresh Manila clams & shiso

Pasta:

Now, for the dish, Since I always get Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine pasta, I decided to try something new... I mean... life is about trying new things and having different experiences, no? I decided to give the Shiso clam vongolé a try. It consists of White Wine, Olive Oil, Garlic, Bacon, Tomato, Fresh Manila clams and Shiso. This pasta was from their Wafu pasta category. (Wafu can be translated to touch of Japanese)

The price was $15, I think it was because of the amount of clams they had. I mentioned that their prices may be startling at first, but when you finish your meal you will be happy you decided to eat here. This dish added Shiso shavings, I think they taste a bit like lemon/lime leaves. But... to be honest, other than the unique herbiness of Shiso and clams, I found it troublesome to distinguish this dish from the Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine Pasta. They seem to taste very similar. It was still good... but I was looking forward to something different.

This was a well made dish, but I think it would be better if they could make the different pastas taste more different so each dish can preserve its uniqueness. I will continue to visit this place and try their new dishes in hopes of finding something that tastes really different yet as delicious!

the soup we decided to pay extra for

Soup:

I did not enjoy the soup, it was very average. I was thinking it would be something that would "wow" me, but it was none other than an ordinary tomato, beef- soup based beef brisket vegetable soup. The taste was very ordinary, I was quite disappointed. The presentation was interesting, but the soup was very average.

Verdict:

The Pasta and atmosphere are what attracts me to this restaurant, I really love their salad. However, I do not recommend you paying extra to try their soup, it is not worth it.

address: 3160 Steeles Ave E #1, Markham, ON L3R
score: 8.5/10

website: http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/shiso-tree-cafe-markham