One of the shopping alleys in Otaru.

Winter… one of the rare times Winnie is fully clothed…

Some eatery in Otaru.

Otaru Canal by day.

Chef cooking our tempura lunch!

I love scallops!!

Fantastic cakes!

Beautiful shops.

Otaru Canal by night.

One of the best sushi I’ve ever had… from Waraku in Otaru.

The ingredients dwarfed the rice!

Loved the tuna!

Scallop sushi like no other!

That wraps up on long awaited post on Japan. Hahahaha. 

I’ve forgotten the name of this restaurant but they specialised in omu rice. The food was good! Loved the salad starter too!

Various types of omu rice & baked rice.

Yummy…

The famous 4-way crossing at Shibuya

My first meal coupon meal!

Tokyo is really pretty during Christmas (Shinjuku area).

All the shops are lighted up.

Mosaic Street, Shinjuku

Delicious tonkatsu!

I loved this yuzu salad dressing!!!

Ok… my next post will be the last on Japan…

(Captions found below pics)

Entrance to Meiji Shrine

Lots of kids in traditional garb.

Love the detail on their gowns!

Ok.. so some kids were cuter than others…

Obasans in kimonos

Saw a ceremonial dance.

Traditional Shinto wedding

Harajuku

Cosplay in action

It’s crowded on Sundays…

More cosplay in action

Dinner at Watami

Grilling our own stingray!

*Slurp*

I think I’m going for Japanese dinner tonight…*drools*

(Captions are for the photos above)

Daikanyama’s such a pretty neighbourhood!

Saw this really cute stone house on our way to this waffle place.

The waffles were DELICIOUS!

Soooooooooooo good…

They had savoury waffles too!  (Yes, the 5 of us ate THAT many waffles.  Hehe).

Entrance to Canal Cafe.  This place looks straight out of a story book!

Funny sign near the counter where customers place orders.

Such a peaceful cafe.

Really love the deck.

So tranquil even fearsome predators lay back, relax & enjoy an iced coffee.

Hehe.

Just a note: the captions belong to the pictures above them.

Tokyo street @ sunset.

Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Traditional Japanese women

Ginza area, Tokyo

A local buying breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market.

Corn on the cob, anyone?

Really crowded at Tsukiji Fish Mkt in the morning!

Yummy breakfast!

Sedap!!

Asakusa, Tokyo

Love the trinkets on sale!

The temple at Asakusa

More pics taken from the temple grounds.

Tokyo Tower

More pics coming up in Part 4!!

(Captions are below the photos)

Hakodate & Hakone

Goryokaku Star Forte at Hakodate.

I really love the autumn leaves!

Check out the generous serving of ikura!!

Hakodate city at sunset.

I just thought this was really smart – a baby seat to free up mothers’ hands while they do their biz.

Yummy Japanese curry rice from this shop at Shinagawa JR Station.

Food stall along the streets of Tokyo.

Train to Hakone

Hakone’s really beautiful!

Taken at the onsen where we stayed.

Stingray being grilled!

Cable car to the top of Mt Hakone!

That’s Mt Fuji in the background.

Temple gates

Temple (forgot the name)

The obasan getting ready our dinner at the onsen!

Mt Fuji at sunset

That’s it for Part 2!

That said, on this hot Sun afternoon, I’ve decided to just pick my favourite photos & share them here.  I originally wanted to diarise my trip my doing a day by day post of what I did in Japan… but like I said… it’s just TOO MUCH EFFORT!

And for those expecting the last instalment of my HK (Mar 2011) trip photos.. sorry lah.  Change my mind.  Hahahahaha.

(Captions are below the photos)

Sapporo & Furano

Pokemon plane!

Another cutesy plane!

First taste of ramen in Japan.  My favourite combination – scallops, butter, corn & char siew!!

Even the construction work signs are so cute.

Sapporo Clock Tower

Pretty leaves & berries.

Tiny houses at the Shiroi Koibito chocolate factory.

Pretty wedding cakes!

More pretty cakes!

Patience enjoying the view at the cafe at the chocolate factory.  (Well, she was enjoying the view before taking the pic).

Yummy chocolate!!

Love the reflection.

Choo!  Choo!

Love the colours of this pic.

Char siew being flame grilled (Sapporo Ramen Alley).

The end product – the best char siew I’ve ever had in a ramen!

Squid ink cheese from Sapporo Cheese Factory.

I’ve always liked this sort of long paths framed with trees.

Lavender scooters at the Furano Lavender Farm

Lavenders at the green house at the farm.More photos coming up in Part 2!!

I hardly hardly eat street hawker food in HK… the one and only time was when I shared this erm… flour egg balls thingy with Azure last year.  After trying the curry fish balls, however, I’m totally in love with it!  Yummy!  I prefer those that just come with the “curry sauce” rather than those with peanut gravy mixed in. 

Tried the spicy pork cube noodles from some random Cha Chan Teng.  Paled in comparison to my now defunct Kam Moon Kok.  *Sad*.

My friend’s pork chop bun… looks not bad… but the slice of pork was a little small I think.

Booze Queen’s breakfast.  The Polo Bun with 2 slices of butter looked sooooooooooooo delicious!

Happy to share that the French Toast at the random Cha Chan Teng was as good as the one from Kam Moon Kok.  The secret is to spread a bit of peanut butter inside the thick toast before dipping it in egg & frying it.  And I eat it by pouring tons of syrup on top.  YUMMY!

Ok… Gonna leave the last set of photos from Tai Ping Koon Restaurant for another day… Heh.

Shopped quite a bit & ate even more!  Only sad news is that my favourite cha chan teng, Kam Moon Kok, has closed.  Learnt from a neighbouring Chinese medicine shop that they sold the shop to this real estate company and closed.  I guess they cashed out.  Sob.

Anyway, I didn’t take much photos of my companions nor me this trip… my photos are all of… FOOD!  Here’re some selected shots!

Saw this on Jetstar’s menu.. poor chicken.. had its balls crushed and laughed at?

Che’s Restaurant

Fried fritters in cheong fun.  Not bad.  The fritters were light & crispy, cheong fun skin was thin.

Custard & salted egg bun.  Really love this.  I like the balance between the sweet custard & the salted egg bits.  There is also a generous amount of filling!  Slurp!

Siew mai.  I’m not a fan of the siew mai at Che’s ‘cos I find the meat a little fatty.  It’s tender & tasty & the skin is thin… but I don’t like the bits of fatty meat inside.  Heh.  Personal preference.

Har gow – I love this ‘cos of the super fresh and crunchy prawns.  The skin could be thinner though.

I didn’t order the beef tripe but was told it was pretty tasty.  It comes with some dried beancurd skin that’s hidden below the tripe. 

Egg tart.  This really has to be eaten when it’s fresh out of the oven so that the egg in the middle is still gooey and the flaky crust melts in your mouth!

Char siew cheong fun.  I’ve always liked this ‘cos the char siew is lean & the soya sauce makes the entire dish very tasty.

Dumpling in chilli oil & vinegar.  First time I tried this at Che’s.  Average… Booze Queen says the one from Din Tai Fung in Singapore is better (will try that soon!!)

Che’s signature crispy char siew pau.  This is the epitome of crispy char siew pau!  The crust is crispy, sweet & buttery at the same time.  The texture sort of reminds me of the Rotiboy bun that took Singapore by storm a few years ago.  The char siew inside is tasty & moist with gravy.  Excellent!  This never disappoints!

Lotus leaf rice.  Looks normal right?  Wait till you see what’s inside…

There was a fresh scallop, baby abalone, dried scallops, mushroom & meat!  Super tasty!  Probably the best lotus leaf rice I’ve ever tried.  Yummy… Will definitely have this again on my next trip!

I can’t remember the exact name of this dish.. white sesame & black sesame ball or something.  Anyhow, it was good.  Really like how the black sesame inside flows out the minute you bite the ball.  *Slurp!!

Yat Lok

Tried the highly recommended roast goose from Yat Lok.  I really liked the skin – super crispy & tasty even after being soaked in the soup.  The meat, however, was smelly!!!!  Only ate some parts that were less odorous and gave the rest to Iceman.  Bleah!

Tim Ho Wan

This is an apparently well known 1-star Michelin dimsum place.  It opens at 10am but Azure got us there at 9am and she obtained pole position in the queue!  Well done!

Check out the losers in the queue behind us!

The dimsum was pretty good… but I didn’t like it more than Che’s… the pricing, however, definitely deserved that 1-star!  Super cheap!  The 4 of us paid what 1 of us paid at Che’s!  (In other words, the price was like a quarter of Che’s!)

Funny English. Heehee.

Phoenix claws aka chicken feet.  Hehe.  I didn’t (and don’t) eat this but I recall those who ate saying that the way it’s done is pretty different from Singapore… so… maybe it’s not not nice… just that it doesn’t match our expectations.

Char siew cheong fun.  The parsley (“yim sai” in Cantonese) inside totally ruined this for me.  The only thing I thought was good was the super thin cheong fun skin (better than Che’s).

Har gow – average.

Siew mai – I didn’t really like this.  Somehow the taste wasn’t that fantastic. 

Crispy char siew pau – there wasn’t enough crispy bits on the skin.  The char siew was also a little too sweet so the blend between sweet & buttery/ salty wasn’t there.  Really paled in comparison to Che’s.

Pan fried carrot cake.  Bland.  Tasteless. 

Lotus leaf rice… I can’t remember much about this except it was super salty and we couldn’t finish it.

Steamed pork ribs.  I think this was not too bad.  Tasty.

For dessert, we had this osmanthus flower & wolfberry seed cake.  It was good.  Light & refreshing, I like the bits of flowers & wolfberry inside.  Good!!

Tong Tai Seafood (Temple St)

Sweet & sour pork ribs.  Not that good.  I wouldn’t order this again.

Kangkong in bean paste.  I thought this was average only.  The kangkong was a little “old”… would have been nicer if it was more tender.

Salt & pepper squid with vinegar dip.  Super love this!!!

Pomfret steamed in soya sauce (Cantonese style).  I really hate pomfret ‘cos I find the flesh very smelly but this one was actually not too bad (I pinched a small piece).  Maybe ‘cos it was taken fresh from the tank… or maybe pomfrets in HK are less smelly… I don’t know… but my friends agreed this dish was the highlight of the night for them.

Claypot bittergourd.  The gravy was tasty.  (Can’t say much ‘cos I don’t eat bittergourd.  Haha).

Razor clams cooked in black bean sauce.  This was not bad.  Would’ve liked it more if it were spicier!!

Ah… beer… Tsingtao… one of my favourite…

Ok… that’s all the pics for now.  Just way too many food pics and my stomach is churning like crazy.  Will post the rest another time!  *Drools*.

Picture credits: Nokia N8!!

Remembering 31 Dec 2010…

Our office was only opened half day, after which Napkin, Booze Queen & I grabbed a quick drink at Blarney’s @ Icon.  That’s my Guiness looking kind of stunted next to Booze Queen’s Erdinger… just like how my handbag looks stunted next to hers.  Hehe.

Booze Queen & I adjourned to “Canteen” after that. It’s been more than a year since I visited canteen – last time was on the last day our office was at Singapore Land Tower (Nov 2009). 

Some other friends arrived before us and ordered the above food.  Tip – the weird squid thingy is not nice.

I ordered my usual drink from canteen, vodka cranberry.  Sadly, the bartender who recognises us has left to be a money broker.. and I was given this super weak vodka cranberry.  No alcohol at all man!!

My favourite potato chips!

The otak-otak is fantastic!!

Canteen gave out these free jello shots which I think we deserved, after the weak drinks I had.

Anyway, here’s a toast to the year gone by.  May we all have a better 2011.  God bless!!