DH suggested that we have a couple dinner to end the year 2016.  But we had a family countdown party on 31 Dec, so instead, he booked us dinner at Mikuni, the Japanese restaurant at Fairmont Singapore, on 30 Dec.  Mikuni was serving a Festive Keiseki dinner which DH wanted to try.

The restaurant was well decorated with blue and white hanging lights for this festive season.  Very pretty.  We asked for a corner table and they obliged.  They had 2 Keiseki menu, a winter menu at $179 and a festive menu at $220.  As it was 30 Dec, all the set menus had a $20 surcharge.  We decided to give ourselves a treat and go for the more expensive Festive Menu.  

We wanted a small bottle of sake and the waitress recommended the Mikuni House pour which she says was fruity and easy to drink.  We were glad we went with her recommendation.  The sake was quite nice.

We had 2 starters.  First one was the Cuttlefish with Mentaiko and Hokkaido Snow Crab.  Mentaiko coated the raw stips of cuttlefish.  Taste was interesting.

Second starter is Chawanmushi (steam egg) with truffle.  The Chawanmushi was served is a small egg shell and the truffle was on top of it.  The egg sits inside a bowl of tiny stones.  Very interesting presentation.  The dish was delicious.  It was very fragrant.  I love truffle!

Next was Sashimi.  There were 3 types of sashimi being served – toro, scallop and yellowtail.  They sashimi was oh so fresh!  The scallop was sweet and the toro melts in your mouth. 

After the sashimi comes the grill dish.  We had crispy sea bream with uni sauce.  The sea bream was very very crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Mixed with the uni sauce, it was heavenly.  Delicious!

The steam dish cam next.  We were served the Hokkaido Snow Crab with Crab miso and green bean.  It was nice, but nothing top special to me.

Next is Tempura.  It is not whole Tempura prawns, but prawn patty with mushroom and prawn patty with turnip.  Quite nice.  But I still prefer the usual whole vegetable and whole prawn Tempura.  You are given the usual Tempura sauce as well as green tea salt.  I like my Tempura with green tea salt.

Next is the meat dish.  We had sukiyaki beef with onsen tamago (soft boil egg).  You mix the egg with the beef before eating.  It is flavourful.

Last dish is the rice and soup.  We were served soy marinated tuna on sushi rice and miso soup.  With the bits of sesame, the rice was tasty and has an interesting crunch.  The tuna was excellent.  Miso soup was well, just miso soup. 

Dessert was anything but Japanese.  We had a freeze dried orange slice, an orange and chocolate cake and an orange sorbet, accompanied with tiny mushroom shaped meringue.  I love the sorbet and meringue.

Overall a satisfying meal.  This is the second time we have had a Keiseki at Mikuni and again, it did not disappoint.  I like its contemporary and almost fusion style Japanese cuisine.  Something different with traditional Japanese Keiseki.  We will probably some again, but next time, I want to try the Teppanyaki.  I have not found a teppanyaki restaurant in Singapore up to the standard we have had in Japan and Taiwan and I hope the one here will not disappoint.

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It’s the first day of Chinese New Year today!  Happy Year of the Rooster!  

On the eve of Chinese New Year, it is a tradition for the family to get together for a reunion dinner.  These reunion dinners can be big affairs among extended family members or small family dinners depending on each family.  The most common is a  dinner involving 3 generations.  Hotpot meals  are popular choices for the reunion dinner meal in Singapore.  It is always fun for the family to gather around a hotpot to celebrate this biggest Chinese festival of the year.  So it seems apt that I should share our recent hot pot experience in my post today.  In recent years, many Sze Chuan style spicy hot pot restaurants have sprouted out all over the island and our family enjoy going for such a meal once in a while.

When we went to Taiwan in Dec 2015, we enjoyed their hot pots.  One of our favorite was Elixir Health Pot 无老锅, a hot pot restaurant chain in Taiwan famed for their “beauty soup” base.  This chain of restaurant has excellent service and good food and is always full despite its many outlets.

When my friend told me some time ago about a new hot pot restaurant, Beauty in the Pot, in Singapore that is inspired by Elixir Health Pot, I thought we must try it.  But every time we call for a reservation, the restaurant is always full.  My friend commented that he needed to make his reservations at least 2 weeks in advance to get a table.  Wow!  Unbelievable for a restaurant in Singapore!   Finally I decided to just put in a waitlist reservation online for 2 Jan 2016, and surprise surprise, the restaurant contacted me to confirm a table.  So off we went at the start of the new year to check out this popular hotpot restaurant at One KM mall in Tanjong Katong, its original outlet.  They recently opened a second outlet at Centrepoint in Orchard Road.  We have to see if it is anywhere as good as its inspiration in Taiwan.

They have 2 soup base choices to choose from. A collagen rich “beauty soup” and a spicy herbal soup.  You can choose either one for SGD20 or pay SGD25 for both.  We went for the double soup base as DH and I like a spicy soup base while the kids can’t take too spicy stuff and of course also because non-spicy soup base here is its speciality.  For the spicy soup, one canchoose from 3 levels of spiciness.  We went for the lowest and are happy with it.  It is always good to go for the lowest and add spiciness to the soup if it is not spicy enough.  I must say that they spicy soup here is very good and not very oily unlike the spicy soup base at the popular Chinese Hot Pot restaurant Haidilao.  I find it also more flavorful instead of just being spicy and numbing like common Szechuan spicy soup.

There is a sauce station here for you to make your own dipping sauce.  For those not sure how to get started, they have sample recipes to suggest the various sauces that you can make.  I make mine with a sesame sauce base with Sha Cha sauce, a little vinegar, a little soy sauce and garnished with sesame seeds, chili, garlic and spring onion.

We are beef lovers and ordered the angus prime rib and the regular beef.  We also had the kurobuta pork, luncheon meat and beef tripe.

We especially like the seafood balls and seafood paste.  We had the prawn paste, scallop fish paste and cattle fish paste.  Our favorite is the ebiko prawn paste which is really prawn paste with ikura (fish roe).  The ikura add an interesting crunch to the paste.  Yum!

We also order the potato thick vermicelli which  we like with with hotspots, and several types of tofus.  The best tofu is fish tofu.  Made into the shape of a fish, it is a togu mixed with fish paste.  Very tasty.  It comes in 2 pieces per serving.  We ordered 3 servings initially and then added a fourth serving.  

Dessert is complimentary shaved ice just like at Elixir Health Pot in Taiwan.  Here, the shaved ice is yuzu flavored and very refreshing.  At Elixir Health Pot, their shaved ice is passion fruit flavoured.  

How does this compare to Elixir Health Pot in Taiwan?  A copycat, but not a bad one, I must say.  Elixir Health Pot is known for its good service.  The service staff give a bow after serving the food each time.  They do the same here, or I should say, do their best to try to do the same here.  But some how seems a bit unnatural and uncomfortable with it.  But we don’t really care for that. We were generally happy with the meal and went away, full and satisfied.   For the 5 of this, this meal came up to SGD302.

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I needed to make a business trip to Tokyo in the first week of Nov in 2015.  Since it was also perfect time for seeing autumn foliage, DH decided to join me over the weekend after my meetings so that we can head to Kawaguchiko, one of the Fuji Five Lakes.  Incidentally, it was also as long weekend holiday that week for us.  So perfect!

During my trip, I had a fair share of fining dining at dinner time and quick eats during lunch as my meeting schedules were very packed.  I discovered many cheap and good places around Tokyo Station where my office was located.

1. Kamatake Udon

There is a Kitchen Street at Tokyo Station which has many cheap eating places catering to the office crowd.  Kamatake Udon is one such eating place at the Kitchen Street and its service was fast and efficient.  We left our office punctually at 12 noon so that we won’t have to be in the queue.  Kamatake Udon is my colleague’s favourite udon place.  He missed the udon there since he came to Singapore, so he suggested it for lunch.  I had the tempura udon with minced tuna belly rice set which costs a little over JPY1000 (if I remember correctly).  It was cheap and good!  Udon was smooth and the soup was tasty.  The minced tuna belly rice was yummy too.  It was really excellent value for money.

Tempura udon & minced tuna belly rice set @ Kamatake Udon

2. Yamato

Yamato is a small counter restaurant along one of the side lanes opposite the traffic light in front of the building housing Daimaru at Tokyo Station.  It is just 2 mins walk from the Yaesu exit of Tokyo Station.  I was told by my Japanese colleagues that Yamato serves expensive Kaiseki dinner at night.  However, during lunch time they offer value for money lunch set.  I had the Hidagyu-don (wagyu from Hida region on rice).  The beef was lightly seared to perfection.  So tender and melts in your mouth. Hidagyu or Hida beef has been my favourite Japanese wagyu ever since I first tried it in the Hida region (central Japan), my other favourite is of course, Kobe beef or Kobegyu.  The lunch set came with salad, pickles, a braised chicken accompaniment, miso soup and fruits for dessert,.  All this for only JPY1500!!

Hidagyu-don @ Yamato

3. Kiyobashi Senbikiya

If you are looking for healthy, good and cheap breakfast around Toyko Station, you must go to Kiyobashi Senbikiya.  Kiyobashi Senbikiya is actually a high end fruit store in Tokyo.  They sell high quality fruits, cakes and pastries.  For breakfast, they serve simple and healthy breakfast sets. I had the set with waffles, fruit yogurt, salad and Japanese yubari melon.  This set which comes with coffee or tea is only JPY600!  The melon was so sweet!  But do note that only the breakfast set is cheap.  Its cakes and fruits are quite expensive.  So normally there is a queue for breakfast. Everytime I want to eat there and don’t want to queue, I always make sure I get there just as it opens at 8am.  I have bought their cakes many times as takeaway to enjoy back in my hotel room.  They are all filled with fresh fruits and are light and delicious.

Fruits based healthy breakfast @ Kiyobashi Senbikiya

5. Kajitsuen

This is not really a cheap eat but food quality is good.  Kajitsuen is a similar fruit stand in Tokyo Station like Kiyobashi Senbikiya.  It sells fresh fruits, cakes with fruits and freshly squeezed fruit juice etc. I had previously bought takeaway cakes from them because I cannot resist the  tempting cakes.  Typical of Japanese cakes, their cakes are light and the fruits in them are so good. This trip DH and I decided to wait for a table on a Saturday afternoon.  It was a short wait. Besides the cake, I ordered the fresh kiwi juice.   It was concentrated and I could taste the fresh kiwi fruit.  But as I said earlier, like Kiyobashi Senbikiya, its cakes are not cheap at JPY1000 per slice. You do get quality, though.  In terms of cafe ambience, however, Kiyobashi Senbikiya is much much nicer.  This place is more cramp.  Cake quality at both cafes are similar.

Afternoon tea at Kajitsuen

6. Sushi Iwase

In a small lane behind Takashimaya at Shinjuku is a small and sophisticated sushi restaurant.   Dinner here can easily set you back by JPY18,000 per person.  But during lunch time, if you can snag yourself a bowl of their Chirashi Sushi, you will be treating yourself to good quality fresh raw fish on top of sushi rice of excellent consistency . As the chef is very particular about quality, there are only 10 bowls of Chirashi Sushi available each day during lunch time.   These coveted bowls cost only JPY1,700 each and is excellent value for money for the quality that you get.  If you have a bigger appetite, you can go for a large bowl at a slightly higher price.  I had the small bowl while DH had the large one.  The fish they served us were not leftover chopped up pieces, but carefully cut and sliced in our presence.  We made our reservation for lunch at 11.30am on our last day in Tokyo before our 1600 plus flight home.  They open for lunch from 11.30am – 1.30pm.  But I advise going early since they stop selling once their 10 bowls are sold.

Sushi Iwase @ Shinjuku Youth Building. “PAX” 6F,4-1-9 Shinjuku

Update : 13 Nov 2017

I visited Tokyo again recently and Sushi Iwase has moved to 3 Chome 3-4-1 Nishi-Shinjuku. In its old location at Shinjuku Youth Building is now an excellent Yakiniku restaurant, Hanomonya.

Next up : Fine Dining in Tokyo……..

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The boys and DH met DD and I for dinner at Marina Bay Sands after we girls spent our afternoon at the Art Science Museum.   I had originally wanted to eat at Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Kitchen but when I called that morning, they did not have a table for 5 anymore.  They only had smaller tables.  So we decided on Sen of Japan, a modern Japanese casual restaurant, since the kids like Japanese food.  It was also conveniently located next to the Art Science Museum, and faces the promenade which I felt will have a nice evening view. We made our reservations via Chope, and managed to get a table for 5 at 7.30pm.

Sen of Japan @ Marina Bay Sands

DH arrived earlier than the boys.  So the three of us decided to take a stroll along the promenade outside Sen.  In fact the promenade is quite busy on this Friday evening.  The sunset view of the city skyline across the bay was beautiful.  It was a cool and pleasant evening stroll.  It is rare for us to have such opportunity to just hang around to enjoy the beautiful city view with our busy schedule.   Sometimes as locals we never truly make time to enjoy our own city.

The beautiful city skyline across the bay from the Marina Bay Sands promenade

The boys arrived and we went for our dinner.  We started our meal with a 16 piece sashimi platter.  It was generally good except for the scallop which I thought was not that fresh. A good scallop sashimi should be sweeter and not have any fishy taste.   Uni however was fresh and sweet and up to standard.

16-piece Sashimi Platter @ Sen of Japan

They were giving 30% discount on their Chutoro and Otoro sashimi and we decided to give that a try too.  After discount the 6 pieces of sashimi cost about SGD42.  Still not cheap, but was very very good.

Otoro & Chutoro Sashimi @ Sen of Japan

After our sashimi we had the wagyu tataki, mixed fish cappaccio, chicken karage,  gyoza, yasai tempura and ebi tempura.  The Wagyu Tataki is a favourite of all of us.  The chicken karage was also very well done.  Juicy and tasty.  The tempura were also well done.  Not oily.  The only disappointment was the gyoza which did not have the crisp base expected of a good gyoza.  Taste was so so too.

Tasty dishes @ Sen of Japan

Our main was 2 servings of the 15-pieces Nigiri Sushi.  The Otoro and Chutoro and Uni Sushis were great!  The rice consistency and taste was nice too.  We finished the 30 pieces of Sushi in no time.

15-piece Nigiri Sushi Platter @ Sen of Japan

After dinner, DS2, DD and I decided to have the Yuzu sorbet for dessert.  DS1 decided to have the Molten Chocolate cake and asked for the accompanying ice-cream to be changed from Vanilla flavor to Sesame, which the restaurant obliged.  The Yuzu sorbet was served with cut cuts and corn flakes.  Yummy!   . DS1 enjoyed his chocolate cake and sesame ice-cream too.  DH set out of dessert as usual.  His beer was his dessert.

Yummy dessert @ Sen of Japan

Total bill for the 5 of us came up to SGD457.  Not a cheap meal, but then it is difficult to find a cheap place at Marina Bay Sands except perhaps at the basement foodcourt or the Toast Box Cafe near the food court.  We enjoyed our meal here.  For the kids, it was a nice change from the usual bentos in other casual restaurants.

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One Christmas Day last month, we were trying to find a place for lunch and all the Christmas buffets in the hotels are fully booked.  So we decided to heard to Takashimya Shopping Centre at Ngee Ann City to find a place for lunch.

The kids decided on Japanese, so we ended up at Tampopo Grand on level 4.  There are 2 Tampopos in here.  One is a ramen restaurant at basement 2.  Tampopo Grand on level 4 is the premium restaurant of the Tampopo chain of restaurants.

We each started off with a handroll,  DH wanted a soft shell crab handroll ($8), while the rest of us went for the uni handroll ($13).  The uni handroll had lots of uni.  DH says that the soft shell crab handroll is so so.  He much prefer the one at Sushi Tei.  I thought the uni handroll here has more uni (albeit more expensive) than the one at Sushi Tei.

For my main course, I decided on the Chutoro and Negitoro set.  I have recently fallen in love with negitoro (minced tuna).  I love Chutoro (fatty tuna) too, so this set is really made for me.  The sushi rice had just the right amount of vinegar and went so well when mixed with the negitoro.  Yum!  The set also came with chawamushi miso soup and slices of melon.

DH had the Maguro Gozen set.  It is tuna on rice, 3 pieces of tuna sushi ( one of which is toro sushi) with some vegetable tempura and a soup.  He was very satisfied with his bento.

DD went for the Sashimi and Sushi set.  The set came with salmon, tuna and yellowtail sushi and sashimi, sushi rolls, wafu salad, chawanmushi and miso soup. She was very satisfied with her meal.

DS1 & 2 both went for the Japan Sashimi Set.  The set came with cold soba. tempura, and of cause Sashimi.  There was yellowtail, swordfish, and tuna sashimi.  The set also came with Chawanmushi and miso soup.  It was a really big set with the soba serving was huge.  That worked just as well for the boys.

Overall a good meal.  Sashimi was fresh and food was of good quality.  It was good quality Japanese food at a reasonable price.  Total bill including 3 coke and 1 hot and 1 cold green tea came for  SGD311 for 5 of us.

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One of our family’s favorite casual dining restaurant is Spruce at the site of the former Bukit Timah Fire Station.  Situated among vast greenery along the Bukit Timah railway corridor, it is also a great price for a drink in the evening.  It has outdoor seating for smokers or just those who prefer a relaxed outdoor seating.

Casual dining at Spruce, Fire Station

The drinks selection here is good.  They even have a good selection of cocktails and mocktails.  My favorite mocktail here is the Virgin Mojito.  But in this visit I decided to have a Sangria.  I must say it was quite potent.

Spruce @ Fire Station – a great place for evening drinks

Besides the good food, Spruce has a lively casual and friendly atmosphere made possible by the very friendly service staff.  The restaurant manager and waiters and waitress are always with a smile and chatty, infecting everyone with their cheerful mood.  The friendly manager actually posed for a photo for me!

Friendly service staff at Spruce, Fire Station

When we visited a few months back, the chef was trying a new dish, duck confit and the waiter asked if I was game to try it.  It was so good that we had seconds.  On this visit 2 weeks ago, the duck confit is now formerly on the menu.  So DS2 and I happily ordered it again.  Spruce normally allow a foie gras add on at $12 which I loved.  But unfortunately, they were out of foie gras that day.  The duck confit is serve with greens and mash potato.   The salad sauce was tangy and went really well with the duck confit and mash potato.

DH had his usual BBQ ribs.  He always orders his dish at restaurants whenever it is on the menu.  DD had her Australian Steak Frites served medium.  I pinched at the dish and must say it was great.  DS1 had the Spruce burger which is served with a. Wagyu beef patty.  This is also another of my favorite at Spruce.  You even get to choose the doneness of the beef patty.  DS1 had his medium rare.

Favourite classics at Spruce

The dessert menu here is unfortunately less impressive.  They have a selection of cakes and cupcakes and DD likes its creme brûlée but we were not in the mood for dessert on this visit.

Our total bill for 6 persons came to SGD257.

Oh and lastly, for Pokemon Go fans out there, this former fire station is a Pokemon Go Gym!!  So you can fight a few battles while waiting for your food!!  

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We have been to JEM, a shopping mall at the western side of Singapore several times. Each time we past a Japanese restaurant on the ground flooor but never got to try it. 

Last weekend, we were at JEM again, and finally decided to check out En Sakaba.  It is actually more of a casual bistro offering a variety of Japanese influenced tapas that are best paired with sake & beer.  With indoor and outdoor settings, it is really a great evening chill out place for sake beer and tapas.

On this occasion we were there for lunch to try their good value quality rice bowls.  Their rice bowls range from around $14-$20 on average. Our 2 boys are big eaters and really hungry that day, so they each went for 2 rice bowls, while DH, DD and I had one each.

We started our meal with 2 appetizers to share.  We decided on the Hitoshima oyster fritters.  Each serving came with 3 oysters.  So we ordered 2.  The oysters tasted good but were not big.  The oysters I had in Hiroshi were definitely much bigger and juicer.

Our second appetizer was the Beef Truffle Carpaccio.  The beef was thinly sliced and lightly seared.  The meat were well marbled and tender.  The Truffle flavour with the lightly sour sauce went very well.  A dish which all in the family said was good.

Our boys both went for the Kaisen Chirashi Don and Yakiniku Onsen Tamago Don.  The Kaisen Chirashi Don came with generous slices of fresh seafood.  

DD also had the Yakiniku Onsen Tamago Don.  The beef was well marbled and lightly. served.  The Onsen Tamago was of the right consistency.   All three enjoyed this dish.

DH was another hungry person.  He went for the Tonkitsu Karamiso Ramen and Cha Siu Fon set.  The ramen was a spicy ramen that he liked.  The rice bowl came with simple Japanese style pork slices. 

I went for the Negitoro Don.  It came with an Onsen Tamago too.  I have grown to like this minced tuna dish and recently have been ordering it wherever I go.  The dish here is well done and the rice was a nice vinegared rice.  Incidentally, the Kaisen Chirashi Don which the kids had and with vinegared rice too.  The Onsen Tamago here added an additional nice rich flavour to this rice bowl.  At $15 per bowl, I find it cheap especially with the generous mince tuna that they gave.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and reasonably priced meal.   But I must say that while the rice bowl was reasonably priced, the drinks were expensive.  A glass of coke, for e.g. was $5!  Most casual restaurants would have charged only about $3.  Our whole meal came up to about $150, bearing in mind that our 2 boys had 2 rice bowls each.  So for regular eaters, at this price, you can feed 7 people here.

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We are a family of beef lovers.  We love our wagyu, especially Japanese Wagyu.  One of the best ways to enjoy Japanese Wagyu is BBQ or Yakiniku.

Our favorite Yakiniku restaurant in Singapore is Gyu-Kaku.  We have been eating at this chain for years.  This is at most a mid range chain all over Japan.  But in Singapore, a meal here is definitely not cheap if you go for the Japanese Wagyu.  We have eaten in this chain in Japan and in Singapore.  While price is significantly different, the quality is similar.  They have several outlets all over Singapore and 3 weeks ago, DH, DD and I went to the one at Velocity @ Novena Square.

It was still the Chinese New Year period and they were having a Chinese New Year Kagoshima Wagyu set (for two) at $138 for 340g of beef and it comes with 2 nectar peach drinks.  We decided to go for it.  They had run out of the nectar peach drinks we could have 2 mocktails from the regular menu.  DD and I decided on the Yuza Soda.  DH got himself a beer.

We started our meals with 2 Horensa salad.  DD didn’t want any.  I love this salad.  It comes with baby spinach, mushrooms, bids of walnuts, bacon bits and fried garlic and doused with Japanese sesame dressing.  The garlic and bacon bits give the salad a nice smokey flavour.  

Then came our Wagyu set. The beef was great.  Well marbled and tender.  The set came with 3 different cuts.  There was the Kagoshima Wagyu chuck steak cut, Kagoshima Wagyu chuck Nakaochi and the Miyazaki Wagyu chuck Yakiniku cut.  My favourite is the Kagoshima Wagyu Chuck steak cut while DD likes the Nakaochi.

In addition to the set, we ordered an ala crate serving of ox tongue with scallions.  The waiter was telling us that locals go for the plain of tongue only while Japanese like the version with scallions.  We decided on the scallion version as we have tried it is Japan and like it.  The grilled ox tongue is best eaten dipped in a little lemon juice.
 

Overall a satisfying meal. That day, dinner came to $209 for the 3 of us. Gyu-Kaku remains our favorite Yakiniku restaurant in Singapore.

For non-beef eaters , they have. A good range of other meat choices ranging from pork to seafood to poultry.  There is something for everyone.  But as we are beef lovers, we only eat beef here more of the time.  

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It is a small restaurant with several tables and a counter and a private room which can accommodate 6-8pax.  Min spending in order to book a private room is $1,200 for lunch and $1,600 for dinner if I recall correctly.

For lunch, they have an executive set menu consisting of rice bowls and sukiyaki.

I decided to go for the Premium Wagyu Don which included Japanese beef, foie gras, uni, truffle and onsen egg.  I chose the $85++ Joshu A3 beef and could not bring myself to pay $108 for the Kagoshima A5.  I had a choice of fried rice or white rice and chose fried rice.

The rice was really flavorful.  The beef was extremely tender and grilled just right at medium rare.  The truffle and foie gras really brings out the flavour of the rice bowl.  Really yummy!  I loved it.  But I must say that for $85, portion was small and I was not satisfied after my meal.  Felt that one corner of my stomach was still empty.

My friend decided to have the Signature Truffle Don which cost $45++ and add on uni for another $15.  After this add-on,  her rice bowl had all that mine had except foie gras which she did not like.   This rice bowl came with plain rice only.  No option for fried rice.  But the rice bowl comes with a sauce.

The Signature Truffle Don is of a slightly more substantial portion compared to my Premium Wagyu Don. Since it was served in a round based bowl compared to mine which was served in a cone shaped bowl.  Portion was about right for my friend.  She liked her rice bowl.

Each set lunch came with salad and choice of ice-cream.  They had the usual Japanese Ice-cream flavour, namely matcha, black sesame and yuzu.  I choice my favourite yuzu.

Overall a delicious lunch but was not satisfying due to the small serving.  It was extremely expensive but I must admit that quality was good.  Will I come back again?  I’m not sure.  The rice bowl was delicious and I liked it, but I’m not sure if I’ll be crazy enough to pay so much for a bowl of rice again.

We went to Lady M nearby for cake and coffee after lunch to fill the remaining corner of my stomach.

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My staff and colleagues know that I love Japanese food.  So they took me to some nice places for dinner when I was in Tokyo.  I had also made some dining reservations for DH and I during the weekend.

1. Yanmo – Kaiseki

On my second evening in Tokyo, a colleague brought me to Yanmo at Shin Tokyo Building in Marunouchi for dinner.  He had wanted to take me to the Omatesando outlet which he said had a better ambience, but it was full so we came here instead.  Incidentally, there is a Hermes shop in this building for those interested.   Our office is at Tokyo Station, so we can walk here.  It was about 10 mins walk from Tokyo Station.  An easy walk on a cool autumn evening.

There were so many courses that I can’t remember what I ate. But I definitely enjoyed my meal.  No foreigners here only locals. I was the odd one out. I am not new to Kaiseki, a multi course meal, but I must say the dishes here were quite unusual.

Kaiseki dinner @ Yanmo, Shin Tokyo Building, Marunouchi

2. Colza – Teppanyaki 

The next night we went to Colza, a teppanyaki restaurant in Ginza.  It was a small and cozy teppanyaki restaurant. With our set, we had the choice 120, 170 or 220gm beef. Usual is 120gm, but as I am a Japanese beef lover, we went for a the 170gm. The next choice was the rice. They had the choice of normal white rice, or rice ball in soup. We chose the rice ball in soup which was their specialty. Dessert was either cake, I think, or ice cream teppanyaki. Again we chose the speciality, ice cream teppanyaki.

The course started with some appetizer, then teppanyaki scallop and prawns, before moving on to the beef. All accompanied by some fried vegetables and salad. Ending with rice and dessert. Then you move to a separate area for your coffee.  If we had not chosen Teppanyaki ice cream, we would have our dessert together with our coffee.

Teppanyaki Dinner @ Colza, Ginza

All in all a wonderful meal. The beef was done perfectly.  We were so full! Actually the 120gm beef would have been just nice in terms of portion. Will definitely come back here again the next time I am in Tokyo. Oh, and I did not see other foreigners. Definitely a local restaurant and not the type catered to tourists.

3. Nadaman – Kaiseki

4th night, Friday night, I had made a reservation at Nadaman, the much talked about Japanese restaurant at the Shangri La Tokyo where I was staying.  We had a late dinner at 8pm as DH was just coming in from Singapore that evening to join me for the long weekend.

Nadaman is located on the 29th floor of Shangri La Tokyo which is at Tokyo Station.  It had a good view of the city. However, if you stay at the Shangrila Tokyo like us, your room would be on a higher floor and could have better view of the city and you don’t have to come here for the view.

We had the set dinner which was the usual Japanese Kaseiki dinner. There was sashimi, beef, tempura etc. I especially enjoyed the foie gras chawamushi. Food was good and so was the service.  But there was definitely a difference between the Kaiseki at Yanmo and Nadaman.  I would say Nadaman was more the usual sashimi, beef, chawamushi, tempura.  Very familiar even to foreigners.  But Yanmo’s dishes was cooked differently, not the usual that you can find outside Japan, much more variety than the usual Japanese food that we are familiar with.  Nonetheless, the food at Nadaman was very good and we enjoyed our dinner.

Kaiseki dinner @ Nadaman, Shangri La Tokyo

4. Musashi, Sky Restaurant 634 – Fusion

We were in Tokyo in Dec 2014  and wanted to go up to Tokyo Skytree. But the queue was horrendous then, so we skipped it. So this trip, we prebooked a lunch at Musashi, the restaurant at the observation deck of Tokyo Skytree, in order to skip the line. Reservation was easy and could be done via the Internet in English.

Upon arrival we were shown the way up to the observation deck. You are asked to arrive an hour before your meal time so that you have time to wonder around the observation deck before your meal.

The meal was fusion, western main with Japanese style appetitser. I thought it was silly that they insisted that everyone at the table select the same priced set meal. They did not allow my husband to pick the expensive set with one more course awhile I took the cheaper and smaller set.

All in all a pleasant visit and skipping the queue to go to the observation deck was great. But food was just average.

Fusion lunch @ Musashi, Sky Restaurant 634, Tokyo Skytree

5. Ukai Tei Ginza

Another dinner reservation DH and I made for the trip was a teppanyaki dinner at the one-Michelin starred restaurant in Ginza, Ukai Tei.  Food was great and service was excellent.

There were 3 sets ( ¥17200++, ¥19440++ or ¥24840++ per pax.) and we chose the middle priced one. Our set had live abalone, beef, sashimi, etc.  Food were well presented and tasted great.  They separate the fatty part of the beef out and I thought the chef was going to throw that away.  However, he let it stay on the hot plate a while longer than the meat and later served it to us.  So sinful but so good!  Service was attentive too.

Dessert was served at a separate area away from the grill. There was also a choice of several dessert, I chose the chestnut cake which was excellent.

I can understand why this is a Michelin star restaurant.

Teppanyaki Dinner @ one-Michelin Star, Ukai Tei Ginza

6. Piacere

Piacere is the Italian Fine Dining Restaurant at the Shangri La Tokyo.  We did not have dinner there but I had a few breakfast there.  This is really as “fine dining” as breakfast can be.  You choose a main course which could be pancakes or eggs.  I love the eggs here.  They have poached eggs served with lobster, bacon or ham or muffin on French toast etc.  I tried the different styles on each of the 3 mornings that I had breakfast there.  All were lovely.  There was a small buffet with some Japanese offerings and some international choices or cold cuts, fruits, pastries, etc.  I enjoyed my breakfasts here.  Much better than the usual hotel buffet breakfast but it comes with a price averaging ¥6000 to ¥7000 depending on the main course you choose!

Poached egg with lobster and miuffin @ Piacere…yummy!

Next  : Kawaguchiko (Mt Fuji) (I)

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