Japan travel guide : Kobe beef

Cos what’s a trip to Kobe without having their famed Kobe beef right?

This trip was kinda satisfying for me in terms of food I guess, despite some hiccups and arguments with my mum.

Anyway, we went to eat Kobe beef cos I really wanted to try it and it would have cost an arm and leg to eat it in Singapore if it’s even available here in the first place.

I went to google and while there’s the cheaper option Kobe steak land with set from 2900 yen or something? The cuts don’t look that good in terms of marbling and all but others were either too expensive (10,000 yen or more for lunch?) and so we decided to head over to Steak Aoyama which is featured in the Kobe tourism website and provide lunch set at about 5900 yen (excluding tax).

This meal might be one of the most expensive meals of the trip but we totally don’t regret it at all.

Firstly, the restaurant is actually kind of far from sannomiya station, probably about 15-20 mins walk if you don’t get lost. I would suggest getting a pocket (portable) wifi and saving the places you wna go in google maps and use it to navigate around Japan especially if you don’t know the language or is going to Japan for the first time. This is really useful and it really helped me especially since this is my first time going to the kansai areas. I will talk about the pocket wifi in a separate post.

The restaurant is kind of small, similar to many stand-alone restaurants in Japan (normally chain restaurants will be bigger) so it will be good to make reservations in advance if you are going in a big group.

The meal started with an appetizer and a soup and then you get to choose between the sirloin and the fillet. We ordered one sirloin and one fillet and the chef helped us to split them equally so we get half sirloin and half fillet each. I personally feel the sirloin is better as it has more fats and hence will melt in your mouth more but the fillet is good enough as it is soft and tender but I guess I just prefer unhealthy stuffs? We got about 8 small cubes of beef each together with vegetables and mushrooms. They gave us pink salt for dipping and it’s really good (& it’s healthier than normal salt as well right?). You can choose either rice or toast to go along with your meal. We chose rice but the toast look so good too. The chef will cook the toast with butter on the teppenyaki grill if you ordered toast. The butter melting on the toast and all is just… I really wished I ordered and ala carte toast just cos it looks good lol but I don’t think I could finished it and I didn’t know if they sell it ala carte too.

Ah well, after a satisfying meal which my mum said took damn long cos the chef cook the food slowly and with dedication infront of you, we were moved to another table to have our after meal coffee or tea which you can choose. I think Kobe is famous for coffee or something but I had tea though cos I’m not a coffee person lol. The meal was really good and I love the meat.

Now that’s the thing about meat in Japan, I don’t know if it’s only a Singapore thing but sometimes when eating beef and lamb, especially lamb in Singapore, there’s this smell of the meat that they can’t handle well enough which then turns people off. My mum doesn’t like to eat beef, at least in Singapore but after eating beef in Japan she kept asking me if we are going to go back to eat the Kobe beef again cos it’s just that good.

If you are not in a hurry, I will recommend you to go for a Kobe beef lunch (tips: lunch sets in Japan are definitely cheaper than dinner set even if they are the same thing. Don’t ask me why.) and enjoy the experience. I don’t know about steak land but I read online reviews and it has positive reviews as well and so if you are on a budget you might want to check that out but there’s always a long queue for steak land though and I guess the queue will be quite fast though cos it is bigger?

Anyway here’s the link for
Steak aoyama
Kobe steak land

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Japan travel guide: Pablo

There are two famous/ popular cheesecake/ cheesetart shops in Osaka and one of them is Pablo.

Pablo cheesecake primarily come in two kinds - rare and medium and only offered in one size (about 15cm in diameter?) and is 800 yen each. The medium is slightly more cooked while the rare one is less cooked and meaning when the cake is freshly baked, the insides of the tart will flow out when you cut into it.

They also sell pudding and seasonal cheese tarts with fruits etc on it, together with cheese snacks and so on. They also have the limited quantity premium cheesetart which sold out very quickly. The premium cheesetart and seasonal cheesetarts/ all other with toppings or fillings will obviously cost more but they are really worth it.

I got one rare cheesetart to share with my mum. At first glance, it seems very big and filling and my mum was harping on how we will never finish it as she doesn’t really like cheesecake/ cheese stuffs. However, we finished it really easily and my mum who doesn’t even like cheese that much find it nice too as the cheesetart is really light and the texture is something I have never eaten before. I was regretting that I only got one but ah well.

They have various outlets at dotonbori (namba area) alone so getting it is easy although there might be queues but I went just before closing hours and so I didn’t have to queue for long.

More info here

P.S. Pablo has opened in Tokyo (Shibuya & Shinjuku)


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Japan travel guide: Eggs n Things

So this time round, I finally went to eggs n things for pancakes!

There are various branches in osaka, tokyo, Yokohama and so on but I went to the one in Tokyo which is near Harajuku. More info here

It was raining when I went there so we couldn’t dine alfresco but there’s wasn’t a long queue probably cos we went early too and so we were directed to the 2nd level which was already packed when we went in.

You can check out their menu here 

When we went they were still having the Halloween special menu but I didn’t order that as I wanted to try the original pancakes with strawberry. We ordered one steak with egg and one pancakes with strawberry and whipped cream.

We were given options to pair our steak and eggs with toast or pancakes (think we have to add a couple hundred yen) or potatoes. I opted for the toast. Surprisingly, despite being a pancake restaurant, the steak still tasted quite decent and the eggs and cooked well to your liking (you can choose if you want sunny sides up, runny yolks and so on, which I thought is pretty good and considerate of them). I enjoyed the meat and eggs.

The pancakes, well the pancakes are awesome. The whipped cream is fluffy and light although they give you loads of it, like seriously a mountain of it, I managed to finish all of the whipped cream (yes I know it is fattening but it just tastes so good). This is totally worth the calories and money.

They have various sauces on the table incase you get sick of your pancakes. Think there’s the maple, guava

and coconut or something (i can’t exactly remember all the syrups) but I think it is fine without the syrups as there’s ample whipped cream to pair the pancakes with and thurs the pancakes don’t seem dry. However, when you are halfway through the pancakes (I think there’s like 4-5 pieces if I am not wrong), you might get sick of the same rate and that’s when the syrups come in handy.

A satisfying breakfast and it’s about 20 sgd each. Don’t regret it at all seriously and if I happen to visit Japan again, I will definitely go there again early to avoid the queues.


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Cheap Kobe beef: 2000 yen Kobe Beef

2000 yen Kobe beef

There's lots of food in kuromon ichiba located at Nipponbashi which is like one station away from Namba and Nagahoribashi. It is a good place for breakfast (lots of affordable sushi/ sashimi/ crabs compared to restaurants and even Tokyo Tsukiji fish market).

Kuromon ichiba sells a wide variety of stuffs, it's practically like a shopping street with shops selling household items, cutlery, snacks, cooked food, seafood and so on and the prices there are cheaper than some other places in Osaka, so it's worth checking this place out if you are visiting Osaka.

I have written a post previously on my Kobe beef experience in Kobe and while that meal (a set) set me back at more than 6000 yen per person, Kobe beef at kuromon ichiba is cheaper by a lot (rice and soup not included). 

Maruzen at kuromon ichiba sells Kobe beef for 2000 yen (SGD23/ less than 20 USD) and while the beef portion was obviously a smaller and thinner version than that of a restaurant that specializes in Kobe beef, it is enough. The marbling on the beef looks good and there's like about 7-8 pieces of beef for one serving which is very worth the money that you are paying for imo.



We ordered one portion each and my mum loved it too. 


Kuromon ichiba map here
Map of the shop here

Japan travel guide: Osaka

Americamura icedog

Well, there’s this village called Amerikamura (aka amemura) which means America village in Osaka which is near shinsaibashi and also walkable from namba.

If you come from western countries then maybe this won’t be special to you but this place is often touted as the harajuku of osaka which is not the case imo.

Amemura is boring imo they sell mostly western t shirts (Adidas anyone) and big hip hop style clothes. Is this Japan’s perception of America? I have no idea.

While you might not have anything to buy from there, it is a good place for people watching since people’s dressing are quite flashy there but since it was raining when I went there wasn’t many people out and about and hence I only went there to eat.

Other than having various takoyaki stalls (more about them in another post), amemura is home to the ganso ice dog which claimed to be the first stall in Japan selling ice dog which is a fried hotdog bun with milk ice cream in the middle.

Sounds normal right? I really wanted to try it though my mum was skeptical about it but this really exceeded my expectations (well always expect low then the possibility of you being satisfied is higher lol).

I always thought that the bread is fried and the icecream would melt real fast (it probably would if you went in summer) but the bread is fried and when you first bite into the bread, it’s hot and crispy crispy and the inside that has contact with the milk ice cream is soft and cold. You might think that this won’t match but nooo, I thought the flavors and temperature and all might clash at first but this is really good. Only the ice cream that’s with contact with the bread melted and the ice cream (A pity that it’s so hard to find good milk ice cream in Singapore, well unless they have like Japan fairs or something.). The rest of the ice cream remains cold and in solid form and when you bite into the ice dog, it’s just so satisfying I really wished I ordered one more for myself since it’s only 300 yen.

I think the shop also sell milk ice cream from rokko farm which is a famous farm in Kobe. I had the rokko farm ice cream in Kobe and it was absolutely delicious. The one used in icedog seemed to come from Hokkaido though but still super good.

Map here.

Eating Healthy in Singapore

As you age, somehow you just tend to eat healthier. Healthy food is so expensive in Singapore btw :(

Recently, I've been wanting to try Acai Bowl which is made of acai berry (a fruit found in Brazil) and other fruits. They say it is healthy and full of antioxidants and it doesn't taste bad too, It isn't considered sweet but it is not sour as well. It has a feel of dark chocolate. This is like made popular by America or something I guess? I guess when you want something really badly enough, somehow it just comes to you.

Singapore finally opened a shop selling acai bowl in February and I went to try it a few days ago. hehe. It is located at Holland Village (Thank God it is still considered west area(?)) and easily accessible from the train station.

I went with my friend and we ordered the large one @ S$13.50. the Small one is S$6.80 I think the Medium should be S$9+. They have puree packs that you can bring home as well, if you want to make Acai Bowl at home yourself. They have smoothies too which sounds tempting. I'm going to try that next time.

Go try it out next time if you are in the area! Saw some guys there too. heh.

Learn more about project-acai here
Map here

Japan travel guides: Ichiran Ramen

Well well well, the famed ichiran ramen with partition that separate you from the other diners so you won’t feel embarrassed getting stared at while you slurp your ramen.

Ichiran is hugely popular in Japan and among tourists and it’s not hard to see why. Firstly, they have branches in Tokyo - shibuya, shinjuku etc. The one I went to this time was located at osaka, namba dotonbori street and it’s located right next to Don Quixote (another fav spots of mine, more of this in another post alright?) and open for 24 hours (night owls say yes for ramen as supper!)

Dotonbori is located very near namba and nipponbashi and is within walking distance from shinsaibashi and nagahoribashi.

The whole stretch of dotonbori is full of food ranging from crabs, kushi katsu, yakiniku, okonomiyaki, ramen and all. You will definitely be able to find something that you like. Some shops open till late and some open for 24 hours as well, just be sure to enquire before going.

Ok back to ichiran. This 24 hours ichiran is always crowded (at least when I’m there) and when I finally got to eat my ichiran it was when I went for the third time and I went at 9pm, there’s still a long queue outside despite the fact that it’s raining. Everyone was queuing with their umbrellas and all. Thank God though, that the turnover rate is high we didn’t waited very long, probably around 20-30 mins?

While you are queuing the shop will have people giving you pieces of paper for you to write how you will like your ramen to be - less oil, more oil, firm noodles, soft noodles and so on.

There’s display outside on their bring-home ramen that you can cook yourself. 

Then you go into the shop and buy tickets from the machine while queuing again then when you are seated, just pass the ticket and the  customization paper to the shop person. Oh the normal ramen dont include egg I think. I have to get the egg from a different ticket.

As we customized our own noodles, each noodles taste different (including soup, some are spicier and thicker and saltier while some just taste super diluted) but my mum and I enjoyed our noodles and we are satisfied with it.

More info on ichiran here

Map of Dotonbori branch here

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