Adventure #114: Honke Owariya 尾張屋 (Kyoto)

After visiting Kinkakuji and Nanzenji in the morning and viewing the annual Jidai Festival Prossession at the Heian Shrine, we decided that that was enough temple viewing for the day.  We spent the rest of the day shopping at Kyoto's main shopping area, Kawaramachi.

G read that there is a famous soba noodle shop (has been in existence for over 500 years!!) close to the Imperial Palace (where the Emperor eats each time he is in town) and with a branch in Kawaramachi.  The address given simply said it was in the basement of Shijo Center.  We found Shijo Center but the lady in the shop said no basement - and it didn't looked like there was a basement.  So, feeling defeated, we were about to leave to look for dinner elsewhere when G spotted a set of stairs by the shop. Voila! We found it!

The kids ordered the Oyako Donburi, rice topped with scrambled egg, chicken and Japanese leek.  It was so good, the kids polished off everything!

I ordered a Ten Seiro, soba noodle with assorted tempura.

G order the signature dish, Hourai Soba, which means soba with a set of 8 different toppings: shitake mushrooms, shredded thin omelet, sesame seeds, shrimp tempura, wasabi, nori, Japanese leeks and grated daikon.  Very unusual.  Even came with instructions on how to eat it. 

厲害! G thought it was extremely delicious and the best soba he has ever had in his life!  Must be pretty good then coming from picky G.

Adventure #113: Bento Boxes

The last time I was in Japan, I was totally in love with bento boxes.  If G allowed me, I would have had it for every meal.  This time, I wanted the kids to try it.  So, tonight we were gonna have a bento box dinner at the house. 

At the end of the day, before we hopped on the train back to Arashiyama, we went to the basement of Isetan department store at Kyoto Station and picked out 4 different ones to take away with us. 

We were there at about 7pm and already many of the bento boxes were on sale!

Kids enjoyed the bento boxes and G thought it was pretty good as well.  But, to me, they weren't as great as the ones I had in Tokyo.  

Adventure #112: Saka 大板 (Kyoto)

Since Kyoto is famous for its tofu - apparently because of its incredibly clean and pure water, we had planned to have a tofu lunch at Kiyomizu temple.  However, when we walked uphill towards the temple, the kids got hungry and it was already lunch time. That coupled with the crowd and we weren't sure exactly where the restaurant was in the temple, we thought may be we should eat when we can. The road up to Kiyomizu temple was lined with eateries.  This one, Saka, caught our eye.

All meals here, whether cold soba noodles or hot udon noodle in soup come with a bowl of rice topped with little fried "anchovy-like" fish.  As it turned out, the rice with these fried fish was delicious!

The little one ordered udon soup but she was more into the rice than the udon.

The older one ordered cold soba noodle with an egg. Not a fan of the raw egg. She was ok with the soba noodle but like the little one, thought the rice was way better.

Both G and I had the cold soba noodle with tempura which I thought was rather good. G had no comment, he was still sulking about the missed tofu lunch.

Food quality was acceptable but nothing great.  Certainly a good stopover before hitting the temple but definitely not a meal destination in itself.

Adventure #111: Hirokawa Unagi 廣川 (Arashiyama)

It's mid-term break and we will be spending a week in Kyoto/Osaka!  Arrived at Kansai airport at 6.20am local time, that means we were on the red-eye and hardly had much sleep. So once we got to the little old traditional Japanese house we rented in Arashiyama, we laid out the futon beds and were knocked-out stone cold for a good 3 hours!

Got up just in time for lunch.  We decided to stay in Arashiyama for the day and the guide book said that Hirokawa does the best grilled eel in the region.  So, we ventured to the restaurant.  It was so popular, we had to wait for at least 45 mins before we were seated. 

For lunch, most people just go for the simple grilled eel with rice.  The dish comes in kids-portion, small, medium, large and extra large!  We ordered small for the little one and medium for the rest of us. 

The rice came with  pickles which were refreshing and very appetising.  G ordered an extra red miso soup which was very tasty.

The small grilled eel rice. Just the right size for the little one.

This is the medium one.

The grilled eel here was certainly different from the ones we have tasted in HK. Has a certain BBQ flavour.  It was pretty good but not necessary much better.  In short, different!!

Hirokawa Unagi 廣川
京都市右京區嵯峨天龍寺北路町
Directly opposite Tenryu-ji Temple (天龍寺)
Tel: (075) 871-5226
www.unagi-hirokawa.jp



Adventure #110: Celebrity Cuisine

We have heard of Celebrity Cuisine 名人坊 for quite a while and have meant to give it a try.  It has since moved up from 1 star to 2 stars in the Hong Kong Michelin guide and I have yet to try it (G went for a business lunch there some time back and can't quite remember what it was like).  G's mum and aunt were in town and what better excuse for a meal.

So here we were on a Saturday evening.  The restaurant was packed, may be coz it was not big to start with.  The decor is modern with a purple theme, very contemporary.

煎蘿蔔糕
Complimentary fried turnip cake. Very nice with the spicy XO sauce.

燕窩釀鳳翼
This is one of the signature dishes, must pre-order.
Stuffed chicken wings with bird's nest.  Unusual.

Lots of bird's nest, at HK$120 per piece, it's money's worth. However, we preferred bird's nest as a desert dish and not a savoury dish.
So, a dish to try but not to repeat.

琵琶豆腐
Excellent tofu dish.  Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

燒牛肉
Grilled beef, Japanese style as it was served with soy sauce and wasabi.
OK dish although G thought the texture was halfway between ox-tongue and sirloin, thus a bit weird.

蟹肉蒸水蛋
An excellent dish. The steamed egg - silky smooth.

雲腿芥菜膽
An acceptable dish, some of the veggie maybe a bit old.

花彫焗飛天雞
This is another of their signature dish, braised chicken in Chinese wine.
Chicken was tender with the aroma of the wine, good dish.

We also wanted to try their signature fried rice, 富哥炒飯, but the waiter forgot it when we ordered. We decided not to wait for it as we were already quite full.

Complimentary fruit - very sweet

Complimentary desert - green bean soup.
Let's just say desert is not their strength.

Food quality is good but menu not too extensive.  More of a celebrity canteen than a everyday restaurant.  In comparison, G and I preferred The Chairman just round the corner to this place.

Celebrity Cuisine
1/F, Lan Kwai Fong Hotel
3 Kau U Fong
Central
Tel: 3650 0066

Adventure #109: Gaggan (Bangkok)

Hot on the heels of our great fine dining experience at Bo.Lan, G took me to Gaggan, a contemporary Indian restaurant.  As with Bo.Lan, Gaggan is located just off a busy main road in the heart of Bangkok.  It is housed in a 70-year old wooden clapboard house and when we were there, it didn't feel like we were in Bangkok.

The restaurant's name sake, Chef Gaggan Anand interned at Spain’s famed 3 star Michelin restaurant, El Bulli, under renowned chef, Ferran Adrià.  Thus, the food at Gaggan follows the molecular gastronomy movement of the chef's alma mater.  Molecular Indian food...hmm... I am really looking forward to my dinner.

Once again, we ordered the tasting menu.

Welcome drink - Lassi infused with liquid nitrogen.  G thinks its the best lassi he has tasted

Yogurt - THE signature dish
An amazing experience when the "yolk" bursts in your mouth and the wonderful yogurt just oozes out of its sack.

Rice poppadom crusted river sea bass with crispy lemon and cucumber chutney
Another interesting experience especially the crispy lemon "paper".

Crispy naan bread with mascarpone, truffles and 4 cheese souffle
This was my favourite. The cheese souffle was delicious and went really well with the naan.

Lamb minced kebab with chutney made into a (fake) burger cooked live on the table

Excellent showmanship. I didn't quite like the taste of this though, I didn't think the lamb went well with the macaroon like fake burger bun.

Pressurized truffle espuma with green chilly oil and waynaud organic pepper
This was delicious. I loved it.

Foie gras with spiced red onion chutney and cold raspberry foie powder
The pan fried one was as good as expected. The frozen powder was....interesting.

Umami oyster charcoal grilled Malabar style with lemon air
This was OK, not much of a fan of warm oyster.

Eggs cooked at 62C for 2 hours served with home style raw Mango curry
This was very good. Egg with mango curry, very unique combo.

Hot slow cooked potatoes with Indian vanilla and cold surprising mouse
This dish didn't do much for me.

Chicken Tikka with Makhani curry air and edible greens and naan bread
This was the only dish that was authentic "Indian" but very good Indian nonetheless.

Thai bananas, Kashmiri pears slowed cooked and served with Gardadmom and caramel snow
By now, a little tired of things frozen by liquid nitrogen. 

Salty dark chocolate cookies with artisan Roquefort and summer truffles
This was a good dessert, a nice blend of sweet and salty.

Although I didn't like some of the courses, the ones that G and I did like were excellent! For the price, I don't think you can get a better value high quality molecular gastronomy experience in Asia (with beautiful decor and ambience thrown in).

68/1 Soi Langsuan
Ploenchit Road
Lumpini
Bangkok 10330
Tel: (662) 652 1700

Adventure #108: Another Hound Cafe (Bangkok)

Today we were at Siam Paragon.  Last year when we were here, we had a very good lunch at Another Hound Cafe, part of the Greyhound Cafe chain.  This year, we were here again and we chose Another Hound over the many restaurants and stalls at the food court downstairs.

Their signature drink - Ice lemon tea with a hint of lime and poured over lemon tea ice cubes! Thus, the tea never gets diluted!

This is my favourite dish - named "Complicated Noodle".  A bit of DIY needed.  Noodle and/or cabbage topped with minced meat and the green sour and spicy sauce. Oooo such a kick!

G's 2 favourite pasta dishes here are the Fettuccini with Soft-Shell Crab in Black Pepper Sauce and the Spaghetti Cha Cha Cha (squid ink spaghetti with seafood).  He chose the soft shell crab one because the Greyhound Cafe in HK does not serve it. And once again, the dish lived up to expectation.

We left with a very satisfied tummy.  Back again next year!