Bags of blessings 福袋, Japan

All right, below are the scene for the New Year's bargain - the bags of blessings.

博多天神 Hakata Tenjin Ramen, Tokyo, Japan

This noodle has been on my top list in Tokyo, and I have seen them expanding a lot from 2 shops to 16 shops. The shop was closed from 31 Dec to 3 Jan. So on my last day before heading off the airport on 4 Jan., I got to try another branch opposite to Kabuki in Shinjuku. However, after my try, I still prefer the one at the San-chome and Ni-chome in Shinjuku.

1. the chef. 2. the eggs and seasoning.

3. Their house made ginger and hot preserved veggie are very nice. 4. My ramen. Though it's not good as the one I regularly visit, it's still a very nice noodle to make a happy ending to my trip. The soup is very nice and aromatic with pork bone flavour.


5/6. the shop outside.

Mooichido, 若狹家 Sushi Rice, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

On the first night, I had such a nice sashimi on sushi rice at this shop. Then on the last night, I decided to try their sea urchin and sakura shrimp sashimi on sushi rice. This shop will be on my "must visit" list in my future trips.

1. minced fatty tuna belly/baby squid/sakura shrimp/sea urchin on sushi rice at JPY1,300 (US$15). So oishi! The sea urchin is very fresh and so aromatic. I need to let it stay for a while in my mouth and let the "sea" flavour be suspended. I spent more than 30 minutes to finish this perfect sashimi. The rice is so good and balanced with the sushi vinegar and it's perfectly cooked - soft and tender but separated and not mashy. BTW, the soy sauce in this shop is very special. It's not that salty but with a strong flavour of the soy sauce and freshen up the rice and sashimi but not overwhelm the sweetness of the sashimi. 2. Salmon roe/minced fatty tuna belly/baby squid/salmon at JPY1,100 (US$12). See how transparent and fresh color of this salmon roe. It's interesting that when I checked on all those salmon in many shops and even in the supermarket, the salmon didn't look fatty. I wondered if they tasted good, but it did!

Excelsior Caffe, Tokyo, Japan

UCC coffee has been my all-time favourite, but during my stay in Tokyo, I have been to this coffee shop called Excelsior Caffe every day simply for their iced coffee. Japanese coffee is very delicate. Together with the aromatic cream, you don't need to have any sweet to make it taste. Also, Excelsior's house special chocolate drink Royal Chocolate is excellent!

1. Iced mocha and iced coffee. 2. When I looked at this shape of cheese cake, I wondered how it would taste good. So again the look can't tell it all. It's a very classic New York cheese cake, and also tastes so original. I can say it's 80% good to my most missed New York cheese cake by Mandarin Oriental HK Cafe of the late 80's/early 90's.

Godiva green tea chocolatier, Tokyo, Japan

Finally tried this Godiva green tea chocolatier at JPY525 (US$6). Green tea and chocolate are both strong in flavour. So mixing these both together seem not to be right. Godiva chose white chocolate to solve this uncompromising point. Taste-wise, I prefer the simple green tea. Texture-wise, the white chocolate was blended into many tiny bits in frost. So the choco. being chiled is kind of chewy.

Tenkaiippin noodle shop 天下一品中華拉麵, Tokyo, Japan

Passed by this ramen shop and saw some people already inside at 10:30am morning. Thought it should be something.

1. I really don't know steamed rice can be as a theme for a kind of bento. 2. the table setting.

3. another side of the table. 4. the shop offers you the ramen in soy sauce soup base or chicken soup base.

5. so I chose the chicken soup base. It turned out the soup is like a thick stew and reminded me of the shark's fins made by Hook 福魚翅 on Suriwong Bangkok. If I don't take it as a ramen but a thick soup, it is quite tasty.

Big Apple from 青森縣 Aomori, Japan

Looked at this big big apple (almost 2 times bigger than the Washington apple I often eat). I wondered where to start my first bite. Normally I would start from head to toe. So when my teeth crushed on it, a stream of juice flew from my fingers, palm, down to my elbow and dropped on my pants. Yes, it's a stream of juice! I didn't exaggerate it. The next thing is the super sweet on my taste buds like a big pond of honey. Wow this should be the best apple I have ever tasted. The texture is very different - so crunchy not not hard to chew. Now I know why the Japanese curry I tried in Tokyo is so different from my trying on Japanese curry at home. At that time I was thinking what went wrong as I also used apple in the curry. Now I know what made the difference and know I should spend "some" money for making a nice Japanese curry. I should know why it's that expensive in those Japanese department stores in HK and still a lot of people buy it.

JR Yamanote line 山手線, Japan

JR Yamanote line 山手線 is a round the city circle subway/railway line in connecting with various JR lines to neighbouring area or downtown points. It's the core subway line in the metro. Tokyo. It passes by major areas like Shinjuku, Shibuy, Harajuku, Tokyo, Ueno, Ikebukuro, Shinagawa...etc. So staying in Shinjuku, Yamanote line is the most frequent travel route to points like Harajuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro. I took a few photos and videos on a short trip from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro.

1/2. passing by Shinjuku Prince.

3/4. on Yamanote line.
5. video on the track.

Parade on local food, Tokyo, Japan

Browsing supermarket in Tokyo is often interesting, though we don't need to buy anything. Supposed photo taking is not allowed inside the department store but I did it very quickly and in discreet. So some photos might not be taken at a proper angle or frame.

1. Buffet buffet and buffet - this big crab legs are a must for a seafood buffet. At JPY398 for 100g, it's easy to spend a few thousand yens (US$30-40). 2. This one is more expensive as it has thicker meat.

3. This dried shrimp is really refined and selected but the origin is from Taiwan. Processing is in Japan. So it's not a discrimination but this one processed in Japan looks a little better than those processed in Taiwan or Hong Kong. We call it sakura dried shirmp 櫻花蝦. 4. more refined dried sea products.

5. Before packing my stuff in my luggage, I thought about bringing a soft ice packing bag to get something exotic. However, our post-bin laden travel era is still evolving. Bringing stuff is of a strict concern, but when I looked at this nice roes, I felt regretful. Look at the price - JPY1,0xx (US$12)! 6. And JPY5,250 (US$58) for this nice big red snapper... Even I didn't get a try, seeing is already a nice gift to me.

7. Do you remember a big corner of the New Damaru store in Causeway Bay HK in the 80's? This is what we used to get - deep fried artificial seafood patties by 紀文。8. Live abalone from 長崎 at JPY5,800 (US$65) and it's bigger than my palm! Suggested eating as sashimi! Note the skirt is not very dirty. I felt very itchy! 8. OK, if JPY5,800 is a bit too much, some other choices for below JPY2,000 but they are almost half size as the previous one.

9. I even felt the clams are a lot more tasty. 10. See all these big prawns, especially the middle one - 9 strips prawns. It's the best! Actually all these are very fresh as you can tell from the meat transparency and texture.

11. 4 for JPY1,880 (US$22). It's a really good deal as one prawn is already more than 10 inches, like a baby lobster! One big 9 strip prawn at 7 inches would cost around HK$60-80(US$10). 12. Salted roes. Looks so pure and yummy too! Note they are on a nice filet shape.

13. Big Apples (at least 7 inches in diameter) from 青森. When I stood in front of all these beautiful apples, I smelled a very strong apple's fragrance. Note the ones on the lower shelf. They are JPY298 (US$3.3) for 2. If I bought it in HK, it would at least HK$60-80(US$10). Immediately I bought it. To be reported separately. 14. OK, more delicated? Check this nice gift box for 7.

15. Broccoli from 崎玉 at JPY238(US$2.6). Look at the tightly grown of this broccoli. My tips for you to get nice broccoli - the more it's tightly grown, the better the broccoli is. The color should be in some subtle refreshing deep green. Anyway, those in this photo is a good example! 16. Wow JPY2,000 (US$22) for a whole filet of salmon roe. So next time we should have a group of 4 persons staying at a service apt. and simply go to the supermarket for an a-larte-carte self service meal!

17. Gorgeous sashimi platter! Look at the scallops! 18. Someone said it's a monster in the ocean but it's the most clever sea living thing. The Japanese said eating this monster would help boost up one's brain. So the Japanese already found it out a long time ago before the scientific research.

19. Say hello to our pink friend worth JPY10,000 (USR110). 20. JPY4,200 for 100g for this nice beef. That means one piece would cost you around JPY20,000 (US$220).

Standing sushi bar, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

Be in a town and be local. Why not take some sushi at a standing sushi bar, as a pre-dinner snack. :)

1. the shop inside. 2. oyster sushi at JPY100 (US$1.2). Goodorf!

3/4. everything is so good!