Tempura Udon at Nikko

2nd best meal on our list. tempura udon and kusa dango at nikko. mecha oishii!

the udon is the best i ever eaten. chewy, tangy, not sticky. very light taste. the prawn tempura was humongous and there's also brinjal, mushroom and veggie tempura. i put the tempura into the udon and it still remained crispy and there was practically no oil coming out into the udon. the kusa dango was very good too. dango is glutinous rice ball and i think they mixed veggie into the glutinous rice to get the green color. the red bean paste on the dango was not very sweet. the best tasting red bean paste ever. yummy!

Best Meal at Lake Kawaguchi

my sis and i voted. and the result is unanimously.... "Best Meal eaten at Lake Kawaguchi"!!! ooh. we ate the houtou set for lunch that day. 'houtou' is the specialty dish at lake kawaguchi. it is consists of wide, thin noodles with lots of local vegetables. together with the set, came sashmi, 2 kinds of pickled mushrooms, fried fish, preserved fish, etc. very sumptous meal only for 2,625yen (sin34). cant get this in singapore at all, especially not at this price!

here's the pic of the 'houtou' set. 'houtou' is the steaming hotpot on the top right hand corner of the pic. the rest of the set is made up of the remaining 7 dishes. my sis also ordered the same thing, as u can see from the opposite tray... big spread for 1 person. haha...
close-ups of each of the small dishes in the set... in order of preference... 1st in place is definitely the houtou. 2nd came the sashimi, the tuna was good, for someone who doesnt eat tuna, and i actually finished it all up! the raw prawn was very good, very sweet. the raw squid was the best! very fresh and sweet... aahhh~ yummy!

3rd in place is the seasoned eringi. next is the tempura fish, with salad and spaghetti. 3rd and 4th spot is a tough fight bcos both tasted equally good.

5th is this seasoned/pickled mushroom, went super well with rice. last is the pickled fish. i didnt really like this as the taste was overpowering and too salty. didnt finish the fish. the yellow roe in the aluminium foil was okay. very crunchy.

i missed this meal the most after i came back. want to go back and eat this again~!

Oishii Ramen!

When you go Japan, you must eat their ramen! Their ramen tastes better than any other noodles in the world. even though ramen didnt originate from Japan. haha. pics from the courtesy of my sister. i was famished and already tucking into the ramen while my sis was still patiently trying to get a good shot. arigatou!

Sapporo
we found this nice ramen shop, apparetei, in the basement of the sapporo tv tower. it's ramen is super delicious. there were a couple of flavours - soya sauce, white miso, red miso, etc. we also had a short chat with the owner. he spoke a bit of english and has been to singapore better. rather kakkoi guy. haha.

white miso chashu ramen. most popular flavour in the shop. the chashu is perfect and the noodles is good. white miso soup tastes the best! the price is about 850yen (sin11.05 - cheaper than ajisen and tastes much better!).
red miso chashu ramen. a different type of miso from the above. we ate this on our last day before we left sapporo. the taste is slightly stronger and more salty than the white miso one. i prefer the white miso. will go back and eat the white miso one when i go back again. heehee.
Osaka
we ate the famous 'golden dragon ramen' at dotonburi in Osaka. it was also recommended by my fren who ate it during her last trip, i was very happy to find it. very yummy. the pig bone soup is very tasty and very light. it tastes very sweet and its not oily. the chashu is also one of the kind. very succulent and chewy. there are only 2 types of ramen in the store - normal ramen (600yen, sin7.80) and chashu ramen (900yen, sin11.70). the only difference between the 2 is 1 has lesser pieces of chashu than the other one. it's a very good buy, even for the 900yen one. there are no chairs in the store, only tatami-like platforms. then there is also a free flow of kimchi and vegetables to take. everything is self-service in this store, from taking the vege, taking your noodles and even returning the empty bowls is self-service. they enjoy very good business, and there are normally people waiting in a queue outside the store for a seat.

Crab and Prawn Buffet in Sapporo

One of the highlights and one of the most memorable parts of the trip was the.... food! Food in Hokkaido is cheap! and delicious! i have never eaten so much before on my previous trips. we were always looking forward to our next meal... haha~

our first dinner in sapporo. crab and prawn buffet in susukino. we chose the cheapest set and had 7 items - 2 types of crab (taraba gani, zuwai gani), prawn sushi, crab sushi, tempura sushi, tempura and chawamushi. 90mins was given for the buffet and we could order whatever items we liked from our menu as long as we finished the previous order. we also had a coupon that gave us 1 big glass of softdrink at no charge. all this for 3,675yen (sin48), which is impossible to get it for this quality and price here.

Buffet items. all items shown here except the tempura. the bigger crab leg is the taraba gani (king crab). it's my fave! the flesh from the leg is very succulent and very sweet. and the whole meat comes out when you pull it from the shell. waah~ tabetai~~!
the aftermath of our meal. all the empty crab shells. the jug is about 30cm tall and we filled it up to the brim with the shells. think we had 2 repeat orders for the crab. haha~

At Tomica Shop

One of the cars that I brought back for PrawnKing... Its one of the cars that need to be assembled on the spot... so the blue car was done first.... can see that the shop assistant in the background with the machinery... and she had to put on gloves and apron before she can start to assemble...Passed the cars to PrawnKing already.... he says he's updating his blog now... cant wait to see his pics.... haha...

Nodame Cantabile

This is my favorite drama from last season..... so this time i went Japan, i went to buy all current 16 books of the manga... haha... 390yen 1 book, not sold in singapore i think... super worth it... and i even carried it from hakodate to osaka to tokyo and back to singapore.... finally finished reading it... very nice story.. very funny! i wonder if they will do part2 of the drama.... it will be so fun~! next problem is... how am i going to get book17...

Now i can start working on my photos... hahaha... got so many to do... not to mention the backlog from the previous trips... hahahahaa.... here's my 1st edited pic.... all 16 books of nodame cantabile...