Revisiting sweets in Japan

Backtracking again for my absence over the last year or so - here's a shot at 'briefly' revisiting 10 sugar filled days of pure bliss in Japan, late 2012. 

Japan is no doubt, a food lover's heaven, be it in search of savoury delights or of sweet decadence. One of my motivations to travel to Japan was to visit one of the many Pierre Herme boutiques, boasting 11 locations throughout the country. And of course, an oppourtunity to try Laduree's delights for a macaron face off ! 

Beautiful Laduree interior

 

I went for the layered pear and vanilla gateau and pistachio and salted caramel macaron. Really solid quality macarons here. The texture was light and delicate, just as a macaron should be.

 Rivalling Laduree's ever so traditional mac, were the mind blowing creations of Pierre Herme. Pistachio and salted caramel were the first PH flavours to try and compare (sorry Laduree). They have a gorgeous velvet and bouncy texture to bite, with extra filling and a more rounded flavour due to the use of white chocolate in most macarons. Easy done, Pierre Herme makes the best macarons in the universe. I bought Pierre Herme's macaron book in which he explains how his macarons are made to stand out compared to all other macs. A combination of a whole lot of techniques, which I really can't be bothered doing myself. Anyway. So now I'm forever screwed for a standard that can never be met.

Another one of my favourtie PH flavours, citron (lemon). The perfect tartness, aroma and texture, all devoured in three glorious bites.  

And to convert all non-sweet-lovers into full blown sugar addicts is Pierre Herme's 2000 feuilles of flaky caramelized puff pastry crust sandwiching crispy praliné, crushed Piedmont hazelnuts and praliné mousseline cream. Doben is far from a sweet tooth, but he said this was exceptional (not quoting his words exactly, which actually included a lot of moaning and swearing). You have to eat this at least once in your life, otherwise, you haven't really lived yet.

 Something else we don't have the privilege to access in Melbourne is Häagen-Dazs ice cream and the insane flavours there are in Japan. Can't go past my genetic yearning for ube/ purple yam/ taro/ murasaki imo flavoured ice cream. But Japanese version. Sorry Philippines, but Japan beats you.

OH. And pumpkin flavoured ice cream. I have no words for you. Just intense moaning and inner foodgasms. 

Matcha everything. Contemplating buying all options... 

 It's no secret I am a severe ice cream-o-holic, especially for green tea flavoured ones. Here were three different types: roasted rice and green tea, Shincha and Jô Sencha. 

Freakin matcha everything.

A hop, skip and a jump (on to the super fast train) to Kyoto, I ate Godiva chocolate coated ice cream truffles :)

This green one was another food highlight of our trip. We bought this dessert from Kyoto Iestan food hall, with no description written in English. The green skin had a similar texture to mochi, often sold in flat sheets in special flash boxes for tourists to take home. It had a mild matcha taste with a smooth vanilla and matcha mousse inside. We went back for this three times in the four days we were in Kyoto. 

Back in Tokyo, I tried a layered matcha treat from Sadaharu Aoki, famous for all things Japanese flavoured, with French technique. This was matcha, on matcha, on matcha.

Last to mention was in Tsukiji, where we found some hand made Japanese rice sweets, sold by the loveliest lady who didn't speak any English. She welcomed us with all her heart (in hope I would by all her goods!).

After starring at the food for a good 10 minutes and seriously contemplating purchasing one-of-each from the lovely stall holder, I went for just one azuki/ red bean mochi. This blew my mind. It was beautifully soft and bouncy to bite, with a perfect sweetness, freshness and flavour.

And there I was, once again, this time at the fish market in Japan, screwed forever, and ever. No other mochi will do.

So if you're into sweet foods, just do it. Go to Japan. You won't regret it ;)

Brunches lately

Here's a shot at wrapping up my brunches in Melbourne lately.

We were introduced by the lovely H&H to South Yarra's charming little cafe Two Birds One Stone, which has become a regular brunch go-to of late.. So far the best rueben sandwich I've tasted is here, and pictured above is their house-smoked salmon with corn fritters and Doben's eggs benedict with extra bacon and beans. 

I finally got to try the signature (breakfast) dish Shakshuka of Melbourne institution, Cumulus Inc. Delicious indeed.

As well as their well known freshly baked lemon curd madeleines.

House smoked salmon with corn fritters and banana bread at Friends of Mine in Richmond.

H&H introduced us to another fantastic brunch spot: Top Paddock in Richmond. I tried their ricotta hot cakes that was almost too beautiful to eat. Lucky the taste lived up to its good looks. 

We ate loads of broken rice with grilled pork at Tan Thanh Loi. 

And quite possibly one of the best sandwiches (bánh mì) in the world found in the most unexpected location in Footscray from Nhu Ngoc Bakery.

After back tracking all of my brunch highlights, I realise that H&H introduced us to every place I've noted here, except Cumulus Inc. Thanks H&H for making sure I am well fed! 

To see more of my recent face gorging, see my Foodspotting account here.

Japan: Part 1

Picking up from where I left last, I was anticipating my "graduation tour" of the wonderful land that is Japan. Excuse my obscenely delayed post, but I promise this will be the longest I'll back track from here. 

The first meal we tried was at Yoshinoya which is a chain (you could say fast food) restaurant that is all over Japan. They are most famous for their versions of "gyudon" which is basically some finely sliced beef with some onions in a slightly sweet sauce. Served with perfectly cooked Japanese rice and the most gorgeous finely shredded cabbage (much like my beloved káposztasaláta) and a little miso soup. This was an exceptional fast food meal all round.

We would have walked about 20km every day in Japan and as a result, our calves were considerably sore each night. But needless to mention the perks of the 'energy in - energy out' equation: we entered and exited Japan the exact same weight. Happy Nina!

This was hands down my overall favourite meal we had in Japan. It is freshly made udon in a light soy-based broth, which you would choose freshly fried tempura of vegetables and proteins for the side. The whole meal shown in the photo above costed $7 AUD. A plate of tempura only half as good as that was would be $30 AUD in Melbourne, easy. We went back to this same place four or five times.

The restaurant didn't have their name written in 'Latin alphabet' so I can't quote the place. It was directly opposite the Shinjukugyoenmae train station as you exit via the number 2 exit. Just look for the men making the udon noodles in the shop window and the sign that you can't read. The chefs inside didn't speak a word of English but were welcoming and warmly acknowledged us each time we came in. 

Getting lost in Japan is something you can anticipate to experience on a daily basis and at times made me a little anxious as we didn't want to offend or be disrespectful to the locals by asking for help in English (assuming that they speak English too, which is very rare). We practiced a few words in Japanese but we didn't get very far when we were oblivious to their reply back in Japanese (hello silly western tourists). 

That's the beauty of Japan: you realise that the western world doesn't dictate the entire globe and other countries can be extremely successful without a need to speak English and are completely self sufficient on their own. I love it - Go Japan! 

 

A few snippits of Tokyo...

Next up is a place I found when researching places to eat in Tokyo. My calling for dumplings lead me to Harajukugyozaro: specialising in "gyoza" which many claim as some of the best in Tokyo. I tried a few gyoza at different places in Japan and these were by far the best. 

By far the best gyoza I've tried and now I'm screwed for life, because no other gyoza will even come close now. 

This was a little salad I quickly picked up from the shop that was on the train station platform (?!) just before we jumped on the super-fast-train to Kyoto. I think this worked out to be $3 AUD for a shredded crab, edamame, seaweed (?) and carrot salad. It tasted like it had just been put together and blew my mind as it was seriously up to standard for something you would get for about $30 AUD (see abundance of crab meat) at high end, high priced Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. Damn you Japan!

Our super fast train

A few snippits of Kyoto....

   

          Looking very angry.. But not angry! :D

Back to food.. At this point of our trip, we had gone through our fair share of ramen. We consumed copious amounts of the stuff and this post will go on forever if I put them all, so here are my top favorites:

 Kyushujangara Harajukuten is an incredibly popular ramen joint just next to the Harajuku train station, recommended by my Foodspotting bud and fellow Melbournian Revilo. We ordered the Kyushu Jangara ramen with the lot: three types of pork, spicy cod roe, boiled egg, seaweed, green onions and sesame seeds. But the thing that really stands out here is the taste of the broth and the perfect chewy-ness of the noodles. I would be more than happy to have this with just broth, noodles, green onions and the sesame seeds. This place is very busy and always has a waiting line to get in but it is well worth the wait. This was our favourite ramen for our whole trip. 

Another favourite ramen of our trip was completely unexpected at a chain ramen shop 'Kookai' at Narita Airport. They served me a beautiful light soy-based broth with thin tender slices of pork, more perfect chewy noodles and a boiled egg with the most gorgeous soft boiled yolk. That was my very last meal in Japan. Now I'm totally screwed for ramen too.

To finish off my highlights of savoury foods in Japan is our dinner of Kushiyaki (grilled, skewered foods). This was on my list of 'must try' in Japan but I didn't put too much time into researching where I should go. We ended up taking a shot at a local place just near by our accommodation which was a few shops before the number 2 exit of Shinjukugyoenmae train station. Again, couldn't read the sign so difficult for me say much more about how to find it. 

Lucky for us, they took one glance at us and grabbed their English menu which was easy to read and straight forward: a list of different proteins, with your choice of 'salt' or 'sauce'. 

As plain and bland as those 'skewers' may look, the quality and freshness of the meat blew my mind. My favourite of all is the very last photo 'chicken thigh with green onion - salt'. It is impossible for one to imagine how amazing chicken with just salt can taste. And after downing that funky green beverage (aka shochu with soda and apple) I was in all sorts of food heaven - hello embarrassingly low alcohol tolerance! 

Our whole Japan trip was like being transported to this far away place, fairly familiar in some ways (cleanliness, infrastructure, middle class society, apparent affluent economy), but so incredibly different in other aspects (social etiquette, public sleeping, quality food for a decent price, public transport efficiency etc etc), that really just seems so damn perfect from the outside. 

So now I suffer the curse of what visiting Japan results in:

 Once you visit Japan you will have to spend the rest of your life longing to go back, and know that nothing will ever be as good as it was when you were in Japan, unless you are in Japan.