Tag Archives: Food

Nagoya (2)

Posted on by
Reply

My blog and my Facebook/Instagram pages are about “coffee, food, photography, and a bit of dentistry”. We’ve talked about coffee in the last post. What about food in Nagoya?

Well I have to admit I’m a bit boring in this trip. Instead of looking for local delicacies (like miso soup udon and chicken wings, I just looked for nice Japanese food in general. I had sushi, unagi and sukiyaki again. I did have some Hida beef which is famous in this area. (Two meals in fact, one BBQ and one French style).

I said earlier it’s my mission to look for the best unagi restaurant in Japan. I reported that I found one in Okayama. But now I have to make a correction. The place in Okayama was best for its Shirayaki Unagi (白燒鰻魚), but for the ordinary Kabayaki Unagi (蒲燒鰻魚), I’ve found my new favourite — Houraiken (蓬萊軒) in Nagoya. I was reluctant about visiting it at first because it was famous among tourists, meaning a long queue is expected and food may just be overrated. However the truth is it’s also famous among locals and indeed over half of the queue comprised the Japanese. The unagi was crispier than other unagi I’ve tried, and the Kabayaki source was richer. And if you want to elevate your unagi experience you have to try Kimoyaki (鰻肝).

If you think that travelling is all about the surprises you encounter during the journey, I have to remind you there are both good surprises and bad surprises. The nice cafe I encountered in Takayama is for sure a good surprise, but the restaurant I’m about to mention is a bad surprise.

Determined to try something new, I booked a whole new beef restaurant to have sukiyaki all the while knowing there’s a branch of Imahan (人形町今半, the first sukiyaki I had ever) in Nagoya. That restaurant was as inhospitable as a restaurant in Japan could get. My goal was to have sukiyaki with Hida beef. I made a reservation one week ago. I arrived on time. I was seated in a table for four, which wasn’t surprising in Japan at all. I ordered a sukiyaki set (the menu said ¥xxxxx/pax). All seemed smooth. But then I was told that sukiyaki can only be ordered for two people up. What’s worse, I was later led to a smaller table because apparently they had a group of four. I eventually had to resort to BBQ Hida beef, which was still good, but the experience I got meant this restaurant will never be ranked top of my list.

[TBC]

Nagoya (1) – Food

Unagi

Posted on by
Reply

I came across an old Friends episode on YouTube earlier. It says there’s a concept in Karate called Unagi, which refers to having a constant awareness of danger and being prepared to fight. The episode itself was hilarious. But of course as in typical Friends fashion what Ross says is totally untrue. Instead it reminds me of something else.

https://youtu.be/jbRVoTL5djs

I don’t know Karate, but I shoot photos. In photography it is important for the photographer to be constantly prepared for the decisive moment. How? Shooting with the best camera possible is a good starting point. But as the old saying goes, the best camera is the one that’s with you. In the case of an iPhone, try shooting in RAW. The problem with iPhone’s stock camera app is that it applies noise reduction too heavily and the picture loses too much detail. Lightroom’s iOS app solved the whole problem in this case. It shoots sharp RAW files, then it allows you to edit a photo easily. As a matter of fact one of my recent Instagram uploads was shot on iPhone, and it became my instant favourite.

I shoot RAW all the time, even on the iPhone. — May 2018

But in photography the photographer’s side isn’t the whole story. The subject also needs to be constantly prepared. There’s no better example than the one and only @MartinHo. You see, we’re all used to seeing Martin’s camera face ready the moment he noticed a camera is pointing at him. It brings some inconvenience to other fellow subjects in the same photo at times, who may not be ready as fast as Martin got, but his proficiency at posing is notable.

Speaking about Unagi, it sort of became a mission for me to search for the perfect Unagi restaurant when I go to Japan. I think I found one in my trip to Okayama in February. While the Unaju there was very impressive, the most surprising dish was Shirayaki Unagi. Without the typical Kabayaki sauce the taste of the Unagi itself became more prominent. It’s not an overstatement to say the dish brought a new taste to me. I think my new mission is to find an equally impressive Unagi restaurant in Tokyo that does Shirayaki Unagi so that I can have that every time I go on my annual Tokyo trip.

On killing time

Posted on by
Reply

It’s day off again. I’m confident by this time most of you know I hate day off on weekends. A day off is meant to be for relaxation, a completely alien concept in this city, especially on weekends. I mean, the malls are packed with people, the countryside and the beach are packed with people, the trains and buses and even the highways are packed with cars. No, I don’t think one can relax on weekends.

But it’s different on weekdays.

I went to Yuen Long today to visit some hidden nice places in this city. I’m never a nature lover. On the contrary, the concept of being an “urban explorer” fascinates me. There are as many interesting places in the city as in the countryside: cafe, sushi bars, ramen places, nicely crafted parks, you name it. And I had a chance to visit a nice sushi bar followed by a cafe today.

The 30-minute drive from Tai Po to Yuen Long itself was a thrill. Driving at 100 kph for 20+ km doesn’t require a Ferrari. My humble old Audi provided sufficient comfort and a small hint of ferocity on demand. Parking (on the street side) in YL sucked however, just as expected in other parts of HK.

The Jap restaurant rested in a small street in Yuen Long, remote from the usual hustle and bustle of the city. If you are lucky enough to be the first 12 guests, you can sit at the sushi bar, served directly by the master chefs. Sitting at the side tables like I did was equally enjoyable, especially when you preferred not to social, or didn’t want the chef to know you feed your camera before you feed your stomach.

Lunch at these pretentious Japanese sushi places are much more affordable than dinner. During lunch time there are lunch sets at around $200-300, while for dinner it’s common to spend more than $1000 per guest. I ordered a $250 “omakase” sushi and sashimi set. Omakase means the chef would choose what’s in the meal for you. This is a bit risky in many restaurants for a carnivore like me, who doesn’t eat lots of veggies. But in a sushi bar, I didn’t think this would be a problem. I mean, I’m a sushi whore.

The omakase set proved fulfilling. In addition to the sushi and sashimi, the appetiser and dessert were equally enjoyable. In short, “the chicken had chicken taste, the fish had fish taste, and the rice had rice taste”. Good chicken, fish and rice tastes, that is.

In order not to end my special day so soon, I continued to explore YL. How can a day be called relaxing without spending a few hours doing nothing in a pretentious cafe? I know a number of good cafes serving specialty coffee in Sheung Wan/Central. And there’s even one among Tsuen Wan’s industrial buildings. But hey, I’m not playing “Hong Kong O”. Going from Tai Po to Yuen Long to Sheung Wan isn’t fun, not even if I drive a brand new Tesla Model S. I decided to look for this imagined pretentious cafe in YL, making it a reality.

And I did it. It was just a 10-minute drive away from the sushi bar. The coffee was nice. They serve single-origin coffee only, and you can choose from hand drip and siphon. So, I read some novel, and wrote this piece. Considering I haven’t written an article for months, this cafe, and on the whole this afternoon’s experience is quite a stimulation to me. It stimulated my creative mind, which is a good thing.

Today’s experience also reminded me of what’s truly important. It’s not shopping for fancy fashion items; it’s my life experience. The insistence on eating quality food, drinking quality coffee, travelling decently (independent of the boundaries of the subway line), and living a quality life on the whole. Money: food, travelling, photography, no more.

Sushi in Yuen Long