At this point I was pretty much done with baked goods for the time being. For breakfast my favorite combination has become a drink and a rice ball.
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| Yuzu Lemonade and Konbu Onigiri |
This yuzu lemonade is one of the few things I will sorely miss most. Yuzu is it's on citron in respect. It has the sourness of a lemon yet the sweetness of a lime. Needless to say I'm partial to try anything yuzu flavored. By the way this yuzu lemonade is only available in 7-11. As for the onigiri.....it is time to enjoy not paying $1.50+ for them.
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| Not So Cheap Snack |
I skipped lunch today (GASP) because I was taking many of the students to eat all you can eat shabu shabu with me. So I spent the better part of the afternoon lounging around the dorms. I did get rather hungry and succumbed to a snack from the vending machine. It was very small and lasted very briefly.....
When then the time finally came we all migrated to the restaurant. This was a local place in Kusatsu called Kin no Buta aka Golden Pig. I believe it's a chain so it will not be the only Golden Pig you'll see around Japan.
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| Konbu Dashi Broth and Yuzu Dashi Broth |
They allow for 2 flavors of broth max. The flavors to choose from were Original (Konbu Dashi aka seaweed dashi), Collagen Broth (.....for your face? health? longevity? youth? I stayed clear away from that one), Spicy Szechuan Broth (no GERD today please), Yuzu Dashi Broth, Chicken Milk Broth (not literally chicken milk...the chickens' bones were literally boiled down until the broth became milky), and Tomato Bisque Broth. I really wanted to try the chicken bone and bisque broths but in order to sustain eating all you can eat shabu shabu longer .... the original and citron bases were the way to go.
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| Racks of High Grade Pork |
To be honest this place was a bit more expensive than I expected. Granted they are using higher grade pork, and they were indeed rather delicious pieces of pork. Downside to this place was that they started delivering the meat rather slowly. It could either be some shady tactic to slow down customers or it may have been because I had about nineteen other students with me which overwhelmed the staff. I'd like to believe in the latter. Upsides to this place was that it was not just the shabu shabu that was all you can eat but all of their different appetizers and salads and other vegetables to put into the pot. They weren't measly appetizers either....the tempura was of decent quality and our salads had bits of nuts, a variety of shredded vegetables, and even.....potato chips.
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| Parfait |
You even get a choice of one dessert at the end. The buffet price at the time was 3030 円 which at the time roughly rolls down to ($25.25). Pretty good deal since back at home it's around the same price but getting more bang for your buck. Kin no Buta I may return to you next year....I promise to bring less students.
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| Peach Tea |
The next day I wanted to try a new drink. I decided on this Peach Tea which is made by the same brand who makes my beloved bottled milk tea drink. It was way way way too sweet and artificially peach flavored. I don't recommend this.
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| Nutritious Bento |
My tummy felt better when I had this bento box. It consisted of all sorts of vegetables (which by the way is very lacking in Japanese cuisine if you're not dining inside a family's home) and two kinds of rice. The vendor is a local family practice who also sells vegetables grown in his own farm. He advertised this bento and nutritious and delicious. Well well well................guess he was right.
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| Pudding |
Tried the pudding that was sold at the campus store. One of the best puddings I've had. Took a lot of self control to not buy one every day. This was the more expensive brand. I should buy some of the cheaper brands and do a blind test to see if there really is a difference. For science.
Today I had enough time to make a trip to Osaka. I didn't really have a particular goal but to wander around the station. Some of you may scoff at me for hanging around a train station on my free time but for those of you who have gone to major train stations like Osaka Train Station....it is no small feat. There are numerous malls and department stores either attached or right next to the station and of course endless eateries. One can easily spend an entire day there. Anyway I went into the Daimaru basement and what did I find.
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| Zunda! |
Zunda! What is Zunda? Zunda is a sweet edamame paste, famous in the Sendai region of Japan. I truly regret not trying their zunda mochi since it required refrigeration, so I had to eat it when I got home (and I already had two cakes in my hands at the time). So the next best thing I got was....
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| Zunda Shake |
A zunda shake! To think that there was such a thing as edamame milk shake. To be honest this only really had a hint of edamame taste...which I really enjoyed. By the end of it I really wished there was even more edamame taste. Otherwise it was a fun snack.
Next it was to hunt for dinner. Eating out in Japan is a terrible terrible first world problem There are too many good things around that it becomes hard to choose what to eat. One thing I'll never get tired of though is gyutan (aka beef tongue) This place seemed good, so I went in.
Tip: Anytime you go anywhere the best way to find out if a place is good or not is just to go in. It's ok if it doesn't end up being amazing meal. Because from now on you'll know it's just an ok or not a good place to eat. Because you'll never know if you'll hit jackpot and end up finding something amazing either. Failure in some aspects is just as valuable as success.
Today's adventure took place in Grand Front Osaka's 7th Floor which is basically the restaurant floor.
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| Kisuke Aji no Gyutan |
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| Beef Tongue |
Overall was it good beef tongue? Yes. Have I had better? Yes. This was definitely not a bad place. The tongue was still soft and juicy but it lacked flavor...it lacked zest....it lacked what we call in Chinese 'wok hei', breath of the wok...but I suppose in this case it lacked the breath of charcoal. Regardless I left the restaurant mildly satisfied.
The next restaurant I ventured to was Kitchen Omiya. This place actually had a lot of good ratings. I was excited to try it out when I went through the pictures. I had limited stomach space so I had to choose wisely.
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| White Wine Steamed Mussells |
I think for the price of 900 円 ($7.5) I receved a decent portion of these mussels. The mussels themselves were very plump, but a tad over steamed and more on the chewy side. The wine sauce was all right.....very mild broth taste.
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| Omelette Rice |
I love omelette rice....which means I judge a bit harder when I eat omelette rice anywhere. Presentation wise Kitchen Omiya gave omelette rice a very classy look with the tomato and sprig of greens on top. Unlike a lot of places I've dined at the omelette rice was not drowning in a sauce. It merely had two ladles of sauces...a cream sauce and a demiglace sauce. First the egg: it was very smooth...like one very smooth blanket....no lumps or bumps which means it was not overcooked. The rice: tomato based rice, good for what it was but nothing particularly special. The sauces: they were definitely not out of a can ....the cream sauce was very fresh and light while the demiglace sauce had a deep and slightly charred flavor. The sauces were what impressed me most about this dish, that it was made specially in house from scratch. Overall I prefer my omelette rice to have super fluffy runny eggs but I respect Kitchen Omiya's take on omelette rice.
So I mentioned earlier that I had cakes in my hands which prevented me from buying zunda mochi. Earlier in the day I had to stop by this shop before it closed...it was Mon Cher Patisserie! I vaguely remember reading about it in an article internet how their Dojima roll cakes were famous. I love roll cakes. Which means I had to try it.
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| Store Front |
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| Assortment of Dojima Rolls |
I honestly wanted to buy the entire store. But alas I had to choose. I couldn't try the plain one because that meant I had to buy half of a roll cake. I wasn't too keen on investing in half of a roll cake quite just yet.
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| Super Pretty Box |
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| Fruit Roll |
First of all....it may look kind of gross in this picture because it had to endure about 3 hours of me carrying it around shops and restaurants. So for 3 hours of hustling and bumping I'm impressed that this roll cake even maintained itself remotely. Not to mention I accidentally dropped it back into the box when I first picked it up before I took this picture. ANYWAY. This cake was AMAZINGLY DELECTABLE. The sponge cake was so light and airy and the cream....oh the cream......it rivals my love for Starbucks' whipped cream....everything about this little fruit roll cake was heavenly.
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| Happy Pouch |
Do you know why this is called a Happy Pouch? Because there's cheesecake in this Happy Pouch. Not the super heavy cheesecake but the super light and fluffy not too sweet or sour cheesecake. And the Happy Pouch itself was made of a finely thin crepe like wrap. And nothing was more honest than calling this the Happy Pouch.
