Edelweiss Chocolate

It's not a Japan or Japanese food-related post, just about an irresistible liquor-filling chocolate I found recently. I was browsing around Melbourne airport to kill the time before boarding my flight back to Sydney and came across this 'World of Chocolate' shop around international departure terminal. I love chocolate! So can't help buying one for myself, the Edelweiss liquor filling chocolate is the most interesting one for me. It's a smooth milky chocolate with crunchy filling and smooth liquor, an Edelweiss liquor. This product of Swiss costs $17 for a small pack of 12 pieces.

Edelweiss liquor chocolate

If you are not familiar with Edelweiss, you can find it in Wikipedia

Shoya

I just came back from Melbourne, it was a short weekend getaway visiting relatives yet I managed to go to two Japanese restaurant in the city. One of them is really an outstanding authentic Japanese restaurant right in the heart of Chinatown, located at 25 Market lane, between Bourke street and Little Bourke street.

Sho (rising) - Ya (house), Shoya is one of the top list Japanese restaurants in Melbourne with 6 split levels including smokeless Japanese style BBQ, traditional Horigotatsu style seating and fine dining tables. We ordered Ume set and Matsu set for $32 and $38, yes it's not an average restaurant but if you love Japanese food and wouldn't mind to pay the price, this special lunch set is worth the price.

Here are my big lunch at Shoya Melbourne..

appetizer: Savory egg custard

appetizer: Spinach salad

Sashimi

Sushi set

Steam rice

Signature deep fried comprises shitake and egg

Wagyu steak

Wagyu teriyaki

Tempura

The desert: green tea ice cream

Shoya Japanese restaurant

And here is a picture taken from level 88 of Eureka Skydeck 88 Melbourne.

Sparadise

Blue Mountains Sparadise is a Japanese bath house nestled in a hill top of South Bowenfels, in the area of the famous Blue Mountains in Sydney. I've heard about this 'onsen' more then a year ago but hadn't got a chance to visit until last weekend.

We're using public transport so we took train to Lithgow station on the Blue Mountain line for about 3 hours from Central Station then continued our trip by taxi for about 10 minutes from Lithgow station.

Upon our arrival, the staff gave us a short tour (only for the first timer) and a brief explanation about the bath house. The bath house was originally a private bath house and used as a retreat house for Zen followers, then they open the house for public on weekends (Friday to Sunday). This bath house is perfect for you who want to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. You can pamper yourself with the therapeutic massage, soaking yourself in the 40 degrees 'rotenburo' (open air hot spring bath) and a walk on the reflexology path in the Japanese Zen garden. Almost forgot, there is also a herbal steam bath that claimed to be very good for skin rejuvenation. There are indoor spa and outdoor spa facilities and both of them are mixed gender and swimwear is a must, if you've ever visited a Japanese onsen in Japan then you know why I mentioned this.

Sparadise, the only one Japanese bath house in NSW

The outer gate

The main building

The entrance

If you plan to visit this Japanese bath house, don't forget to bring cash since no electronic payment received and booking is essential.

Tea room

There is a tea room from where you can order tea or Japanese bento box for your lunch, and strictly no camera allowed beyond this point for privacy reason.

A vegetarian box priced at $20

A complimentary towel

Hokkaido Corn

This morning I went to Padys market and found interesting juicy looking corns, what so special about this corn? While the normal corn sold as 'sweet corn', but this un-normal corn labelled as 'super sweet corn', the corn looks a bit different with a few white kernels among the yellow ones, that's way in some country they call it 'pearl corn' as the white kernel looks like a pearl.

Pearl corns

The above corns I found this morning reminds me of corns I tried in Otaru last year-end.

Hokkaido corn, that's what it's called in Japan since it's a special and premium produce from Hokkaido. The Hokkaido corn is famous for its sweetness and even local people say that we can eat the corn raw and tastes so sweet. Steamed or roasted? Try the slightly roasted corn smothered with butter and soy sauce, a really tasty combination, heard that's the favorite way to eat the corns in Hokkaido. I proved myself that this favorite food in Hokkaido has an outstanding sweetness

Hokkaido corns sold on the streets of Otaru

Ready to eat Hokkaido corns in Otaru

Goshu Ramen Tei

Goshu Ramen Tei, considering the name I thought it's a kind of ramen shop but then I found out that ramen is the only option on the menu. This restaurant located at 5 York street in the CBD, not far from Wynyard station, first time I came across this restaurant about 3 years ago and I've been one of their loyal customer, but in most of my visits, if not all, I always ordered teriyaki. Yes! I considered their teriyaki is one of the best in town, fish teriyaki, beef teriyaki, chicken teriyaki just any teriyaki and I've never experienced disappointment from them. So frankly speaking I couldn't give any review or comment on their ramen or other dishes apart from their teriyaki. The tenderness, the tantalizing aroma and the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce are just perfect for me.

Fish teriyaki set

Beef teriyaki set

Agedashi tofu

It's a small restaurant with outdoor seating so don't expect for ambience and view but the service is good.