Maru

Today I went to Kinokuniya and found a book about Maru, the most watched cat on internet. I couldn't stop laughing watching this innocent-looking cat on YouTube.

If you love cat you gotta love this Maru blog.

Here is another link about Maru.

14th Japanese Film Festival

Japanese Film Festival is on! I still have to wait for about 3 weeks till the opening film in Sydney 'About Her Brother' on Monday 22 November. I still remember vividly the first time I joined hundreds of folk watching 'Kamikaze Girls' three years ago and then the next year I watched 'Season of Snow' and won one of the door prizes from Nagano City tourism.

This year I'd like to watch at least two movies, firstly as a foodie and a Japanese food lover, 'Flavor of Happiness' in on my 'must see' list, and as a big fan of Ryoko Hirosue I don't want to miss out 'Zero Focus'.

(Flavor of Happiness, picture courtesy of Japanese Film Festival)

( Zero Focus, picture courtesy of Japanese Film Festival)

For more information about the festival news, film list, preview or watch the trailers please visit 14^th Japanese Film Festival.

Mizuya

Mizuya, this 'izakaya' style restaurant on George street offers private dining rooms equipped with karaoke facility, cozy atmosphere and tempting cocktails on the menu which make it a great place for drinking out with friends. The touch screen ordering makes it easy for you to add something to your order and the service is good. The price is above average but still ok considering the place is right in the heart of the city. They got every kind of Japanese cuisine on their menu from Kushiage to Sushi or sashimi and from sukiyaki to teppanyaki.

I picked the wagyu beef for the hotpot with mixed sashimi as the cold side dish, adding sushi set to my order as I was craving for sushi, then picked the cheese potato mochi as desert.

The wagyu beef sukiyaki for $18 was my best choice as the sushi set and cheese potato mochi were little disappointments.

(wagyu beef hotpot)

(Sushi set)

(Sashimi as side dish)

(Cheese potato mochi)

Collagen Kaki Sushi

I happened to be in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, staying in a hotel on Bukit Bintang known as the major shopping district in town from the premium mall like Pavilion to the specialty shopping plaza like Lao Yat, a popular shopping center for electronics and IT products.

Right across my hotel there is Fahrenheit 88, a refurbished plaza with Uniqlo, an innovative brand from Japan for fashion, opening their first store in Malaysia end of this month.On level 1, I found a Japanese restaurant called Sushi Zanmai, the menu has a wide range of Japanese cuisine from sushi to bento box. When scrolling down the menu, their sushi and sashimi look quite unique so I picked a chutoro sashimi, aburi sushi set and a Collagen Kaki Sushi which was on special for 6.80 RM for two pieces.

Collagen Kaki Sushi

The Kaki Sushi is an oyster sushi with strong flavor of oyster so if you want to try this kaki sushi make sure you are a fan of oyster. I don't know whether this sushi really contains collagen in it, but it really is a unique kind of sushi.

(Chutoro Sashimi)

(Aburi sushi set)

Overall it's a cozy place, the sushi and sashimi was good, the service was a bit slow but still ok.

On another note, there were wet tissues available on the table and I was a bit surprised when I was charged 0.2 RM for a wet tissue while no price shown for that, neither on the menu or on the tissue's packaging, I thought a wet tissue normally would be complimentary, well... I guess most customers won't even bother for an 0.2 RM?

Tulip Time

It was an extremely busy weekend for me, lucky to have a public holiday Monday..

Went down south to Bowral in the Southern Highland of NSW this morning to enjoy the Tulip Time..