MAQUI'S Kobe

MAQUI'S Kobe, a Japanese sweet store originated from Kobe, Japan. From chocolate to pudding, cake to mini pie, all their sweets look so tempting. I walked past  one of their stores in Jakarta a while ago but did n't get a chance to buy anything from their shop but lucky me last week got one box of five mine pies brought by a family. The soft texture and melt-on-your-tongue filling will make you go back to their shop and try the rest of the flavours. I got the almond, chocolate and cream cheese which is my favorite one and definitely will go the their shops on my next trip to Jakarta. 

You can find their stall shop at Grand Indoesia,  Plaza Senayan oir Senayan City. 

The Coffee Legend

I happened to visit Ho Chi Minh City last month and treat myself some of the best coffees in the world. Vietnam known as the world's second-largest producer of coffee behind Brasil, that gives enough reason for its government to protect their domestic coffee producers by banning some famous coffee business from opening their shop in this country, but this policy ends soon as Starbucks will open its first shop in Vietnam soon.

My trip was a short one yet I managed to try the three most famous coffees in Vietnam: Trung Ngu Yen, Highlands coffee and Vinacafe. Trung Ngu Yen coffee is the most internationally famous Vietnamese brand for coffee while Highlands and Vinacafe are more 'local'. You will easily find Highlands cafe at almost every corner of the city but barely find a shop of Vinacafe. I did visit Trung Ngu Yen and Highlands cafe and bought some Vinacafe instant packaging in a supermarket. 

 (The famous Trung Ngu Yen coffee served in Vietnamese style)

(Cappuccino from Trung Ngu Yen) 

(The favorite black coffee and iced coffee with milk at Highlands cafe)

For me, personally, the highlands iced coffee is the best one...

Bokeh

My first post in this new year, been busy and didn't post anything over the past couple months.

This morning I read an interesting article on Peta Pixel about 'How do you pronounce bokeh' by Michael Zhang:

The term “bokeh” is often used in the world of photography to describe the quality of the out-of-focus blur in photographs. Do you know how it’s pronounced?

The term comes from the Japanese word “boke” (暈け/ボケ), which translates to “blur”, “haze”, or “fuzziness”. It made its way into English-speaking world back in 1997 after Photo Techniques editor Mike Johnston (who now writes at The Online Photographer) included three articles on the topic for the March/April 1997 issue of the magazine.

In the articles, Johnston changed the spelling from “boke” to “bokeh” to make the pronunciation of the word more intutive, lest people pronounce it like “poke” with a ‘b’. Johnston writes,

[It was] one of the few issues of that magazine that sold out. My own contribution was…er, a letter. I decided that people too readily mispronounced “boke,” so I added an “h” to the word in our articles, and voilá, “bokeh” was born.

Actually, to be precise, what I had noticed was not just that people mispronounced the word as it was commonly spelled, but that they had a tendency to ridicule it, making lame jokes about it as if it rhymed with “smoke” or “toke” or “joke.” Actually, even spelled boke, it is properly pronounced with bo as in bone and ke as in Kenneth, with equal stress on either syllable.

Here is one of my shots with bokeh effect..

Ootoya

Ootoya with their tagline 'authentic home cooked Japanese food', they do look like an authentic one, felt like authentic with wooden dining room and the food taste authentic too. They started with one restaurant in front of Ikebukuro station in Tokyo in 1958, now they have more than 280 outlets across Asia. 

(Ootoya Japanese restaurant at Plaza Indonesia Jakarta)

Visited the one at Plaza Indonesia Jakarta lunch as first customer of the day,then we saw some Japanese patronages after us makes a convincing proof that the restaurant is a real deal. We picked Tori Kurozu, Ponzu Burger, Sumi Tei and we are all agreed with the fresh Ocha with ice for our drink.

 (Tori Kurozu)

The Tori Kurozu, a mixture of deep fried chicken and some vegies in sweet and sour kurozu (a kind dark vinegar) sauce, the sauce is a perfect blend with the balance of sweet and sour taste.

(Tori Kurozu set) 

(Sumi Tei)

 I am not a big fan of beef but this charcoal grilled beef has an irresistable looks

(Ponzu burger)

Charcoal grilled hamburger steak with grated radish and ponzu plum sauce, the tender hamburger steak speak for itself

(Ocha with ice)

For ocha lovers, the ocha option is really worth it, not only because you can have free top ups but it is the best ocha in town!

We were all agreed that the dishes are real treat.

More variety in the tuna and salmon sashimi or nigiri sushi would be great.

Ryo's Noodles

Ryo's noodles on Falcon street Crows Nest is one of my most missed eating places in Sydney when I am away, the best ramen I found outside of Japan I would say.

The shop is located in a relatively quiet street, away from the hustle and bustle of the city yet only 10 minutes by bus from the CBD plus a couple minutes stroll from the bus stop. If you plan to have lunch at Ryo's better arrive before 12 as normally there is a crowd of people queuing outside the shop.

I always ordered the tonkotsu based ramen, my favorite one, and for those who love spicy soup can pick the hot and spicy ramen, but it's not as spicy as typical asian food you would expect which is perfect for me since I don't like a really spicy food. The chewiness of the noodle is just perfect and the rich and tasty tonkotsu broth is simply unbeatable! 

   

(hot and spicy ramen, no 3 from the menu)

(Soy sauce flavored tonkotsu ramen, no 2 from the menu)

I will definitely look for the below address when I visit Hongkong

(Hongkong shops)

Toilet Bike

Japan's (and world's) best-known toilet maker, TOTO, has just unveiled a Toilet Bike or you can translate this into 'poop-powered motorcycle'. No joke! it's as serious as their famous 'hi-tech toilet' you would find in every house in Japan. Let's make it clear, despite the look it doesn't run on human waste, nor does the real toilet used in the bike work, instead it is fueled with animal waste to travel up to 300 kilometers.

(photos courtesy of AFP)

Claimed as the world's first waste-powered vehicle, the tricycle has a toilet in place of a regular seat and huge toilet paper at the back.

Only in Japan..

(source: Tokyo Times)

Ramen Champion at Changi T3

I've got posts about Ramen Champion in Singapore and Ramen Champion at Changi Airport but just got a chance to prove it myself last week while transiting at this one of best airports in the world.

As you would expect, you can try tasty ramen from four different region in Japan at the comfort of Changi Airport, it's located in basement are (public area) at B2-58 Terminal 3. Gantetsu from Sapporo, Riki ramen from Tokyo, Taka no Tsume Chiba, and Ikkousha from Hakata. I didn't waste my (only) 18 hours transit and managed to try three different ramen, corn and butter ramen from Sapporo, one small bowl from Riki ramen, and a big bowl of Tonkotsu ramen from Ikkousha, and this last one is my favorite as I love tonkotsu based soup. For those who love ramen, better prepare an empty stomach to try all different kind of ramen you can't resist in one place!

(Tonkotsu ramen from Ikkousha)

Cherry Blossom Festival 2012

A quick post from the Cherry Blossom Festival at Auburn Japanese Garden, the festival is on for this weekend (18-19 of August) and next weekend (25-26 of August) only from 12pm - 4 pm.

I happened to visit the garden for a quick look this morning and only a few photos were taken. 

Updated with some more photos taken around Blue Mountain

Chicken Wing Ice Cream

I read a post on my Facebook friend about this Chicken Wing flavour ice cream from Nagoya, really..? wait .. that's not all. I found this post about ten weird Japanese ice cream flavours, and here they are:

Chicken wing ice cream

 Caviar ice cream

Beef tongue ice cream 

Horse sashimi ice cream 

Whale ice cream 

Indian curry ice cream 

Octopus ice cream 

Shark fin ramen ice cream 

Squid ice cream

Snake ice cream