Yokoso Tokyo!

Calbee fresh potato chips
Tokyo Station (Yaesu exit)
Verdict: Must try! For the junk food lovers, their freshly cut potato chips is delicious. There are various flavours to choose from such as cheese, sour cream and even chocolate drizzled potato chips. My favourite is the freshly made Jagabee, tastes like french fries but so much better! It’s a must try snack when you are Tokyo Station.

Warm crispy chips with sour cream dressing. So good!

I really love the jagabee. Finished it almost instantly. This is really a must-try!

Beer hall
Tokyo Station (Yaesu exit)
Verdict: One of the best katsu I’ve ever had. The Japanese have a good technique of deep frying food, the pork is tender on the inside and the crust is crispy. I don’t even feel guilty eating it because the katsu is not even oily. Delicious!

Tastes alright, nothing fantastic, just rice with egg…

It’s huge!!! Bigger than my sister’s face!

Look at how well cooked it is. Not even oily! I don’t even feel a single guilt when eating this!

Tokyo Marriott Hotel at Shinagawa (formerly known as Hotel Laforet)
Verdict: The hotel rooms are huge for a hotel in Tokyo. The breakfast was sumptuous and the service excellent. Location wise, not that bad, about 15 minutes walk to Shinagawa station.

Lovely salad with wafu sauce dressing accompanied with yogurt (totally tasteless, not my kind of food) and fruits. Healthy start for the day!

Freshly toasted bread with butter and jam. Yumz!

Here comes the main course, really hearty breakfast

That drink there isn’t a drink, it’s corn soup! So yummy!

Tokyo Disney Sea
Verdict: Worth going once in your life! Japan is the only country with Disney Sea. The rides there aren’t the kind that freaks you out, more of the fun kind of rides. The food there is pretty expensive. I was like a glutton there trying out different food cause it’s halloween and the food just looks interesting but doesn’t taste as great.

Scallop Chowder which can be found at the food court in Ariel’s land. Tastes really good. I could find chunks of scallop inside. Good stuff!

Halloween special hotdog. Nice!

Smoked chicken leg. Looks really unappetizing. Tastes alright, it little on the oily side. This can be found at the Indian Jone ride. I would rather eat the smoked turkey leg.

Churros – big disappointment. Is like eating hard dough with sugar.

I don’t even know how to describe this but it tastes as weird as it looks

The inside is like some mashed up meat with cabbage. I threw it away after a few mouth. Taste too weird for my liking

A glimpse of autumn in Nikko
My family and I took a train to Nikko to see the autumn leaves and we did a four hours hike through the forest where we passed by two big waterfalls, huge grassland and tons of Japanese kids on a school excursion. Nikko was really pretty but better time to go would be in November. By then, the leaves would have all turned red. Definitely worth a day trip.

Scared bridge to Nikko’s shrines

Possession happening at the shrine

Lunch – miso udon

Miso ramen

I think this dog has a super comical face

My brother and I – gosh we do look alike!

Red bean moochi

Deep fried moochi. Tasted really good.

Kani Doraku
〒160-0022
3-14-20, Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Theatre Bldg 7, 8F
Verdict: Tastes pretty good, but I didn’t really find it very satisfying. If only the portions were bigger or if only we could afford to order more. We ordered Nishiki no mai (Yen4,200 = SGD 53) and the Eiraku set (Yen6,510 = SGD83).

Cold crab claw. The meat was really fresh and sweet. If only the portions were larger!

Crab head. Never a fan of this

Crab salad. Tasted normal

Crab charamushi. Very nice!

Deep fried crab – tasty

Tempura crab. This was super good, we were all fighting for it!

Crab steamboat

The soap was very tasty and we finished it without leaving a single drop

Crab claypot rice. Alright tasting

Fuunji
Nishi-Shinjuku
Yoyogi 2-14-3
Verdict: A must go! It serves the best Tsukemen I’ve ever tasted in my life! Tsukemen is basically dipping noodles, the noodles are served separately with a really thick sauce for you to dip in. This place is amazing. The chef is so dedicated that you can see it written on his face. He really has a lot of OCD but that just simply shows that he is a perfectionist. I’ll definitely eat there again!

Hidden gem in Shinjuku

The restaurant can get very crowded but the turnover rate is really high. Most customers eat and go.

Purchase your ramen via a vending machine

The man behind the kitchen

I was really captivated by his dedication *Biggest crush ever!

Chewy noodles that go perfectly with the thick sauce

The seaweed is so good – crispy and tasty. The egg is cooked to perfection, the yolk melts in your mouth and the pork inside, gosh!!! Best Tsukemen I’ve ever had!

I’m dying to eat another bowl!

Tsukiji fish market
Verdict: This place is amazing! I was eating something every five minutes from fresh sashimi to perfectly grilled eel, wagyu beef stick… Love this place!

Woohoo!!! Fresh sashimi!

Yakitori stick

Didn’t taste very good, was a bit cold.

Taiyaki (Red bean pancake)

I love this! It was prepared by an old couple. The crust is crispy and the red bean is smooth and not too sweet. Nice!

Tempura crab stick (200Yen = SGD2.50)

OMG it’s actually alive! It was moving!

Grilled eel

Scallop

Grilled scallop – very yummy! (700Yen = SGD8.70)

One of my favourite Japanese dish! This was really good!

Raw oyster!

Wagyu beef stick

The meat was succulent! I just wanted more of it! (500Yen = SGD6.20)

Dried anchovies, not really a fan of it

Grilled egg! It was hot and delicious!

Yummy!

Fresh seafood on a BBQ!!!

This scallop is so good! Love it! (600Yen = SGD7.50)

Wasabi!

We went into some random sushi restaurant. Pretty good

Hotate sushi – super shiok! I love fresh scallops and this is good stuff!

Grilled salmon! Nice!

Chirashi

Kimuraya
4-5-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
(in Japanese, 東京都中央区銀座4-5-7)
Just one minute walk from Tokyu Metro Ginza
Verdict: Must try their Anpan bread (Red bean bread), cream cheese bread and custard bread. My favourite was the cream cheese bread. It has to be the best cream cheese bread I’ve ever tasted!

Look at the assortment of bread they have!

The interesting thing about this shop is that they actually dissect the bread to show its filling (sounds weird I know)

Cream cheese bun – my favourite!

Anpan bread (red bean bread) – I like the sesame coating on top of the bread. Makes it taste very fragrant.

Custard bun – Nice but I still prefer the cream cheese bun!

Ginza Cozy Corner
1-8-1 Ginza, Chuo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Verdict: Very good strawberry shortcake. The bakery was really crowded. We couldn’t get a place so we bought take-away instead. The chocolate eclair was very nice too!

Mont Blanc cake (chestnut cake) – It was a halloween special decoration. I love mont blanc cakes but this one, I didn’t enjoy it. It was way way too sweet for my liking, I even cringed when I ate it. Not recommended

Strawberry shortcake – Very nice! Cream was fresh, strawberry wasn’t too sour, the sponge was light and fluffy! Good stuff!

Chocolate eclair

Checkout how sinful it is! No wonder I put on weight when I was in Japan, but this was worth it!

Hidemi Sugino
3-6-17 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
(in Japanese, 東京都中央区京橋3-6-17)
Nearest train station: Tokyo Metro Kyobashi or Ginza 1-chome
Verdict: This hidden gem is worth the hunt. It was located at a back alley and it is easily missed. This French-Japanese Patisserie has the best macarons I’ve ever tasted in my life. The cakes are delicious too but extremely pricey! The queue for the cafe was quite long so we bought take away again. I must say I’ll probably go back there again just for the salted camarel macaron but the cakes, I find it a little too pricey. Definitely worth the try at least once in your life.

This is how the shop looks like. It’s quite easy to miss but actually really crowded inside.

Interesting taste. Not really my cup of tea.

Tastes good! But the cake was so small that it was gone in a few mouthful.

I like this cake! Really nice! It is shaped like a ship with a cappuccino mascarpone, delicious dark chocolate and crunchy praline below.

Salted caramel macaron (630Yen = 7.80SGD)

Look at the filling! It’s so good! When you bite into you, the caramel just oozes out! I will go back just for this!

Tonkatsu Wako
SUBNADE 1 B1, 1 Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0021 Japan
Click here to check out the rest of the outlets
Verdict: Delicious, crispy pork cutlet served with refillable salad and miso soup! I will definitely go back there again!

Pork cutlet with egg – Tastes really good. Much better than the ones we have back home.

2 pork cutlets with 2 shrimps and a crabmeat croquette. I love the crabmeat croquette. It was creamy, well deep fried. The pork cutlet was juicy and the shrimp cooked to perfection!

Pork cutlet – simple and good!

It comes with free flow miso soup and you can find baby clams in the soup! It was so good that I had three bowls of it!

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya
1-2-12 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Verdict: Yes!!! It’s like a fast food chain in Japan. You can decide on the level of spiciness you want for your curry, the amount of rice you want etc. I love the Japanese curry together with the crispy deep-fried pork cutlet. Yummy!

Potato salad – Tastes alright.

Wanted to try something different. The beef was very tender and it went well with the curry!

Hakone
Verdict: Worth going for the factory outlet, hot springs and amazing onsen! I love the premium outlets in Gotemba, in fact I find it much better than the ones in the States. I think I went mad there. They have Prada, Gucci, Agnes B, Samantha Thavasa… Girls’ paradise!