Elusive kamoshika spotting

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Over the winter, whilst on a snowboarding trip to Nozawa Onsen, I spotted me an elusive kamoshika. A kamoshika is a Japanese goat-antelope animal usually found in the mountains. I was surprised to find this one near the streets of the village, right outside my favourite onsen at Nozawa, it was just amongst the bushes.

They are rather an unusual looking animal, and it was the first time I had ever seen one.

From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika
From Kamoshika

High Tea at Aman, Tokyo

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

The newest hotel to arrive on the Tokyo scene is the Aman Hotel which opened up in Otemachi (near Tokyo station) last year. This hotel, or rather it’s high tea offering has been on my radar for a while now. But bookings have been near impossible with a lot of frustration on my part. I am a rather impatient person.

In September last year, I tried to get an afternoon tea booking. But they were extremely busy and I was told that there were no seats until middle of October. Seriously, who are all these people who are doing high tea? With bookings full 4-6 weeks in advance, I had to drop pursuing this one for a while. I also did a few overseas trips at the end of last year (Australia in November and Palau in December) so wasn’t available for afternoon tea.

So back in January, I tried again to get a booking, only to be told that they were fully booked until February. Geez, I’ve never known a harder reservation. Getting a Michelin star restaurant reservation would have been easier that this afternoon tea. By this point, I was asking the hotel, let me know all your available days and time slots. How about you tell me when I can get a booking rather than when I can’t. It was at this point, that they enlightened me that they actually offer it everyday! And not just weekends which I was had been trying for. And not only was it offered every day of the week but from 11:30am to 9:30pm. Again not noted on their website (which states available from 12-5pm). With every day offering and a much later timeslot, I opted to do an evening afternoon tea instead. So I was able to finally get a booking for a Friday evening in January. So instead of dinner we went for high tea at 7:30pm after work, which was a little weird. Let’s hope all this trouble was worth it.

From Aman high tea

The high tea is offered in their Lounge Bar of the Otemachi Tower building and it’s called the “Black Afternoon Tea”.

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

You’ll be pleased to know that this is all-you-can drink tea and you can choose as many different kinds of tea as you like. Tea supplier is Ronnefeldt (same as the Four Seasons).

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

As for atmosphere, one word – Dark. Interior was varying shades of black, charcoal and grey.

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

A glass of sparkling: to begin the Friday evening:

From Aman high tea

Everything was black – the napkins were black. And even the teapots were black:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

I did love the fact that the teapots came on tea warmers. One of only two places I have ever been to in the world so far where they do. This always wins brownie points in my book.

From Aman high tea

Afternoon tea for three:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

Savouries:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

The pate was amazing. The savoury portions were a little too small for my liking.

From Aman high tea

And the menu also said it had a fritter, but we think they mean frittata.

I also felt that the petite sweets dishes way outnumbered the savoury dishes. They could have had less sweets to make the afternoon tea more balanced, especially so when they offer afternoon teas until 9:30 in the evening. They could do with less sweets or more savouries for a more balanced dining experience.

There were only 5 savoury bites compared to about 10 sweets (not all pictured below), plus scones! This was a little too much sugar load for dinner (in lieu of a proper meal).

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

The sweets though were impressively handcrafted with a fashion theme.

From Aman high tea

Check out the chocolate handbag and high heels. And hat as well.

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

Edible fashion is a lot of fun:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

And the handbag came filled with berries:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

And the high heel was caramel filled:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

And there was a jelly as well.

From Aman high tea

And jubes that came in an edible chocolate shell basket:

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

I washed all this sugar down with about 4 pots of tea.

And of course, there were also scones to be had: Though shalt not go hungry with the Aman high tea.

From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea
From Aman high tea

So the overall verdict:
Filling, yes. Ideal for sweets lovers. Was a little too light on the savoury elements. And not the most amazing scones ever. Unlimited teas and coffees is a big bonus though. The whimsical edible fashion sweets are a drawcard for girly girls. I’ll always be persuaded on flavour though. Not all the sweets were to my liking. I can’t say I ever really enjoy a jelly.

Standard price is 4,600yen plus tax,so about 5000yen without the champagne. Not bad considering the establishment, food and unlimited tea. Other downside was the smoke. We were unfortunately seated near the cigar library room which meant that cigar smoke pervaded the lounge area. I would recommend asking for a window seat to avoid the smoke. Don’t know that I would go back here again.

Ryuzu: a 2 star Michelin restaurant

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I have a year’s worth of blogging to catch up on. Recently, I’ve managed to rack a few Michelin dining experiences under my belt over the last six months. This is one from last October.

I had an arranged to take a half day off work along with a friend and we went for an impromptu Michelin lunch around the corner from our work (we work in the same building). Without a reservation, we dropped by on a chance there were would be availability. Who knew that this was hidden in the one of the back streets of Roppongi. We went to Ryuzu – a French cuisine restaurant with 2 Michelin stars with reasonably-priced lunch options. The chef has trained under Robuchon establishments and I could see the influence in Ryuzu, even right down to the similar plateware.

There are three lunch course options ranging from 3,600, 5800, or 8.400yen. We decided each on the Menu du Jour for 5,800yen. Ryuzu was very understated and for that reason, I really liked it. I liked everything about it – the food, the service, the ambience. You can basically enjoy the likes of the Robuchon establishments without the massive price tag without compromising on quality.

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

We were surprised we were able to get a table without a reservation.

Interior was warm and comfortable especially given the fact that it was a raining Thursday.

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

We ordered a glass of champagne to start with. (I was in a celebratory mood for reasons to be explained in a later post).

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

First up was a pumpkin soup to amuse the bouche:

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

The obligatory serving of bread typical at most French restaurants:

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

We each ordered different starters with our course so we could try each others.
The foie gras:

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

The shiitake mushrooms:

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

Here are the rest of the dishes:

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

Sharing:

From Ryuzu Michelin

For mains, we got the fish and the pork between us. The food was so light, fresh and flavoursome:

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

Dessert was pretty amazing. I decided on the mango and my friend got the chocolate. I had a little bit of dessert envy.

From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin
From Ryuzu Michelin

Petit Fours:

From Ryuzu Michelin

A wonderful lunch.

Palau: clam city

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

There’s a famous snorkeling spot in the Palau islands called clam city, where you’ll find the some of the biggest clam shells around. Most snorkeling day tours will stop here for about half hour to have a look at the giant clam shells. If they closed, you tap on them and they open up. Also some fish around too. Snorkeling is one of my favourite things to do. Could do it all day long. Basically, I love anything that involves water, really.

And the water in Palau is truly incredible. Seeing and being out on the water every day during my week there was the best thing ever.

Pics from clam city.

From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau

Giant clam shells

From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau
From Day 2 – Clam city Palau

High Tea in Yangon: The Strand Hotel

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Will make more of a concerted effort to blog more this year, after a bit of a hiatus last year – not intentional – was just busy with work. A lot of it. Plus actually got around to doing a lot of stuff in Japan and travels as well. So expect a lot of travel photos and food reviews which I haven’t got around to posting up yet.

Over Christmas/New Year I went to Myanmar with a friend. She is based in Singapore for work, and so we decided to meet in Myanmar and spend two weeks there. It was pretty hectic as we covered a lot of ground in to two weeks with a lot of early starts (around 5am).

As is customary when I travel, I like to partake in high tea. This was no exception. And the afternoon was a lovely reprieve from the heat and travel stress.

The venue: The Strand, Yangon.
Date visited: 29 December 2015.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

It was a colonial style hotel with wicker furniture, wood panelling and high ceilings.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

Afternoon tea was at the Strand Cafe located off to the lobby entrance. We turned up without a reservation. Can’t imagine there’d be crowds in Yangon to do afternoon tea.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

It was nice to be seated in air conditioning and just chill.

A choice of two afternoon tea menus – classic (traditional English) or a local Myanmar afternoon tea. Decisions, decisions. We had thought about going one of each to sample them both. But with lemon meringue pie and scones on offer – we both opted for the classic.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

And so cheap compared to Australia or Japan, where nowadays you’ll 50-50 dollars for afternoon tea. We also ordered a glass of wine each (pretty much for the first time during the trip. Wine was very hard to come by anywhere that we had been to at least).

I loved the little baskets which the teapots came in:

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

A cup of English breakfast always soothes away any stress or worries. It’s amazing how calming a cup is.

Time to settle in. Lots of foodie goodness.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

Feeling right at home:

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

Yummy sandwiches which tasted divine after living on rice and noodles.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

The desserts were worth it purely for the lemon meringue pie:

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

The chocolate gateau cake was also really good.

And my only complaint about the scones was that there was only one each (and not two).

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

The vanilla cream that accompanied the scones was to die for. I could have just drunk that creamy vanillary goodness.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

Can’t resist chocolate:

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

And my personal favourite: lemon meringue pie

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

Probably the best lemon meringue I’ve ever had. Perfect balance of tartness, good pastry crust and sweetness on top. They were so good, we asked to buy additional tarts for take-out. They happily obliged. Take-away tarts were sold by the threes, so we got six of them. The French pastry chef made them fresh for us to take out. We looked very classy as we got them put into styrofoam containers.

From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea
From The Strand Yangon afternoon tea

And that’s afternoon tea in Yangon done. A shame I only got to do one tea there, but not so many establishments offer it anyway.
The Strand Hotel offered excellent value and tasty food. Extremely satisfying.

Expect some more high tea reviews in 2016.

Underwater freediving in Palau

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Some gratuitous photos of me underwater freediving in Palau. Met a photographer there whom I spent some time hanging out with. He took these cool pics of me. I am pretty sure I was a mermaid in another life.

From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau
From Underwater in Palau

Palau: Long beach island

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Palau was an amazing country. Unbelievable pristine waters. A water lover’s paradise. I had such a wonderful time there. Was totally in my element and was in the water every single day.

This is long beach island, where at low tide, it’s a long stretch of beach and white sand that reaches an island.

The water clarity is truly incredible.

From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island
From Day 2 Palau – Long Island

Kayaking in Palau

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

Hello there.
It’s been forever since I’ve posted. This year has really gotten away. And my life is consumed by work and overtime. Work has been taking over my life, leaving little time for blogging, which is a shame, because I have soooooo much to blog about.

Recently, I went on a holiday to Palau under the guise of an open water swim race. I did actually did the 5km swim race even though I didn’t do any training. It was more an excuse to go to Palau. Such an amazing holiday. Am tempted to go back there. It truly is a spectacular water paradise. Although I will admit it, it kind of didn’t feel like I was getting away from Japan as such. Most of the tourists are all Japanese. All the tour operators and day tours are all in Japanese. And the menu’s everywhere were in Japanese.

Day one, I joined a kayak tour and it was run by a Japanese tour operator. Everyone in the group was in Japanese except myself, so they seemed to always get me a separate English speaking guide. The Japanese tour guide, led the Japanese people in Japanese and I kind of got my own local Palauan tour guide who spoke English.

The morning started off with a very gentle, not at all strenuous kayak through Nikko Bay.
We took a boat out through some waters to a floating dock where we got into some kayaks and then leisurely paddled through the crystal clear waters.
It was amazing.

From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau

The floating dock:

From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau
From Nikko Bay kayaking – Palau

The water has to be seen to be believed.

Naoshima Diary: At Uno Station

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

The Cliff notes of my long weekend trip to Naoshima:

Friday night: Depart Tokyo station after work. Board 7:30pm shinkansen to Okayama station. Arrive Okayama station at 11pm. Check into hotel for the night and crash out into bed.

Saturday morning: Early breakfast. Check out of hotel at about 8:10am. Board the 8:24am train departing Okayama bound for Uno station. (Change at Chayamachi enroute to Uno). Alight at Uno station about an hour later.

Destination Uno reached. A most awesome name for a train station and a small port town.
I was quite excited to be at a place named after a card game.

From Uno station
From Uno station
From Uno station
From Uno station

At Uno with numero uno!

From Uno station
From Uno station

Okay, let’s try that again and let’s try to not get hair obscuring the face.

From Uno station

That’s more like it.

Outside Uno station are two giant monuments. This one….

From Uno station

And this one: the Goddess of the Sea:

From Uno station

And now it’s time to smell the cheese:

From Uno station

And incidentally, ticked off another prefecture – Okayama prefecture done. Only another 8 (?) to go!

Hello Kitty dim sum

memoirsofaleishaLeave a comment

I was in Hong Kong in May for a work trip. Whilst there, I had to visit the Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant.

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18169911096/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9103″><img src=”https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7771/18169911096_804691cf23_z.jpg&#8221; width=”480″ height=”640″ alt=”IMG_9103″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Little dumplings that were too cute to eat.

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18008662670/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9133″><img src=”https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7745/18008662670_52ddd88d1c_z.jpg&#8221; width=”640″ height=”480″ alt=”IMG_9133″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18169902586/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9132″><img src=”https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7791/18169902586_b75ab38d0e_z.jpg&#8221; width=”480″ height=”640″ alt=”IMG_9132″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18169901996/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9134″><img src=”https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7795/18169901996_04608b7662_z.jpg&#8221; width=”640″ height=”480″ alt=”IMG_9134″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18197558081/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9146″><img src=”https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7796/18197558081_31162b189d_z.jpg&#8221; width=”480″ height=”640″ alt=”IMG_9146″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

If you’re a hard core kitty fan, this is the place to eat at.

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18192750642/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9162″><img src=”https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7772/18192750642_759339ef8c_z.jpg&#8221; width=”640″ height=”480″ alt=”IMG_9162″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18008509138/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9189″><img src=”https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7757/18008509138_f21b5b5c3f_z.jpg&#8221; width=”640″ height=”640″ alt=”IMG_9189″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18169888516/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9168″><img src=”https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8889/18169888516_b37cbf98ac_z.jpg&#8221; width=”640″ height=”480″ alt=”IMG_9168″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18196343405/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9183″><img src=”https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7756/18196343405_9409134db9_z.jpg&#8221; width=”640″ height=”480″ alt=”IMG_9183″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

And if that is too much  food, you can the leftovers home in not a doggy bag, but a kitty bag!

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18196361805/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9194″><img src=”https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8803/18196361805_bbbf6f84bf_z.jpg&#8221; width=”480″ height=”640″ alt=”IMG_9194″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

<a data-flickr-embed=”true”  href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/64496432@N00/18008637780/in/album-72157651264352324/&#8221; title=”IMG_9197″><img src=”https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8803/18008637780_58d143c0e6_z.jpg&#8221; width=”480″ height=”640″ alt=”IMG_9197″></a>//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Simply purrfect.