The Best Grilled Beef Tongue

Even the food at the Sendai JR station was good.

There is a "sushi street" and "beef tongue street" in the JR station. They are actually just a row of shops.. rather than a real "street".. but there are some really good restaurants in these "streets".

Beef tongue is a speciality in this particular part of Japan, so it was on our itinerary to try it out.

And we had the yummiest grilled beef tongue I've ever eaten in one of the shops on the "beef tongue street" at the train station, even before we got to do any sight-seeing in Sendai.

If you ever go to Sendai, you have to go to this shop. It is call Rikyu.

 Rikyu, 利久

The beef tongue is thick, juicy and very springy, and also lightly but well-seasoned. It is grilled to perfection on top of a charcoal flame so it has that nice charcoal taste to it... and the meat is well-grilled on the outside and slightly pink in the centre.

I could easily have half a bowl of rice with just a slice.

Rikyu's thick-cut beef tongue - see how they sliced the surface of the meat to 

ensure the beef tongue doesn't curl up and gets grilled to perfection?

They served the grilled beef tongue with a really clear and yummy ox-tail soup and a bowl of Japanese rice cooked with barley.

The very yummy ox-tail soup. I wonder how the soup stays so clear 

when the ox-tail was literally melt-in-your-mouth

There is perpetually a queue (pretty fast moving) outside the restaurant. I would go back to Sendai just to have this dish again.

 I am not a big fan of beef tongue.. but this is really good stuff!

Note: Rikyu is a chain store and with all chain stores, the standard of food may not be consistent in every store. (Just my guess.. I don't know that for sure..) The one I went to was at the train station itself.. but there have outlets all over Sendai and there are some outlets in Tokyo too. Check their website for more.

The Food in Sendai

Sendai is the capital of the Miyagi Prefecture and is the largest city in the Tohoku region.

The city itself does not have many tourist attractions. A round-the-city bus called Loope Sendai brings you to all the tourist attractions.

The most visited attraction is probably the ruins of the Aoba Castle. It is like a nice park with a few statues and a great view of the city. It took me quite a while to figure out where the ruins were exactly. All that is left of the castle are remnants of the outer stone walls.. There is supposedly a guard house left but we searched for it.. and we couldn't find it.

We also visited the Miyagi Art Museum.. but it was pretty... er... *yawn*.

The highlight of our stay in Sendai has to be the food - grilled beef tongue, oyako-don, zunda desserts and snacks..  All very yummy.

All the yummy food we had in Sendai..

Even though the city does not have any real tourist attractions to boot, Sendai is definitely worth a visit if you are into food.

And oh.. the shopping is pretty good too! Very conveniently located near the train station and along this whole street just about 15 minutes walk away.

Shopping street in Sendai - they have all kinds of shopping there - 

from the upmarket and modern, to the affordable and traditional.. An interesting street.

Trip to Tohoku and Tokyo

I have been wondering how best to blog about my trip..

So I was thinking maybe I should blog about what happened each day.. But no.. that would be too boring... somedays we did nothing much but travelling to a new destination and lazing around in the hotel, reading and sleeping.

Maybe just a post then on each of the different cities I went to.. But then, the posts will really be rather unrelated, since each place is rather different.. And how do I write about some of the good food or purchases I've made in some of the cities?

Hmph.

So in the end, I've decided to do it like this.

This post will be a summary on my trip.. And then over the next few days (hopefully not weeks), I'd write a little about each city and link it from this post.

We decided to go to the Tohoku Region in Japan for our vacation because it is a region we have never been before. The plan was to travel around the Tohoku region and then go back to Tokyo to catch the sakuras.

Tohoku Region is well known for its rice, hot springs, lakes and mountains. As it is in the northern part of Honshu, it is also colder and has more snow then most parts of Japan, apart from Hokkaido.

Our first stop was to Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tohoku Region. Sendai city itself does not really have any interesting sightseeing spots. But the food in Sendai is really really (really) good. Even the food at the train station was fabulous!

And a short train ride from Sendai brings you to Matsushima, one of the Three Views of Japan. A small town near Matsushima called Shiogama is famous for having good sushi and sashimi.

Yummy beef tongue in Sendai

Matsushima

Sushi at Shiogama

We then travelled up into the mountains, to the Yamagata Prefecture. Here, we went to Zao Onsen, a popular ski and onsen destination. We spent a night in a Japanese ryokan and then went back into Yamagata City. I couldn't believe it myself, but we actually climbed a little hill called Yamadera when we were there. (I don't really fancy climbing hills.. especially with wet conditions.. because I am rather clumsy and it wouldn't be fun to be injured during a vacation. Happily, I escaped unscathed.)

Ski slope at Zao

Onsen at Yamagata

From Yamagata, we went to the Akita Prefecture. Strong winds in eastern Japan that day distrupted our travel plans. The local Yamagata train we were on stopped for 2 hours and then the train company sent a bus to send us to another station where it'd be safe for the trains to run.. We end up reaching Akita City too late in the evening for anything but a meal at a very Chinese-looking bar, before going to a small town called Kakunodate for the night.

Kakunodate is a charming little town. It is one of the more famous "Little Kyotos" in Japan and is home to several warrior homes. It is my favourite town this trip - it is a very quiet and peaceful town and we had excellent noodles and yakitori there. We also, surprisingly, did a fair bit of interesting shopping in this little town.

A very small train stop and town - Kakunodate

Our last stop before Tokyo was Morioka. Here, all I wanted to do was to eat noodles, which is what Morioka is famous for. But we managed to catch a couple of interesting sites around town and even squeezed in a day trip to a very famous farm in the region, called Koiwai Farm. Most of the farm is closed to public during winter, but it was nevertheless a very interesting and cute place to visit.

Morioka Cold noodles - one of the famous noodles in Morioka

The cute lambs at Koiwai Farm

Tokyo was very much all about 3 things - catching up with a Japanese friend of mine, watching sakura blooms in different parks and eating yummy food.

But we did managed to take a trip to Fuji Goko (Fuji Five Lakes) to see Mount Fuji and stay at a traditional ryokan hotel.

The elusive Mount Fuji

Blooming Sakuras

Fresh seafood at the Tsukiji market

Japan is really a nice place to go to for vacation. I'm already thinking about a next trip there!

Changes Ahead

I am back!

One of the best thing about vacation I think, is the coming home..

Our 2-weeks vacation was good.. but I started thinking about home on Day 10.. and was really excited to be back early this morning... even if it is to a very dusty house.

When I came back this time, I know things will be different from now on.

There will be changes ahead in my lifestyle come mid-April.

I'm going to miss my regular gym schedule... baking as and when I feel like.. going to town in the middle of the day when the malls are empty.. having lots of time to read and blog..

Changes are scary stuff.. but on the bright side, I guess I have lots of new things to learn and experience come mid-April.

Melting snow and ice - a sign of change in weather

Tohoku Region

The Tohoku Region consists of six prefectures in the north eastern part of Japan's largest island Honshu. This region is well known for its rice, hot springs, lakes and mountains.

My next few posts will be about different places in this region.. because that's where I'm heading for vacation today!

I'm really looking forward to a nice holiday with just The Husband.

We'd also be going to the Mount Fuji region and then dropping by Tokyo for a few days to see an old friend and do some shopping.

And hopefully, we'd get to see blooming sakura trees.

These pics were taken in Beijing and not Japan... 

My friends living there were surprised that they were taken in Beijing. 

There is this park with a nice collection of sakura trees right in Beijing city.

Tight Connections

You know you are old when you feel exhausted in your bones.

Either I'm old.. or I was crazy to travel like that.

On Thursday, I left for Shanghai for Beijing. I had 2 meetings in Shanghai on Friday.

My plan was to leave the office at 4:30pm.. to catch a 7pm flight back to Beijing. Then arrive in Beijing airport at 9pm, have my dinner and then check in for my midnight flight back to Singapore at 10pm.

The plan was simple enough.. but I was a little worried the entire day in Shanghai. You see, in my experience, the evening flights from Shanghai to Beijing (and vice versus) tend to be late. This is because the airline does this to-and-fro thing between the two cities with the same aircraft. Any delays during the day gets "carried over" and the later flights just end up more and more delayed.

Fortunately, my flight from Shanghai that day was just delayed by about an hour. (I was lucky - the weather in the 2 cities were perfect that day..) So I still made it comfortably for my midnight flight.

The point of this post?

Make sure you leave enough time for delays when making connections, especially if you are flying between Shanghai and Beijing later in the day.

The Beijing T3 at 11pm at night. Nice, quiet and HUGE

Oh, queue up!

I wish I’m the kind of person who is not disturbed by bad behaviour from others.

But I am.

And people who do not queue annoy me a lot.

It annoys me when people do not queue up when queuing up inconveniences them. And somehow it still happens quite a bit in China.

I made a bad decision by agreeing to travel to Shanghai from Beijing on the 530pm flight. My colleagues and I reached the Hongqiao airport at around 740pm.. during what seems to be the “peak hour” at the airport.

The queue for cabs was I think, at least 2km long. Okay, so maybe not 2km. But it was the longest I’ve seen.. and I have been to the Shanghai Hongqiao airport a number of times.

A couple tried to squeeze in front of my colleagues and I while we were queuing.

It reminded me of what happened to me in Beijing a couple of days before at a fast food restaurant. It was my turn to place my order and a man just stepped in right in front of me to place his order. I chose not to interrupt him.. but allowed him to order. Then I told him, “I think you just cut my queue”.

Instead of an apology, he said loudly, “Alright, isn’t it YOUR turn now huh?”

"...."

Determined not to allow this particular couple to cut my queue, I spoke up and told them to go back. The man said brashly “Huh? Yes, of course.. We ARE queuing.. We ARE queuing” But he and his partner fell back behind us (and cut the queue of the lady and everyone else behind us instead).

And when we almost got to the end of the line about 40 minutes later, an lady in her 50s strolled leisurely in and stepped right in front of us to board the cab we were supposed to take.

Sometimes, you just have to give up.

Lamb Hotpot

Lamb is not my preferred choice of meat. I like chicken and beef.. pork is tolerable but I tend to avoid lamb. It just has this strong smell and taste that I am not that partial to.

Some say you have to have lamb hotpot if you go Beijing, especially in winter. And Dong Lai Shun (东来顺) is one of the most famous lamb hotpot restaurant.

I have never been to this restaurant in spite of its fame. This trip to Beijing, I finally managed to make a trip there with some colleagues.

Dong Lai Shun is famous for a few things.

Firstly, it uses a traditional kind of copper pot. Copper conducts heat evenly and quickly and so the copper pot is supposedly better. I didn’t get to try out the difference the special pot makes, though. My friend thought that there isn't really much difference.. especially given the price difference. She is probably right.

Secondly, it is famous for its excellent lamb. It supposedly does not have the strong lamb taste. This I found to be true.. and in fact, I couldn’t taste anything at all. The meat tasted rather bland and my colleagues thought that it wasn’t up to standard.

Thirdly, it is famous for its sesame dipping sauce. I found the sesame dip particularly good. It was very smooth and extremely fragrant, and so all the vegetables we had that night turned out extremely good because of the dip.

Many of my friends have told me that Dong Lai Shun is an overrated restaurant.. and I think I have to agree.

My favourite hotpot restaurant Haidilao is way better.. in terms of food.. and especially so in terms of service. The folks from Dong Lai Shun were just not friendly at all. In fact, we could hardly get their attention even though there were quite a few of them and the restaurant wasn’t packed by the time we started our dinner.

Clockwise from left: The charcoal-fuelled hotpot, appetizers and sesame dipping sauce.

The thinly sliced lamb that looked pretty good.. but were strangely tasteless

Sesame Shaobing 芝麻烧饼 - Something usually eaten with lamb hotpot

东来顺 Dong Lai Shun

There are a number of outlets. I've only listed the one I went here. You can search in this website for more.
地址: 西城区西直门内南大街2号成铭大厦D座3楼(西直门桥东南角)
电话: （86）10-51901730

Service is an attitude

Whenever I go to China, I find my friends and I often complaining about service there.

(Not that the service in Singapore is really any better but that would need to be covered in a separate post. And let me also clarify I like China - my ancestors are from there and I have great friends from the country.)

I have collected a few interesting stories to tell about the service industry in Beijing and Shanghai from my 3 years of living in China.

One of the funnier stories happened to my friend in a restaurant.

A Caucasian friend found a strand of hair in a dish and called the waitress over. She politely pointed out to the waitress that there was a strand of black hair in the dish and then waited, hoping the waitress will offer to change the dish. The waitress took a look at the plate and the hair and then said nonchalantly, “是你的”(It’s yours). We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Firstly because she was suggesting that the hair belonged to the customer who pointed it out and secondly because the customer had golden hair.

Yes, it is a funny story. But not so funny at that particular point in time.

The quality of service is generally poor in most (not all) restaurants. This same service quality extends to most air flights.

During my flight from Beijing to Shanghai on Thursday, it suddenly dawned upon me that perhaps one of the main reason for this bad service is that these service staff are simply.. not happy.

Customers treat waitresses and flight attendants very poorly. They are often being yelled at or spoken to with a harsh tone. Even my normally really nice colleagues have a change in the tone of their voice when speaking to these service staff. To their (my colleagues) defense, I have always tried to speak nicely to waitresses and consequently, am often being ignored or treated badly by them. Those customers who raise their voices and appear really fierce often end up getting better and more prompt service. So is it the service staff or the customers that cause this phenomenon of poor treatment of service staff? I really don’t know.

The other reason why I think these service staff are not happy is because of their more senior colleagues. I have observed on more than a few occasions that the senior waitresses or flight attendants tend to boss over the more junior ones. Perhaps they have once been abused as well by their seniors and think that it is now their time to do this.

But being treated badly by your customers and colleagues wouldn’t give one much reasons to smile and be nice.

And so, they come to work feeling unhappy and with the attitude that customers are a source of great nuisance and should be properly “managed” so that they remain minimally annoying.

I’m writing this post on a flight from Shanghai back to Beijing.. and as I write, the flight attendant is walking around the cabin with a slight scowl on her face asking if one would like more drinks, as if we are all being a burden to her.

With such an attitude, it is really hard to expect her to be all sweet and polite if one were to respond with “Yes, thank you, I’d love to have another cup of hot Chinese tea”.

City'Super - A Superb Supermarket

If you, like me, enjoy shopping at a supermarket, then City'Super is one you do not want to miss.

I always make sure I visit at least one City'Super when I go to Hong Kong. And if I can help it, I try to go to a couple of them.

It really has everything a great supermarket ought to have - fresh produce, very varied and very interesting products.

I often think that the buyers at City'Super must be one of the best in the industry.. City'Super never fails to surprise me with the variety of things it carries.. it's not the quantity.. oh no.. it's how they always have the newest snacks from the US.. the limited edition chocolates from Japan.. freshly flown in crabs from Alaska.. purple corn from Taiwan.. wine from Sicily.. and so on.

It's a really fun place to shop. It's like watching one of those programmes on TV where they bring you all around the world to shop because there are just so many interesting stuff from all over the world... only you are just in a single supermarket.

Each time I go to the one near our place in Hong Kong, I'd tell The Husband that we should consider living in Hong Kong.. just so that I can have the pleasure of buying my groceries at City'Super.

City'Super at Shatin - unfortunately, they do not allow pictures 

inside the store.. so I only took pictures from the outside..

If you ever go Hong Kong, be sure to pop by.. They have a few outlets around Hong Kong - check their website for more..

This thing called Friendship

Friendship is something quite hard to describe.

Webster defines it as a "friendly relation, or attachment, to a person, or between persons; affection arising from mutual esteem and good will".

A very decent definition.. but yet an inadequate and lackluster one for something so special between people.

As we get older, we make new friends.. sometimes in places we least expect..

Through my gym, I got to know many new acquaintances... most of them very nice ladies. For reasons I can't understand, I'm especially friendly with 2 of them and enjoy their company very much. Just recently, we tried (and failed) to reason out why the 3 of us, of all the people we meet in the gym, should end up hanging out and enjoying each other's company so much.

Through my blog, I got know a few very nice ladies and fellow bloggers. I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed their company each time we meet up. During our few meetings, we talked like old friends and I felt totally at ease and relaxed around them..

I also have a few very good friends whom I've mostly known since Secondary School days. Because of our individual schedules, we don't get to meet up so often.

But each time we meet, it is as if time has never separated us very much. Each time we meet, I feel as if the last time I spoke to them was the day before and I feel as "friendly" towards them as I did was I was 15. Which is really amazing because for some, I may not meet them any more frequently than once or twice a year.

Amazing and beautiful, isn't it? This thing called friendship?

I supposed the phrase "kindred spirits" (from Anne of Green Gables) is really more apt to describe friends.

Friends are "kindred spirits" who:
1. "Recognize" each other - which explains why of all the people we know, we can talk and laugh better with some rather than others
2. "Remember" each other - and I don't mean remembering all the details that happened to one other. But friends tend to "remember" our Being - what we are really like deep down inside
3. "Respect" each other - there is always something that we like, respect and admire about our friends. Whilst others might find a friend too outspoken and loud, to friends she is frank and boisterous.

And really, it's amazing how many "kindred spirits" there are in this world.

As Anne Shirley said, “Kindred Spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. Its splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

 The Green Gables house in Prince Edward Island - 

Source: http://www.fritchman.com/novascotia.html

Ice Blended Strawberries with Mint

"Today is a really hot day."

I seemed to have said that many times for the past month. And today, I said it a few times during our church's Family Day.. The weather has really been too hot!

After all that time under the sun today, I decided to make a refreshing and icy drink this afternoon.

Someone suggested I try blending mint with some milk and ice. As I also had lots of strawberries in my fridge, I decided to make an ice blended drink with milk, mint, ice and lots of strawberries. I added a teeny bit of sugar and blended everything together with my powerful Vitamix blender.

The drink is a little sweet, a little sour and very refreshing because of the mint. Sipping this icy cold drink from the comfort of my air-conditioned living room made me forget all about the hot sun today.

This is a drink I'd be having a lot more often...

10 Random Things About Food

1. The best non-spicy instant noodles is Nissin Ramen 出前一丁. It has to be the original flavour with sesame oil and the packaging must say made in Hong Kong. There really is a difference, trust me.
2. The best spicy instant noodles is hands-down, the Korean's Nong Shim Shin Ramyun - Mushroom flavour.
3. Peking duck is better in Beijing. Most Beijing restaurants whose Peking duck costs RMB88 and above (approx SGD18) would taste better than the ones in fancy restaurants here. I don't know why but it is true. The best, of course is at DaDong Restaurant or Chang An No. 1 (at Grand Hyatt Beijing) if you are prejudiced against DaDong's version of a "leaner" Peking Duck (if such a thing is even possible at all..)
4. I think that lunch from a home-packed lunch box is always good. When I was younger, I dreamt of preparing a lunch box everyday for my future husband. Of course when I eventually got married, The Husband does not like lunch boxes.
5. One of the best ways to resolve a heated argument at work is to break for a nice lunch. Most problems will look better after lunch.
6. The first thing that comes to my mind about Taiwanese food is Deep Fried Chicken Cutlet. There is this fantastic roadside stall at Taichung's Fengjia Night Market that sells great chicken cutlet. The famous stall at Shilin (the one with the perpetual queue) is of course unforgettable as well.
7. Eggs are my favourite food. And almost all derivatives of eggs taste good.
8. Fresh is not always better than dried. Dried porcini is way better than fresh ones. And so is dried shitake. The flavour of dried mushrooms, it seems, is more intense.
9. Oats are healthy but nasty stuff.. I have not yet found a way to make them tasty.. either I'm really misguided or those who say they taste good are deluding themselves. 
10. Macdonalds should have done the new Breakfast Deluxe a long time ago.. and they really should leave it on the menu.

What would be the 10 random things you'd have to say about food? Do share them...

Consistently Good Tonkichi

Tonkichi is a restaurant that to me, has not changed much over the years.

The menu has been the same since I first went there about 4 to 5 years ago. And the food is consistently good and never fails to satisfy.

Tonkichi is a tonkatsu chain restaurant. (It is the best tonkatsu restaurant in Singapore.. if you know of a better one.. pls let me know!)

Tonkatsu is breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet. Apart from pork, Tonkichi serves all kinds of breaded and deep-fried stuff - chicken, fish, croquette, oysters and prawns. I have tried them all and they are all good - perfectly crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I am actually not a great fan of pork.. so my favourites are the deep fried oysters and large prawns.

They give you a bowl of toasted sesame seeds, which you can grind and pound before adding the tonkastu sauce. I find this sauce mix particularly fragrant.

The Japanese rice is authentic and good, the miso soup decent and the finely cut Japanese cabbage is refreshing, sweet and usually cold.

The cabbage is free flow, meaning the waitresses actually walk around occasionally with a large bowl of cabbage, offering to top up for you. The cold, sweet cabbage goes very well with all the deep fried stuff.

Never mind that deep fried stuff are unhealthy... Tonkichi may not be the healthiest restaurant to visit.. but it invariably leaves me deeply satisfied and walking away with a big smile..

Mixed Seafood Fry Set - The fried oyster is yummy.. 

and the prawns are huge and sweet. Yum! 

As a side note.. I am always amazed by the photos taken by the iPhone btw..

The nice little bowl that they give you to grind the toasted sesame seeds. 

See the little grooves inside the bowl.. I want a bowl just like that too!

Tonkichi

Address: 391 Orchard Road
#04-24 Ngee Ann City
(They have branches at Isetan Scotts, Suntec and Orchard Central too.. check their website for more..)
Tel: +65 6735 7522

Homemade Mint Tea

My spearmints are growing really well with the weather being so hot and sunny recently... their leaves are getting really BIG and they seem to be just growing and growing.

I decided to make some mint tea yesterday using my spearmints. It's really simple - I put a whole lot of fresh spearmints into a teapot and then add some hot water. After a couple of minutes, I removed the mint leaves and added some wild honey.

Note: It's important not to let the leaves steep in the hot water for too long, as the drink will get quite bitter. It's also important to cover the pot while the leaves are being steeped.. so as to prevent the volatile oils from evaporating.

I like drinking mint tea... because it's really soothing and refreshing.

Apparently, it has all these other benefits as well:

• Eases nausea and vomiting
• Treats mild indigestion
• Controls flatulence
• Fights bad breath
• Fights stress

Ippudo Ramen Singapore

 Akamaru, or Red Sea Ramen

The Husband and I first chanced upon Ippudo Ramen when we went for a holiday in Fukuoka about 2 years ago.

We just arrived in Fukuoka, cold and hungry and decided we will eat at the first 'yummy-looking' restaurant. It turned out to be a ramen restaurant and we later realised that it was Ippudo and that Ippudo is a rather famous Kyushu ramen restaurant.

Kyushu ramen is distinct amongst Japanese ramen for its rather thin, really ordinary-looking noodles and cloudy, hearty broth.

Ippudo is famous for its Shiromaru ("White sea") and Akamaru ("Red sea") ramen.

Shiromaru is Ippudo's version of traditional Hakata (Kyushu) ramen, with the typical cloudy broth made from pork bones. Akamaru is supposed to be a stronger in taste, and the soup has red miso (which is supposed to be a little spicy but it doesn't taste at all spicy to be) and garlic oil added to it.

We were really satisfied with our Ippudo experience in Kyushu, so when I found out that there is a new outlet in town, I was really pretty excited.

Ippudo Singapore is evidently a lot classier decoration-wise compared to its Kyushu counterpart. The noodles are, accordingly, more expensive too. A standard ramen with egg cost $17.

Here's my verdict on the noodles at the Singapore restaurant (I had the Akamaru ramen):
1. The Noodles - Good and al dente
2. The Charsiew (pork slice) - Chewy and very flavourful. Very Good.
3. The Soup - A little more oilier than expected.
4. The Egg - A big disappointment. I expected it to be cooked to perfection, with just the slightest bit of yolk being still in liquid state... but it was cooked through.. but 100% hard boiled.. but no jiggly yolk.

The Kyushu restaurant generously provided Japanese pickles for customers to add to their ramen. The Singapore restaurant charges $6 for "assorted Japanese pickles" (or so I remembered). Naturally, I didn't order any.

Overall, the ramen is pretty good and I might just go there to satisfy my Japanese ramen cravings again.. when I get them.. Although I think I would prefer my favourite Sapporo ramen store at Gallery Hotel. But then... the Japanese black bean with cream cheese appetizer is very good though. I might just go there again to eat that.

Bottom left: The black bean cream cheese with baguette.

Top right: The disappointing boiled egg...

Ippudo Ramen (Mandarin Gallery)

Address: 333A Orchard Road, #04-02/03/04 Mandarin Gallery
Tel: 6235 2797‎