• home
• reviews
  • Restaurants
  • Cooking Courses
  • Cookware Tests
  • Taste Tests
  • Events
  • Reviews Index
• recipes
  • Breakfast
  • Snacks & Starters
  • Dinner Time
  • Sides
  • Drinks
  • Sweet Treats
  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Gluten Free
  • Recipes Index
• etc
  • Competitions
  • Food News
  • Travel Stories
• contact
  • About
  • Contact
  • PR Enquiries

Black Eggs from ‘Big Hell’ Owakudani

Posted on July 13, 2009

[Black and chalky from cooking in a sulfurous hot spring]

On a day trip to Mt Fuji we were taken to the gorgeous volcanic Hakone mountains via cable car (sky gondala). We went to see the famous Owakudani Valley (literally, The Hell Valley); an ancient crater with sulfurous hot springs in which eggs are cooked. You can see steam rising from crevasses in the ground, hence why they call it ‘Big Hell’.

These eggs are believed to add 3 years to your life per egg eaten. We ate two each, even though the smell of the sulfur was extremely strong, and killed our appetite. We couldn’t really we pass up the opportunity to add 6 years to our lives! (more…)

Review: Issen Yoshoku, Kyoto Japan

Posted on July 8, 2009

Late night dining in Kyoto – no, it’s not kebabs!

After exploring the fascinating cobble-stoned narrow streets in East Kyoto for a few hours we realised it was quite late and that we hadn’t had dinner.

We turned a corner, passed a few hostess bars, spotted a geisha walking across the road and saw some bright lights up ahead with a queue forming. It looked like the classic late-night fast food place you’d go to after (quite) a few drinks.

There was just one very busy chef making pancake / omelette things on a flat grill out the front and they smelt incredibly good. Without even knowing what it was we gestured to the waitress that we’d like to sit. (more…)

Fresh Fruit Friday

Posted on June 27, 2009

[Fruit salad from Sun Fruits, Tokyo - Like my hand model? Sorry, he's taken.]

Afternoon tea never felt so fresh!

After a few hours of checking out the Roppongi district in Tokyo we found ourselves inside the super posh Tokyo Midtown complex. Feeling a little worn out we decided to have a healthier afternoon tea snack (ie. not Mister Donut!).

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a bright white store with colourful items. On closer inspection they weren’t just any old items they were the most perfectly formed and carefully padded pieces of fruit I’d ever seen! Expensive too. The store was called Sun Fruits. I think they’re a chain.

I didn’t really fancy forking out the equivalent of AUS$20 for one tiny mango the size of a lime, although it did look very beautiful, so I ‘settled’ for this amazing fruit salad instead. Each melon ball was perfectly formed and all the citrus had every teeny bit of pith removed. Heavenly. (more…)

Comforting: Lamb and eggplant pasta

Posted on June 25, 2009

[Lamb and eggplant pasta]

The first dinner I’ve cooked in Barcelona!

I thought I’d be making something uniquely Spanish for my first homemade dinner in Barcelona but I let the fresh ingredients at the market and meals I had in restaurants over the weekend determine the results.

There was also another first today – shopping alone at the local fresh market – and realising I need to know more Spanish words and phrases! Like, ‘I’ll have half a kilo’, ‘Can I try those olives?’, ’10 slices of jamon please’! It was a tad embarrassing to say the least and I’ll be rectifying it asap. (more…)

Mister Donut, Akihabara Tokyo

Posted on June 23, 2009

The best donuts in Tokyo?

I didn’t try all the donuts in Tokyo but these are the best I’ve tasted so far – in my life. I’m a fan of the cinnamon sugar donut and I don’t like iced donuts. I might be the only weirdo who doesn’t but that’s OK. I just don’t do super-sweet.

Dillon, on the other hand, has a sweet tooth. I find it strange that I prefer savoury/salty and he loves sweet/chocolatey. Isn’t it meant to be the other way around with boys and girls?

Let’s not dwell on that and get back to Mister Donut. It’s a global chain but is extremely popular in Japan with more than a thousand stores across the country. We stopped for morning tea while checking out a very cool part of Tokyo called Akihabara, or ‘Electric Town‘. It’s jam-packed with stores selling electronic equipment of every variety under the sun and quite frankly Dillon was in heaven.

As someone who’s a keen people-watcher it was really interesting to see the ordering behaviour of customers in Mister Donut. It seemed to be the norm to go there alone, order 3 to 5 donuts and sit and read manga or magazines for hours on end – I guess the free coffee and tea refills has something to do with it. (more…)