To Japan

Warning: long post ahead!

Where to begin with Japan? A beautiful country, with scrumptious foods and polite people. My family and I paid Osaka and Kyoto a visit some time ago. We stayed in Osaka for the duration of the trip, only going to Kyoto for a day. It was memorable. And truly enjoyable. There’s the blend of modern and ancient that Japan pulls off so nicely, with its orderly and busy cities, and its cultural landmarks and scenery.

This begins with a meal. Traditional eel rice, cooked in a sweet teriyaki sauce. One of my favourite dishes. Plain rice and that eel alone would be enough to satisfy me. There are many variations of the dish, such as eel with tamago, which is basically a sweet egg omelette, and with different toppings. Then there’s the one I love. A set, with broth, miso soup, and a small grid of toppings you can choose from, with a certain method and order for how you should eat it.

That’s eel and rice in the container on the left. On the right in the small dishes are white sesame seeds, dried seaweed strips, wasabi, and chopped spring onions. There were various pickles in the green bowl, which were, in all honesty, not to my taste. They gave a card instructing you on how to eat this. You begin by scooping a portion of eel and rice into the empty bowl, then topping it with your choice of toppings and your chosen amount, then you pour some broth, which is in the red container, over it all.

It was a textural experience. Crunchy from the sesame seeds and the spring onions. A unique mouthfeel from the seaweed, softened by the hot broth. The rice, submerged in the liquid, still slightly firm and not mushy. Combined with the sweet, tender meat of the eel, all in one mouthful. Chased by the slight bite of wasabi. it’s still one of my favourite dishes. We’ve been to that restaurant a number of times before, and kept returning, due to the amazing food.

Let’s talk about dessert. That little matcha and azuki (red beans) cake you see there was delightful. It wasn’t heavy, or filling, but instead was quite the opposite. Light, almost ethereal, with a delicate texture and flavour. But that’s not all. There’s more dessert. Good news for a sweet toothed person, no? It’s a classic and traditional Japanese dessert called Oshiruko. Which is a hot dessert consisting of rice cakes in a thick and sweet azuki soup.

It was accompanied with some salty squares of seaweed. I’m not too sure what it was exactly. But it’s meant to complement and contrast the sweetness of the soup, but I didn’t really like it. The soup is addictive. Some might find it overly sweet. It has some texture, thanks to the portion of intact beans, and isn’t watery, but still drinkable. The flavour was perfect. Not overpowering, not too mild. Balanced. The taste of the red beans coming through with a hint of citrus, which offset the earthiness a bit. Lemon or orange peel, maybe. As good as it was, it wasn’t my favourite part. That belongs to the rice cakes. Now, they don’t have much flavour themselves, save for a faint ricey taste, which you’d expect. That allows it to take on the flavour of the soup. But the magic is in the texture. It was chewy. Not hard, but soft, almost gooey and tender, though it required some jaw work.

Fun to play with, but even more fun to eat. That should give you a good idea of its texture. And that sums up one of the many meals we had there.

We set aside a couple of days to go to Universal Studios. It was definitely fun. They have a rollercoaster there, called Hollywood Dream, or Backdrop, depending on which direction you go. Yes, direction. It goes backwards. Here I have to confess to something- I pressured my sister into trying it. I’m evil. But it’s all fine, and she’s no longer afraid, thanks to my annoy abilities. The power of sister persuasion, I tell you. It’s called gentle persuasion. Hollywood Dream was arguably more intense than Backdrop. First there’s the climb. The slow, almost ominous ascent of the cars. Silence, save for some period clacking. Silence, save for the screams of those who succumbed to the tension. It isn’t really too bad on Hollywood Dream. The ascent, I mean. You’re tilted backwards, so it feels like you’re laying back to relax or something. On the other hand, the ascent for Backdrop was scary. With the safety bar digging into your abdomen, and you tilted towards the ground, which is gradually getting more distant, and the perpetual feeling of being suspended and being left to hang. There were a lot of screams during that point. For the Backdrop.

So the drop’s apparently 43m tall. Oh, and something else I forgot to mention. You get to choose what music plays during the ride. The seats are, well, seats set into carts with speakers built into the area where your head would be. There’s a panel of buttons in front of you, so you can select what music you want, and it blasts it through the speakers. Exciting, isn’t it? Time to speak about the drop. For Hollywood Dream, it was pretty intense and exhilarating. The wind up in your face, the air pressure, of seeing the ground and track rush up at you. Your face almost feels like it’s getting peeled off. Or blown off. Like how it’d feel if you put your head under an automatic hand dryer. It’s definitely a rush. As for Backdrop, the feeling surprised me. It was… relaxing. It felt almost natural to be falling backwards. No one screamed during that drop. Still, it had that rush, which is expected, since you’re plummeting at about 56mph. I loved it all. Even with the near two hours wait.

That’s not all the park had to offer. There were a lot of attractions there, and areas, like Amity island, with a giant (fake) Jaws hanging on display. Then there’s Sesame Street, Hello Kitty Land, Jurassic Park, this futuristic area, and Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. It was enchanting.

There were people walking around in robes, donning house scarves, and holding wands.

As a bonus, they sold Butterbeer in Hogsmeade. Sadly, my sister and I didn’t get to try any, as the lines were too long. Not worth the wait when we had so many attractions to go on.

That in the distance is part of the track for Hollywood dream/Backdrop. It’s dazzling, isn’t it? With all the lights and the atmosphere.

At some point of that trip, we ate at a restaurant in a hotel, and the pasta was incredible. No photos, sadly, but I have a photo of the remnants of the dessert. Wow, the taste of the berry sauce. Not sickly sweet. With a perfect blend of flavours which leaves you wanting more and guessing. Paired with a scoop of luscious vanilla ice cream, of course.

Sorry about my haste. This was the dessert I had there another time. Aesthetically pleasing, and lovely tasting as well. Simple, clean, sweet flavours. Accompanied by a scoop of ice cream, which rounded out the whole dish.

It’s Kyoto’s turn. After a long car ride, with the skies darkening, promising rain, we arrived. It’s a place of ancient beauty and culture, with a myriad of temples. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

That sign makes you wonder, doesn’t it? In case it’s too hard to read, it says: “This water is not for drinking.”

Then we went into the more inner areas, into busy streets packed with shops, stalls, and restaurants.

Oh my. The food they sold. Combinations I’ve never heard of, but you bet they sounded appetizing. Like the sakura flavoured donuts.

It’s so pretty, and dainty, and pink. It tasted like a plain donut, but with powdered sugar. Definitely a delicate flavour. I couldn’t really pinpoint the sakura. Or maybe its flavour was just sweet. It tasted like how you’d imagine the colour baby pink to taste. Also, I apologize for the blur. I was trying to hurry up and walk at the same time as I snapped that picture.

Then my mom bought a dessert. We, meaning my sister, mom, and I, argued over its nature. It looked like a slice of thick, crustless bread. But it was cake. According to my mom, it tasted delicious.

We walked on. And we came to a stall selling roll cakes. They had unusual flavours, such as a soy sauce cake. That intrigued me, but instead we bought a strawberry cake and a matcha one. Tame, I know. Soon it was time for lunch. We ate at a random restaurant, and the food there was great. I had a rice dish with curry pork cutlet. The side of shredded cabbage tossed in vinegar went well with the rich main. Though, of course, I was more focused on the dessert.

It’s so cute. Although the pudding tasted weird, as in it had an off flavour, like medicinal syrup. That’s my only criticism. Other than that, it was a pleasing to the palate as it is to the eyes.

Once we got back to our room we unwrapped the cakes.

Both cakes had azuki and mochi (rice cakes) in them, which I found interesting, and a little peculiar, at least for the strawberry. The inclusion of mochi made for an interesting texture.

As for the cake itself, it was firm, a little chewy, yet still fluffy. My sister said it was too firm for her liking.

I’m not too sure if the flavours went well with each other. I’d say that I would prefer it without the beans. It didn’t really complement the fruity sweetness of the strawberries.

A random mention of the hotel lounge/club. A trip is not complete without tasting the hotel food, right? Or not.

Look at the gold flecks speckling the near onyx chocolatey filling. Almost like a galaxy. It tasted good, too. Rich and indulgent. Oh, and the croissants there were marvellous.

During one of those days, we visited an outlet mall, and we bought a lot of stuff. But shopping has no place here, unless it’s to do with food. Please observe the imaginary rules I set for myself. Getting back on topic. For lunch, we ate at a Korean restaurant. The menu was… fascinating.

One of them is not like the others.

That was what I got. It was moderately spicy, not bad at all, and the flavours were strong. It was a spicy cheese noodle soup thing. I’m good at being specific with names. Ha.

More cakes, bought back by my mom.

I hate to bad talk any cake. They’re so precious looking, and so elegant, but they didn’t match my expectations taste wise. The chocolate cake had orange slices in it. Chocolate and orange do make a good pair in some cases, but an acidic fruit has no place in a supposedly decadent chocolate dessert. With the strawberry shortcake, it was alright, but it had a few flavours I didn’t expect either. As in other fruits. I’m sorry to say it didn’t go with the cake. It didn’t agree with the sweet creaminess, which was disappointing.

Now, for our last meal of the trip. The meal that made us late. Our fault, since it was a fancy French restaurant, and meals there do take a lot of time. It was worth it. Fully worth it. What a culinary experience. It opened my mind, and my taste buds.

Simple, and presented in an outstanding manner. See that baby radish in the back, on the chip? Adorable.

That’s scallop mousse with a layer of spinach beneath. What can I say, it’s genius. Succulent scallops blended up into a smooth, creamy mousse, with some sweetness from the scallops which hints at their quality and freshness. A purely pleasant flavour throughout. No fishiness. My mom suggested my sister make this mousse and use it as a filling for cake. The comment which my sister and I reacted to in horror. Then the spinach at the bottom, perfectly savoury, and seasoned to perfection.

Next came the bread. With a selection of butter. The one behind the plain butter is a seaweed butter, if I remember correctly. The tubes contained various spices and herbs.

This bread haunts me. It’s buttery, milky, sweet, and rich. With that beautifully browned crust. And a texture that’s fluffy but had some bite and chew to it.

Sea urchin- my mom’s appetizer.

My sister’s appetizer.

Mine, foie gras with radish and pear. This was unbelievable. The smooth, velvety texture of the foie gras, rich in texture and taste, contrasting with the crunch of the sweet pears and radishes. A hint of spiciness. A hint of sweetness. Harmonizing with the fattiness of the foie gras. I will never forget those flavour combinations.

This was my main dish. Venison, barely cooked and left rare. Probably seared, judging by the crust. Notice the imprint my fork left in the tender meat. It was juicy, soft, and almost dissolved away in my mouth. The flavour wasn’t overpowering, but was dominating. It paired well with the bold flavours of the reduction. Strawberry balsamic, I believe. And the creamy puree next to it, toning down any overly sharp flavours. It was all balanced very well. That ball consists of truffles and a few other things. A lot of ingredients went into those dishes. But the result? Intense, well-balanced dishes.

The sweet part.

My mom’s dessert

Let me begin by saying this dessert isn’t substantial in the traditional sense. There’s no cake element, or anything similar. It’s made up of mousses and puddings which are dense and incredibly creamy and rich. With strong flavours such as chocolate and caramel, along with some nuts, and praline. Classic, yet inventive. I was impressed by the presentation and plating of every dish. (Oh, and we also watched the waiter flambé some strawberries! The flames nearly reached his face, but he remained unfazed.)

Last but not least, the little cakes and macarons. The perfect ending to an incredible meal. And to an incredible trip.