More desserts at Denny's Part VI

Perhaps I should retitle this post as "No more desserts at Denny's," now that I'm back home and have no interest whatsoever in visiting an American Denny's. Ever. T.T

For our last night in Japan, hubby and I spent the whole cleaning up the last bit of things around the house, running the last errands, finalizing our packing, etc. By the time it got dark, we were too exhausted for a "finale" Japanese dinner, so off to the neighborhood Denny's we went. It was a nice meal. Nothing special, but definitely comforting. Denny's was one of the first few places we ate at when we first moved to Japan (it's right in the neighborhood, after all), and it was also the last. Good times. Good times.

Their menu changed just a bit. I was hoping they'd bring back the delicious kimchee omurice introduced last summer, which I greedily inhaled it in a blink of an eye, but they didn't. Shucks. Hubby ordered a new menu item, hamburger (meat loaf) topped with a fried shrimp. He also got a rice and miso soup set to go with his entree.

The Last Hoorah, Yokohama, Kanagawa (Picture Heavy!)

The Friday before we made our big move back to the US of A, our friends N., M., and K. took off from work to spend a day with us in Yokohama. Despite the melting heat and humidity, we walked all around town and had a blast. There were a few spots we wanted to visit, one of which was the Cup Noodles Museum, where you can create your own cup noodles to bring home as souvenir. However, when we got there at mid day, all the tickets were already sold out. It is August after all, the peak travel/vacation/tourist season in Japan. If you ever wanted to travel to Japan, avoid the entire month of August (and perhaps April, when the sakura blooms). Not only the heat and humidity would be at their highest, you will also be battling huge crowds and lines in addition to paying double or triple for everything (transportation, lodging, etc.). 

Anyway, so we went ahead and had lunch first at Keawjal. Yes, again. Hey, they had beer, and K. runs on beer so that was that. After lunch we turned to the next big attraction in town - the Yokohama 2012 Dinosaur Exhibition featuring specimens (replicas) from the best dinosaur museum in the country, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. 

Kamatora Encore ^.^

Our last food delivery order in Japan was Kamatora, because their food is so yummy ^.^ (or should I cry?). Have to have something delicious to remember my time in Japan with, right? Got hubby to try my favorite, the Beef Stamina with Side Set B and it was heavenly!

The Beef Stamina comes with beef, snow peas, a quail egg, soft boiled egg, shiitake, boiled carrots and bamboo shoots. The Side Set B comes with marinated beef, teriyaki chicken, and kimchee. Soooo good.

Close ups of Beef Stamina and Side Set B ^.^

This is one person's portion. A good amount of food and we both were stuffed afterwards ^.^

Ojori (Korean Cuisine) Part II

Went back to Ojori middle of last week for lunch with Mrs. H. (whom we now endearingly call K.-obasan) who was mum-in-law's college roommate. We wanted to see her one last time prior to leaving Japan but couldn't arrange to spend a day with her family at Zushi where she lives. I had to work, and so do her 3 sons. When we found out she loves Korean food, we thought getting together for lunch would still be better than not seeing each other at all.

Keawjal (Thai Cuisine) Part III

Had to take care of somethings in the Minato Mirai area and so stopped by Keawjal for lunch. Haven't been there for ages, and I'm talking about at least half a year!

My noodles lunch set with fried rice, salad, and dessert.

Maharaja (Indian Cuisine)

Went to a Maharaja Indian restaurant at Shin Yokohama Station recently and had a good meal there. Although the name Maharaja greatly confuses me - how many freakin' Indian restaurants out there with this same exact name? I've always thought they are a chain, but then a google search yielded a bunch of different Maharaja restaurant websites and it didn't look like they are affiliated with each other. Did I miss something? I thought businesses within the US cannot have the same name, but it seems every US state has at least one Maharaja restaurant that isn't affiliated to the next state's O.o

Anyway, so it seems there are Maharaja restaurants here in Japan too, although the one I went to indeed belongs to a Maharaja Group chain that also owns Khazana, another Indian restaurant hubby and I frequent. See the chain's official website (in English and Japanese).

Tikka platter with 2 pieces of chicken and 2 giant shrimps. We actually started eating before I remember to take a picture, which is the reason the shrimps are, umm, absent ^.^ Oops.

Neighborhood Obon Festival 2012

I thought I'd end the month of July with this post ^.^

This year, our neighborhood's Bon Odori (Obon Festival) was on the last weekend of July, 2 weeks later than last year's. Hubby actually saw a flier advertising it this time, so it didn't catch us by surprise like it did last time. We went out there pretty early, about 30 minutes after it had started and the lines for snacks and drinks (yakitori, yakisoba, hot dogs, beer, shaved ice, etc.) were already out the park's gate!

Watch a video I took of the festivity while standing in line for yakisoba ^.^

I'd say this year's Bon Odori was much more lively than last year, which was a bit more solemn due to the earthquake and tsunami occurring just a few months back. Lot of kids were running around, kicking up a storm of dust but no one minded, except perhaps those who were eating ^.^' Watch this video I took of the opening dance.

Kamatora Delivery

Urgh. I'm behind on my posts again. Sorry! I'm catching up now since there are some fun posts lining up for August ^.^

Kamatora is a brand new addition to our delivery-only list, serving somewhat traditional Japanese food cooked in a steel bowl coated with non-stick teflon on the inside. We were so excited when we received their menu flier we called to order just an hour after the flier dropped LOL! Let's just say pretty much everything on their menu is drool-worthy, check it out for yourself via their official website, by which you can also place delivery orders. The lunch selection is small, only a handful of choices, but the set meal is much more filling than it looks.

The coolest part? They actually deliver the food in real tableware, just like our favorite Neighborhood Chinese Restaurant! Each set meal comes with its own wooden lacquered tray. The main entree in the steel bowl encased in a wooden holder and lid, a few slices of pickled vegetables (they just love pickles here in Japan, and I do too so it works out perfectly ^.^), and another lacquered tray of condiments with shredded nori, chopped scallions, and grated real wasabi. For what, you may ask? See that thermal pot? It's *not* tea but rather dashi. Hubby and I were totally fooled the first time we ordered, only to find out upon pouring each other some "tea" into our tea cups that this "tea" looked and smelled suspiciously like...fish broth xD 

Neighborhood Chinese Restaurant Part III

Hubby and I have always known our Neighborhood Chinese Restaurant delivers, but we never tried them. Whenever we go there we always order their ramen and honestly I can't imagine ramen being delivered - what a mess that would be, or so I'm guessing. 

So when we did try their delivery, we ordered fried rice instead and look what came ^.^ They actually delivered the food with real tableware! How cool is that? Hubby asked the delivery man how we would return the plates to them, and he said to just leave them stacked outside our door and he would pick them up on another delivery round (they're really popular around the neighborhood). We did as told, and what do you know, the washed plates mysteriously disappeared from our door steps a couple of hours later! And we didn't even hear the delivery guy coming up the stairs right outside our door to pick the plates.

Now if only restaurants in the US would do this, especially the mom-n-pop places that are popular in certain neighborhoods, there would be a whole lot less of styrofoam trash piling up in the world. Of course this involves a sizable amount of public trust, which is one of the best things about the Japanese society. Ahh...there are times when I just love this country ^.^

See my previous posts:
- Neighborhood Chinese Restaurant
- Neighborhood Chinese Restaurant Part II

Mos Burger Part II

I remember a "Mexican" restaurant in Minato Mirai hubby and I visited late last year that smelled suspiciously like Indian food. Hell, our friend Mos Burger here took a step further, coming out with a seasonal offering of Naan Tacos, which are tacos served on naan bread! Both flour tortillas and naan are made of, well, flour, so if you don't sweat the details, it's close enough.

Mos Burger Naan Tacos

Mos Burger Naan Tacos Marine

***Pictures from Mos Burger JP.

More desserts at Denny's Part V

Yeah, more Denny's ^.^ although this time around I wasn't too excited about their seasonal dessert offerings. It's that time of the year folks, you know, when every freakin' thing comes in matcha flavor! Don't get me wrong, I love matcha. What I don't love is how they love to pair matcha with anko. I am not a fan of anko. At all. It's so, very, extremely, sweet. See how the 3 out of 4 dessert items has anko in it? And that's only because I can't see much of the 4th item, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was anko in the middle of that matcha cake-looking thing in the ceramic baking cup. 

***Picture from Denny's Japan.

Kua 'Aina Part II

It has been raining a lot recently. While I don't mind that too much (I telecommute from home), poor hubby is commuting to Tokyo everyday now and neither of us are ever in the mood to cook by the day's end. That means we order in a lot, but that too gets old after a while. So over this past weekend, all of a sudden he craved for an avocado burger and off to Kua 'Aina we went ^.^ 

I ordered a teriyaki chicken sandwich, which was good but they were a bit skimpy with the chicken - see how tiny the piece of chicken was in comparison to the huge slice of toast? ^.^ Hubby got his avocado burger and inhaled it in seconds. Those fries were heavenly!

Okonomiyaki Fugetsu

An okonomiyaki shop hubby and I recently frequent is Okonomiyaki Fugetsu, although only in the past couple of times did I actually remember to bring my camera to take pictures ^.^ 

Out of all the restaurants I picked this one because of its name "Fugetsu" (風月) which literally translates to "wind and moon." Nothing special, but if you're acquainted with older Chinese literature, you might remember that "wind and moon" is an old idiom for sex ^.^ "Wind" represents a male lover, the man, and "moon" is the feminine counterpart, the woman. Sort of like a restaurant named "the birds and the bees." Who knows why a restaurant would pick a name like that, my guess is not on purpose. Then again, that's the kind of "innocence" the Kum & Go folks would claim. Right, uh huh. It does draw attention and visitors, doesn't it?

TGI Friday's Japan

Yes, there are TGI Friday's in Japan. Our neighbor S. told us we should give their margaritas a try whenever we're too lazy to trek all the way to Junkadelic Nakameguro. And so we went, especially since the place is right outside of the Yokohama station. It was a perfectly convenient stop for snacks and drinks after our long afternoon-early evening stroll.

And of course hubby got the English menu while I got the Japanese one. It happens every time, and the moment the waiter/waitress leaves, we'd swap menus ^.^ 

Cosmo Clock 21, Minato Mirai, Yokohama, Kanagawa

Cosmo Clock 21 is the giant ferris wheel and the main attraction of the amusement park Cosmo World in Minato Mirai. After almost 2 years of living here, we finally decided we ought to take a ride on it ^.^

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, Yokohama, Kanagawa

One of the places we strolled by was the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse (横浜赤レンガ倉庫 Yokohama Akarenga Sōko). There are 2 buildings, one was built in 1911, and the other 1913. Both buildings are still standing with their exteriors unchanged, though their interiors have been converted into yet another mall with shops and restaurants. We didn't go inside, only walked through to the water front in the back. Watch the video I took in front of the warehouse. 

This is the larger of the 2 buildings, Building #2 I believe.

Birthday Week, Minato Mirai, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Part II

The next day had much much better weather, so we went out in the afternoon on a long walk to the Minato Mirai area for the scenic views. Right before the foot bridge hubby spotted a cart selling candied apples. They had 2 sizes, the regular apples and the mini apples they call "hime ringo," or "princess apples" ^.^ How cute is that?

Birthday Week Part I

It rained on my bday, so we waited until the rain stops before heading out to Dessert Kingdom again because I was craving sweet ^.^ And I have my nifty rain boots!

Cafe Leon

This past weekend was our wedding anniversary, and so we went out and had a little fun in Ishikawa-cho. We didn't plan the night but sort of just walked around until we found something that suited our fancy. We first stumbled onto an really stuffy Italian place with mostly older diners in fancy sports coats. When we were told the place was having an opera party with a set menu, we moved on. 

Then we found ourselves a Spanish bar that served some of the best escargot in pesto sauce we've ever had. But of course it was a bar and it served mostly snacks and small dishes, so to get some real dinner we went to a pizzeria afterwards. The place pleasantly surprised us with an actual brick oven and some really authentic pies like the ones we had in the Italian food haven that is New Jersey!

The play room ^.^

But of course, the main attraction of the night was this Cafe Leon, a kitty cafe ^.^ Hubby is a cat lover. I like cats too, although it takes me much much longer to warm up to any animal, really, since I didn't grow up with any pets in the house. The kitty cafe concept is pretty easy, you come in, pay an hourly sitting fee, order a drink, and play with cats, or dogs, rabbits, what have you. In fact, next door to Cafe Leon is a sister shop, a rabbit cafe! xD

Seikarou Sichuan Cuisine Part II

A couple of weekends ago, hubby and I went back to Chukagai to resupply our non-Japanese cooking ingredients and decided to visit Seikarou Sichuan Cuisine 精華楼 for lunch. It turned out more like linner, plus leftover for brunch the next day LOL! We just couldn't help ourselves ^.^