Back in August, I had the chance to pay a visit to HATTI, the restaurant that Kitayama filmed his interview(?) in after coming back from his J’s Journey to India, thanks to some fandom friends. Our dinner ended up turning into one of those, “remember when we…” moments.
I happened to still be in Japan on the day of Kisumai’s debut anniversary so I got to join in on a dinner and drinks celebration with newly made fandom friends. Read More→
I passed by Cafe Joie quite a few times and saw people posting these adorable pictures on facebook. I was so excited to try them out finally!
I went on a Thursday afternoon and the cafe was busy but we were able to find a table quickly. I really liked the atmosphere inside. It was really relaxing and the decor was cute. I ordered a matcha latte, fresh strawberry waffle and macaron.
After seeing all those photos with the cute latte art I was slightly disappointed with mine. Taste wise I found it slightly too milky. It was alright, but nothing special.
The batter of the waffles I found to be more pancake-like instead of waffles. I like my waffles crunchy with a chewy center, but Cafe Joie’s waffles had a cake-like consistency which I didn’t particularly care for.
I was originally really excited to try their macarons since they also had these really cute bear-shaped ones I was contemplating to buy to take home but I was very disappointed. The macaron shells were fine but the buttercream filling was really lacking. It tasted like I was eating an entire stick of butter. I could only taste the butter and sugar. Needless to say, will not get macarons from Cafe Joie ever again.
If I were ever in the area and needed a nice place for a drink to chat with friends, I would come to Cafe Joie again. But I don’t think I will go out of my way to come here for their drinks or sweets.
Late entry for a visit to Soft Peaks during their first week of opening.
Soft Peaks is a soft serve ice cream parlour made with organic milk with a twist on the traditional toppings. When I went it hadn’t even been open for a week so the line up was out the door but the line up moved steadily.
The ice cream is quite different from your regular soft serve. It was definitely less sweet; it was smooth, thick and creamy with a rich, milky taste.
Went with a few friends so we each got different toppings and just stood in a circle outside afterwards, alternating the ice creams so everyone could try all the flavours. My favorites would be the Sunrise in California, Mud Slide, and Honeycomb Peak.
Sunrise in California, Green Forest, Honeycomb Peak, Mudslide, Salty Himalayan
Soft Peaks is located in Gastown which is a bit out of the way for me with difficult parking. But if I were ever in the area, I would definitely drop by to get my soft serve fix.
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Service: N/A
Food: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Almost three weeks ago, I went out for dine out with a few girlfriends and CinCin was picked! It was one of my first nights out since going back to school so while I was tired, I was super excited.
It was pouring rain that night and when we arrived, the hostess offered to take our coats and umbrellas into coat check and we were seated promptly. After some debate, I settled on the flying squid for appetizer, striploin of beef for main, and milk chocolate mousse for dessert. Read More→
Going back to school, I’m now working less. Since I’m back to being a poor student, I’m trying to cut down eating out and spending less. I still want to blog about food so I thought, why not blog about some of the meals that I cook at home? I’m not very good at cooking so I’m not knowledgeable enough to post recipes and what not, but I certainly love cooking and taking pictures of it.
I’ve been to Marulilu plenty of times and I keep going back. I’ve just visited them three times in a month so I reckon I should sit down and write about them properly. Marulilu Cafe is a Japanese-run establishment that serves breakfast all day. So unfortunately they aren’t open for dinner service (closes at 6pm).
The place is tiny and operates kind of like a food court style. You’ll be seated with the menus and then when you are ready, you go up to the counter to order and pay first. When the food is ready, they will bring it to your table. During weekends, the place fills up quickly but they don’t take reservations. The prices are also very reasonable and portions are decent.
They have the traditional western-style breakfast plates as well as eggs benny. I’m not a huge fan of eggs benedict so out of the numerous times I’ve been there, I never tried it. But I always see other customers order it and it looks delicious. Read More→
After hearing much hype about the new Japanese family-run-type Basho Cafe, I was raring to go try. Excitedly, I grabbed my camera and Sir Durr along and we putted all the way down to the east side to check it out. When you go inside, you are greeted with the the chalkboard menu on the wall and then you will order and pay at the counter first before sitting down. I took out my DSLR to snap pictures of the cute decor only to found out that I had forgotten to put my memory card back in after loading all the photos into my computer! D: So that’s why despite having visited Basho Cafe back in August, I’m only posting about it now. I was waiting for when I would go revisit with a proper camera to talk about them but realize now that that might be a while. ^^;
I’m a great fan of Miku & Minami, the aburi specialty sushi sister restaurants. When I first heard that they would be opening up a new restaurant that would specialize in gyoza, I was stoked.
A gyoza joint run by my favorite aburi joint?? I couldn’t wait to try them. Their grand opening was on September 6th, so I decided to go there for my birthday at the end of the month.
I’ve been to Minami (and Miku) a fair few times, both with a big party and with smaller numbers, and now I’m finally sitting down to talk about them.
Minami’s specialty is their aburi sushi and let me tell you, it gives you a mouth orgasm. The umami and the aftertaste is pure joy.
So I’ll just talk about this one particular visit as its the only one where I brought an actual camera. The atmosphere inside during the evening is all dimmed lights and candles so I apologize for the grainy/blurriness of the shots.
As an appetizer we started off with the Aburi Beef Carpaccio. It’s nice and light and I love breaking the yolk in the middle and having it together with the greens on the side. Read More→
Now I’ve been to Fable Kitchen twice so I think it’s safe to say that they consistently nail everything.
I love their “farm-to-table” concept and sourcing from locals. After hearing wonderful reviews, I couldn’t wait to go try them out so I’ll just briefly talk about my two experiences with them here!
