DAY 9 IN OSAKA: CATCHING SAKURA IN HIMEJI

Finally going to finish my Japan posts soon? It's Day 9! Gonna be a short post since today is mostly walking around and shopping~

Day 9:

• Travel to Himeji

1.     Mount Shosha: Engyoji temple (Decided not to travel further)

2.     Himeji Castle

3.     Koukoen Garden (We didn't enter the castle area, there were too many people)

• Walk around streets near Himeji station and shop

• Head to Kuromon Ichiba Market and Dotonbori

Took an hour plus train ride to Himeji! But it was totally worth it to see the sakura petals falling there :D We bought some sushi in case we wanted to snack when walking around Himeji castle..

Salmon!

Drizzling when we arrived! Himeji castle can be seen in the distance!

Look at those cherry blossoms!

We didn't enter the castle grounds as there was a loooong queue to go in! We spent our time at the area outside catching sakura petals! ;P

Happy me surrounded by cherry blossoms! ^^

We had lunch at Tamago-ya (たまごや)! We were there when it opens so we did not need to queue! Their specialty is eggs of course! For directions and store details, click >>here<<

Store front

Our set with free flow of rice and eggs!

Yum yum! We shared a set, adding a bowl of minced beef. It was very filling! It was interesting to eat rice with raw eggs and it was good! The egg omelette was good, though not as good as the one we had during our ryokan stay! 

Next, we walked around the shopping street between Himeji station and Himeji castle!

I can't recall us buying anything much though. We did see a cutely decorated store.

Clearly, we need to take a photo with her! >.<

After wandering around a while more, we head back to Osaka. We went to Kuromon Ichiba Market!

Apple & strawberry ice cream!

We bought the ice cream once we stepped into the market ;P Yummy! Strolled around a bit before buying strawberries back to eat in our apartment. As we are in Dotonbori area again, we have to shop there again! Honestly, we keep going back to Dotonbori to shop! XD Another reason we are there is also to go to Vietnam Airlines office to purchase additional luggage allowance since we are pretty sure the amount of things we have bought exceeds 20kg! Tried to call the office but didn't go through.. not sure if I dialed wrongly or what though...

Well, before we reached the office, we walked past a bakery shop and we bought some croissant too!

After buying our additional 10kg luggage, we explored Dotonbori! We had gyoza along the stretch of street where kani doraku is located!

Store front

Inside the store

Gyoza

The one we had at the ramen place near Fukushima station was nicer though! But this is still better than what we get in Singapore I think!

We tried takoyaki from one of the stalls there too. It seems I forgot to take a picture of the store... We didn't buy from the store with the big octopus signboard though! 

 Not too bad! But I like the takoyaki from Kougaryu better! The one located at Namba! :D Eating piping hot food is shiok when the weather is cold!!

More ice cream

Clearly, we ended the day with more ice cream! >.<

And... that's the end of Day 9!

*Continue to Day 10!~

12D11N Japan Food Reviews (Kobe & Himeji)!

A post on all the food reviews for the cafes and restaurants we been to in  Kobe and Himeji!

P.S. I don't think I am a very good food reviewer but the directions to get there will surely help you!

DYNAMIC KITCHEN & BAR - SUN (燦 神戸店)
*No English menu available*
A buffet style restaurant

Store Interior

Fried and raw mackerel 

Review: 
Food: Nothing special and there isn't a lot of variety for the buffet as well. Annnnd, I realised that I do not like saba(mackerel), especially raw ones.. There's just this very fishy taste I do not like. Even when fried, I can still taste a mild fishy taste x.x

Service: As usual, the staff are all very friendly. However, out of the places we went to, we faced the most issue with communication here. There wasn't a staff here who was able to speak or understand English well enough. We were very lost and confused since we stepped in. So best if you have some knowledge of Japanese if you decide to come here. Furthermore, their menu is in Kanji (that's normal) and they do not have English menu (omg!).

Price: It is not very cheap and I feel that there isn't much variety of food nor are they very nice. But somehow they charged us the price for one pax, so that's good for us! Probably cause we can't communicate with them, so we have no idea what's going on.  

Recommended?
Nope, there are nicer food in Japan!

Address: 燦 神戸店, 1 Chome-10-1 Sannomiyacho, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture 650-0021, Japan (Located on the 10th level)

Opening hours: 

Refer >>here<<

Gozasoro @ Sannomiya Station (御座候)
Japanese baked sweet, it's like the pancake Mr Bean sells I suppose? They have many outlets in Japan! Visit their website(in Jap) >>here<<

White Bean & Red Bean

Review: 
Food: It is filled white/red beans! Very flavourful and filling! 

Recommended?
Yes! Especially if you like red/white beans!

Address: At Sannomiya Station

Opening hours: 10am to 8pm

Kaiseki Ryori at Taketoritei Maruyama
Traditional Japanese meal!

Long menu!

Appetizer: Japanese fishes and tofu skin in jelly

Now this is very unique and tastes surprisingly good! It's a chilled dish and taste cold and savoury!

Strawberry wine

I'm really an alcohol person but this is nice! 

 Appetizer: Egg mousse of soft roe of sea bream

Otherwise known as chawanmushi. All the chawanmushi I had in Japan were good!

Soup: Sea Bream & little seed hot pot

Put the fishes into the hot pot to cook! The soup is rather plain; doesn't have much taste.. The fish is fresh.

Raw fishes: Tuna sashimi with egg, Amberjack, Bonito

 Nope to the Bonito (Mackerel!! NO!) The tuna is especially nice with the egg yolk! I LOVE the eggs in Japan!

Scallop wrapped seaweed

The seaweed was a bit difficult to bite and tear, but the scallops were really nice!

Combination plate of sea and mountain: pickled baby gray mullet, little squid, simmered octopus, thick egg omelet, taro tofu, strawberry tomato, rape blossom seed, sea tangle with herring roe and wasabi

This is a very adventurous dish that we didn't manage to finish. I can't make myself try the whole pickled fish or the little squids that are staring at me x.x The simmered octopus is very chewy.  Nice omelet. Taro tofu was rather special. I had 1 mouthful of the sea tangle and I didn't like it. 

Fried dish: Fried spanish mackerel, bamboo and eggplant in Japanese soup

Japanese love their mackerels, like they love savoury food.. I was ok with this mackerel though. The 'soup' is more like gravy cause it is thick. The 'soup' is savoury.

Grilled dish: Japanese pepper taste beef with spring vegetables

This is good! We were getting FULL though!  

Rice cooked with sakura shrimps  & red miso soup

omg, the rice.. We just tried a few mouthful.. Honestly, I can't tell you how it taste like because I was too full already! The miso soup was not bad though.

Dessert: Brown sugar rice cake & brandy jelly with red bean

I like the brandy jelly! Can't really taste the alcohol and it is light on the stomach! 

Review: 
Food: From the menu, you already can see that it is going to be very filling! Some of the dishes were to adventurous for us and we didn't finish them or we were just too full, like the rice that comes in as the 9th course.. Some of the dishes were good, some ok, but it was a good experience!

Service: Very friendly and helpful staff! She guided us how to eat this complicated meal ;) When we started leaving leftovers, she asked if the food was ok. We just rub our tummies and said we were full and she smiled >.<

Recommended?
If you are booking your stay in Taketoritei Maruyama through Agoda, do get the deal that includes dinner and breakfast! 

Steakland
*English menu available outside the store*
They serve a variety of meat, including kobe beef!

Steakland and long queue!

Menu

Salad

Chef getting ready to cook the beef

Kobe beef!

Review: 
Food: The beef was tender and juicy. I would like to have more of the meat to eat with my rice! ;D 

Service: Everything is about fast and efficient here. The chef was nice though *cute chef alert* He is able to ask and understand simple English; his pronunciation is quite clear.

Recommended?
Yes! Try the kobe beef!

Address: Steakland Kobe, Kitanagasadori, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Opening hours: 11am to 10pm

Tamago-ya (たまごや)
*English menu available outside the store*

Eggs are their specialty!

Store front

Unagi bento

Our meal!

Unagi

Tamago

Beef

Review: 
Food: We shared a set, adding a bowl of minced beef. It was very filling! It was interesting to eat rice with raw eggs and it was good! The egg omelette was good, though not as good as the one we had during our ryokan stay! I am not really a fan of unagi, but this was not bad.

Recommended?
Yes! Especially if you LOVE eggs! :D

Address: たまごや, Japan, 〒670-0012, 兵庫県姫路市本町６８

Opening hours: 11am to 4pm