My Tokyo Tokyo Wagyu Cubes Experience

Who knew that it'd be this easy to enjoy wagyu? 

Wagyu usually is associated with exclusivity and rarity, but its addicting flavor really makes us crave for it 24/7. It's not always easy to make a trip to stores that specialize in wagyu given the extreme level of traffic these days. Plus, there are too many wagyu cubes places that no one knows where to get good ones anymore. Thankfully, Tokyo Tokyo now has their Wagyu Cubes Bento, so it's easy to get our wagyu fix anytime, anywhere (given that they have 60+ branches!). 

Lazy Afternoon At Kushikatsu Daruma

Kushikatsu Daruma

It's always a good time at Kushikatsu Daruma! Ah, as I type this I miss their Chuhai all of a sudden. Everytime thoughts of Kushikatsu Daruma come up, I always associate the place with the words "filling" and "refreshing." It's the ultimate go-to spot if you want Japanese comfort food.

Fun Times at Hanamaruken

Feast at Hanamaruken

There are always very long lines at Hanamaruken, especially at the TriNoma branch. But usually, not a single frown is to be seen amongst those waiting, because they know that heir waiting will bring them to good things. 

To bowls of happiness, to be exact. 

Dining at Crystal Jade Hong Kong

I know this isn't blog post worthy anymore since we have a Crystal Jade branch here in the Philippines, but for those who have also eaten in the Singapore and HK branches, you get what I mean when I say that there's a whole lot missing here. Like I am not very sure how the business deal was forged, but I am sensing possible franchisor-franchisee issues as the food here lack authenticity...

Complaints aside, we went to Hong Kong last December, and while we were out and about most of the time, we made it a point to eat at Crystal Jade somehow. 

Ippudo Philippines Visit

 

I love ramen. It's no secret. This is why when I was sent by my boss to do fieldwork in SM Megamall, I was motivated to finish everything quickly so I can already have ramen at Ippudo. 

I know, I'm a lagger when it comes to this one. Our family isn't really the 'goes out every Sunday' kind of family, and we don't really make concrete efforts to try new food places. This is why that when it comes to food, unless I make the trip myself or someone invites me, I don't really get to try what's new because of my family's laggard ways.

Samyang Cheese Ramyun and Samyang Mozzarella Cheese

Probably one of the amusing things I know so far (yes I like to say so far because I am so interested to learn more about Korean culture) is that cheese is something you put on spicy Korean ramyun to make it even better. 

Ramen Nagi Time (January 17, 2015)

Hooray! It's nice to go back to another favorite after quite some time. If I remember correctly, it was Ramen Nagi that started the boom of ramen specialty houses in the Philippines, and even after trying the house specials of the so many other ramen houses that have popped up, I think it's safe to say that only a few places are at par with Ramen Nagi. 

The first time I visited was sometime early last year, and I went for the Red King ramen. Some other time, I also went for their Green King ramen. Being the squid addict I am, today I decided to get their Black King ramen, paired of course with their tasty egg. 

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (December 23, 2014)

I blame my lack of ramen-house savvy to the sheer amount of work I need to do. If I'm not doing schoolwork, I'm busy beauty blogging. If not both, I'm busy cleaning up a mess in the house or busy making stuff for my clay art business or beading. I really like going out and all, but with the kind of schedule I have, I can't afford to live like the people who go out weekly and eat out almost daily. 

So this is why in all the years, months, or whatever time frame Hokkaido Ramen Santouka has been open in TriNoma, I have never gotten to eat at the place yet. 

We spent a good time looking at the set menu and all, but we decided that we'd prolly be better off with the lunch special as these set menus have too much stuff that if we ordered two sets it'd be waaaaayyy too much food for three people. 

Recent Choto Stop Haul

You may have seen my post about Choto Stop recently, so today I'm going to share our haul from the place.

My Beloved Choto Stop

Today we paid a visit to one of my most favorite places in the world-- Choto Stop. 

Honestly, had I not gone to Japanese language school I would've never known that such a place existed. I remember it vividly this one summer day five years ago when my foodie prof brought the whole class to a "field trip" as this was just about 6 minutes walking distance from our school. My teacher had been raving and raving about this place to the class as a wonderland with all sorts of fresh and dried/storage friendly Japanese foods at 80 per item that there just had to be a field trip. 

That time, it had been about two days since delivery date (they have deliveries monday, thursday and saturday, not sure now though) so the fresh items were already running low, and I feel guilty up to this day that I took my classmate's (the one who originally kept on bugging our prof to bring us there) Meiji original pudding that she had to settle for Meiji milk pudding. Thankfully, we became good friends after that, and as far as I know, I think (I think???) she took no offense about it hahaha. And I think she also realized that milk pudding tastes better than original custard pudding... 

Right now, there's no more stocks of Meiji pudding coming in, and there's Morinaga brand here. I miss Meiji because they had the largest tubs of pudding, as in you were paying the same price for a tub of pudding about 1.5 times larger than the others. But I do understand that nothing lasts forever and that the luxuries of five years ago cannot be enjoyed today due to inflation. If they brought in Meiji pudding now it'd probably cost Php100-120 and probably turn newbie customers off given that there are Topvalu brand and other budget food brands that sell 3 small tubs of pudding in a pack for Php80. 

Going back to my first field trip, I even remember that I had to borrow money from another classmate as I was soooo unprepared to spend money that day (I don't bring large amounts of money when I am just expecting to go to school then go home, and that I never knew back then that such a wonderland existed). With all of the store's contents, I just came back home with a tub of Meiji pudding and a pack of dango (it was mitarashi flavor). 

More photos after the jump!

Random Ramyun Discovery

I'm generally into spicy food, and generally into Korean food, but I don't really know much about the instant ramyun brands out there. I mean like the only brand I thought that existed in the Philippines was the Nongshim brand of noodles. 

The other day while I was at Puregold, I was browsing through the noodles section. There was a 5-pack ramyun bag from Nongshim, but the expiry was in less than a month that I personally felt that it might not be worth it to buy something that'll expire soon nor is it worth it to keep on eating something just for the sake of consuming everything. 

Out of curiousity, I gave this Paldo brand ramyun a try.