Splish splash splurge AKASHI

It has been a while we haven't patronized Akashi....one of our favourite authentic Japanese restaurants hang out. The picture above was taken at the main entrance of Akashi located at Orchard Parade Hotel.

After signing a school holiday package tour (heading to GoldCoast, Brisbane), we drove to Orchard for Akashi. We were 20 minutes earlier...Akashi opens their business only at 6.30 pm. To kill the time, we snapped some pictures.

Father and daughter...my girl was trying to adjust the flower headband, which I bought for her.

Different from normal sushi bar seating, we reserved a table this time for some privacy dining with the kids.

My son with his ever comical face expression...:(

Cold dry sake for the night...pardon me if the Japanese term for the below dishes are not included....coz I didn't bother to note them down.

Sake with 50% alcohol content.

Some splendid fresh oysters...that you do not need tabasco sauce or lemon wedges as condiments!

A picture to prove that the oysters were humongous!

Close up of the raw oyster meat...who can resist the temptation!

I reckoned it weighed at least 300g, just for the shell...if only I had a fish tank back home, I will keep this for my fishies :P. It sure looked like some coral thingy from the ocean.

Normally, we prefer to order 'omakase' style sushi and sahimi, where we accept chef's recommendation. 'Omakase' is a Japanese word which simply translated into 'trust the chef'. Japanese cuisine tends to give one surprises and is not limited and stingy with creativity! I love to see food with interesting presentation....mind you that it's ALWAYS an art in Japanese dining. Hence, the price is hefty.

And, here is my favourite sashimi platter, not to mention, my fatty toro (tuna belly).

Close-up of the beautifully marbled toro slices.

My kids had tamago sushi...their favourite...Shu Yi frowned not because she disliked the tamago, its because she couldn't wait to start digging in.

Roasted pork belly udon (the udon came in thinner strand than the normal fat one)....

My girl happily slurping down the noodle.

Smooth eggy chawan mushi...

Our nigiri sushi platter

Consisting of fried fish skin sushi with seaweed roll, crab leg meat sushi, tuna sushi, a quarter section of egg.....and some condiments to go along (at the top right corner). The one that looked like a cookie, was actually dried persimmon, which we were supposed to eat last.

A mouth-watering teppanyaki beef....these 6 cubes costs us S$130++. It's super deadly costly judging from the portion, but it's definitely the fattest chunks of beef....bet it must be somekind of kobe beef imported from Japan, where the cattle was fed with beer, massaged, and enjoyed to music pieces!

It's so artery-clogging fatty that I fell head over heels...and what's more impressive was that the crunchy beansprouts were cooked with some crispy pork lard sprinkled evenly...brilliant!

Sea salt grilled yellowtail fishhead

At the end of the course, with kids started to fool around....

Overall, was quite satisfied with the meal and hospitality of the waitresses in yukatas, but was a little disappointed with the sushi creation served this round. There's no wah..ahh...woo that kind of surprise. First, maybe we sat too far from the sushi bar, second, our beloved chief sushi chef, Melvin was not around during our visit, third, simply because Akashi in Orchard Parade Hotel draws more crowd compared to the one in VivoCity outlet, hence, the sushi chefs' creativity are limited due to rushing. Sigh....and the worst thing.....the bill added up to S$640++. :(

In conclusion, for more peaceful serene dining, and never fail to impress sushi creation, we still prefer Leslie, the friendly chatty sushi chef, in Akashi, VivoCity.

To dine in Akashi, here are the few chains:

Adresses:

1 Tanglin Road, #01-01A Orchard Parade Hotel, Singapore

Tel: 6732 4438

1 Harbourfront Walk, #B2-07/08/09 VivoCity, Singapore

Tel: +65 6376 9972

She's a STAR...who is dear to MY heart!

Every year, the second Sunday of May, every mothers will be showered with flowers, gifts, and big feast from their children. Though we always love our mother very much, but it's not always that we confessed our love and care to her. So, 13th May, was the day, when we can simply perform some little mushy gesture towards our beloved mum.

My sister booked a table at Chin Huat Live Seafood for the occassion. We could only choose between 2 slots, either 5.30 pm or 8.30 pm, as the table were mostly 'chopped' beforehand. We prefered earlier dining. In fact, the timing was a tad too early to allow us to order vast variety of dishes, as we were not hungry yet.

Mum once commented that it has been ages since she last received flowers...so, I initiated to get her some...to surprise her! Indeed, she felt happy and touched...

We had a plate of spinach with assorted eggs....it's always my favourite vege.

Golden sauce prawns....basically its deep fried prawns coated with golden creamy salted egg yolk, hence, the name. I love salted egg dishes....high laden with cholesterol, but definitely worth the order! My brother finished up the sauce, to compliment his bowl of white rice!

Next, a dish which we couldn't miss out for the kids....steamed garoupa, cantonese style.

What else we should not leave out whenever dine in a live seafood restaurant....none other than the signature chilli Sri Lankan crabs! It's a shame they didn't have female crabs on that night...

And of course, some deep fried buns to clean up entire chilli crab sauce as dipping...super sinful!

Dining here was quite reasonable with bill came up to slightly over than S$300. We have dined here several times, as it is conveniently located near our place where we stay.

At the same time, my kids also celebrated Mother's day with me...this is our family portrait.

My son made me some ondeh-ondeh from school...though the look was not very inviting, but it was definitely the best I ever had....the melted palm sugar inside the chewy dough coated with coconut flakes....it's just like the love shown by my kids which had melted my heart...

Mother's Day cards, specially made by my both kids, without my knowledge...thank you, sweeties...Mummy loves you too!

And to all the mothers, wish you all stay young, pretty, and in the pink of health, always....psst,psst...coz that was a wish for myself too....heehee

To dine in Chin Huat Live Seafood, the address is:

Block 105, #01-30 Clementi St 12, Singapore 120105

Tel: 67787198, 67759959, 67757348

Hanami in Tokyo Spring

Finally my dream came true. Thanks to my dearest hubby for his generous sponsorship on my entire trip to Tokyo recently, together with my mum. Though it was a shame that he couldn't join us due to his tight project deadline. My whole family, including the kids were supposed to travel to Tokyo in Spring on last year April, but the plan was dashed due to devastating 11th March earthquake+tsunami+nuclear meltdown.

In last year spring, hanami which was a very much looked forward event by everyone especially the locals, was taken lightly, mostly still mourning over the saddening crisis. Thus, this year's hanami, was a hit, after Japan has bounced back and standing firm once again. Everyone was eagerly looking forward for a better hanami celebration this year. Hanami is cherry blossom viewing and partying, picnicking with dearest families and close friends, hoping new wishes and better year ahead blossom like the beautiful sakura. It is a very meaningful event where the locals will allocate time to gather under sakura trees.

It was a memorable trip to visit Japan in Spring. You can feel the spirit in them during this hanami season....they really love their sakura. You can't even see anyone who will pluck the blossoming flowers off the branch. They would just stand under the sakura trees, admiring them, and taking some shots for momento...

See Tokyo at its prettiest in the month of April, free of charge in most of its gardens or gyoens. During the 8 days Tokyo trip, we visited a few gyoens which are popular for hanami viewing, such as Ueno Park, Shinjuku Gyoen, and Imperial Garden. Although you can expect to see sakura almost everywhere in Tokyo during Spring season.

Sakura snapshots occupied 70% of my DSLR memory cards. There are tonnes of flower pictures, proven that I was so fascinated with this prettily blossoming sakura....not only the trees, but Japanese are so madly in love with sakura, everything from souvenirs, amulets, food, beverages, or even lingerie, were made related to sakura.....what a spirit they have! To prove that...scroll down for pictures....

Somei Yoshino....5-petaled white sakura....

Kanzan...30-50 pink petals. The fresh leaves are coppery brown.

Ukon...10-20 petals with coppery leaves. Ukon trees are easily recognized by their yellowish color petals.

Ichiyo... has about twenty, light pink petals per blossom. The fresh leaves are green.

Ukon..

The bloody red petaled sakura...in Imperial Palace.

A sakura charm/amulet...sold in a temple in Ueno Park

The visit to Ueno Park on the 2nd day was a wet wet encounter...raining non-stop the whole day....and it was damn freezing cold....After Ueno Park, we quickly found a small little cafe tucked in a corner under a subway, near the park. We got ourselves hot coffee and some sakura filling an pan buns. The filling tasted just like some other sakura tea I had tasted before. As you can see, they wrapped the bun with a piece of real sakura leaf....but it was left untouched...I just devoured the bun :)

The Amo's sakura concept bras...hmmmm......do you think I will get this for myself?

Dessert and snacks made from sakura...in Takashimaya basement foodcourt....confectionery corner.

Some bento.....price comes not cheap, ranging from S$20 above per bento. But it was the perfect take away meal for hanami viewing. You can see many would picnicking under sakura trees in parks all over Tokyo, with home-packed or take away meal from major departmental basement foodcourts.

Lip smacking desserts...

Another sakura made dessert...beautifully handcrafted!

Even the world wide known hamburger chain, McDonald offers limited period burger Teritama to suit the taste of local consumers. This Sakura Teritama with light pink sakura sauce, with sakura printed wrapper, consists of a mouth watering juicy pork patty with ginger flavored teriyaki sauce, fried egg, lettuce and sweet lemon sauce. Teritama’s “Teri” is from Teriyaki and “tama” is from Tamago (egg).

Seriously this was so damn nice...why we do not have this in Singapore??

The popular tamago with sakura tinted flavour...sold in Tsukiji

Lastly, some snacks which I bought from Narita Airport before flying back to Singapore...Kit Kat which is a must buy in Japan, because they come in many coatings, there are green tea (matcha), strawbie, sakura (like shown in the picture) and some others which I forgot. I wouldn't even dare to take a double look on those knick knacks sold in Tokyo, not even stepping into more boutiques and shops selling super kawaii and highly fashionable clothings...the idea of hauling back the goods...makes me want to cry! Stay tuned to find out the reason why...It would be different if my lovely hubby was around, who wouln't mind to help me carry my almost ripping luggage....after all the shopping! Contemplating next round..shopping spree in Tokyo with hubby!.....heheheee *evil laughs*