Our friend organized a weekend ski tip to Yamgata/Zao Onsen. Sadly, the snow monsters had melted because of the warm weather lately but it was still a great trip. We had some great views from the mountain.
Afterwards, we walked around the town and visited two onsens – a small cedar public onsen and another onsen with a great outdoor bath. Here’s a view of the town at night.
The next day we decided to skip skiing to check out the quaint town during the day and go to another onsen. Hot spring waters flow freely throughout the town. It pretty cool. We also tried a foot bath in town – it was very HOT! See the steam from the onsen water…
The area had some great food, too – edamame and fruits. The edamame was yummy – I think the izakaya we tried put butter in their edamame. Friend, food, skiing and onsen = a great weekend.
While in Hokkaido, I bought some omiyage for my co-workers (as is Japanese custom) from my trip. A very popular and famous omiyage is a white chocolate cookie called 白い恋人 (shiroi koibito) – literally “white lover.” The Japanese find the name quite interesting. The cookies themselves are yummy but the name is quite amusing.
We went to Aquavit Tokyo in Gaienmae for dinner one night at the invitation of my other boss and his wife. Aquavit is a Scandinavian restaurant with a branch in NYC and Tokyo. Aquavit is the name of infused vodka. I tried a lychee aquavit martini. It was quite smooth and yummy. The restaurant itself is in a standalone building which is unusual for Tokyo.
We chose one of the set courses with appetizer (Scandinavian sampler for Henry and foie gras for me), lobster bisque, main course (venison for Henry and fish for me) and dessert (chocolate cake for Henry and princess cake for me).
We’ve been on a KitKat spree lately. We heard from a friend that they had citrus and chilli flavored KitKat in the southern island of Japan. There was also wasabi flavored KitKat but we can’t seem to find it now. While in Hokkaido, we found corn and melon flavored KitKat!
Also, melon and cheesecake Hi-Chew.
In Narita (on our way to Guam) we found matcha (green tea) KitKat which is very popular and kind of expensive if you buy it in Kyoto.
On our trip to Zao Onsen for skiing in Yamagata, we bought cherry and edamame flavored KitKat.
Finally, the latest flavor is Sakura Matcha – just in time for spring.
The best way to eat Kobe beef is teppanyaki style. Hands down. These are the words of my fellow co-workers who’ve had had it teppan-style over 3 times, and myself, the second time. It is a beautiful seared start and a finish so rich, that it tastes like melty goodness in your mouth. Our other steak of the evening was a Chateaubriand. It’s as more beefy and was extremely tender. I have to say that it’s worth trying both at the same time to see the difference.
We pulled out the wallet and splurged for the dinner course. It came with tiny appetizer, appetizer, a grilled starter, our steak of choice, garlic fried rice, and desert. This was all on the top of the 52nd floor of the Sumitomo building at Seryna in Shinjuku.
Scallops had to be ordered!
I had the foie gras
Left is Kobe, Right is Chateaubriand
The fat was cooked up for a while and served as cracklin’s later. It was fantastic too.
Posted by
henry in
foodie |
02.25.2010 6am | tags:
Chateaubriand,
kobe,
Seryna,
steak,
teppanyaki,
神戸,
鉄板焼
