Before I go on writing about my food adventure in Japan, I believe there's a restaurant that needs to be acknowledged. In the past week, I've booked myself for several dinners. The quality of food was generally decent but most of them aren't spectacular so I didn't think they are worth an exceptional mention, but Gaia.
To begin, Goodwood Park Hotel always held a special place in my heart. When I was a child, I would spend my weekends with my family stuffing our faces in delicious Teochew porridge in this colonial hotel. In my limited memory, I can still clearly remember running up and down the steps leading to the lobby in some lacy, floral girly frock. But I had half a mind to not pick Gaia because I thought Goodwood Park Hotel would be so old as compared to the other restaurants in the list. I am glad I stuck to my guns.
Gaia was the only restaurant that served us a 5 course meal as compared to the usual 3. I'm very sure they made a loss but they have earned my heart. If they are planning to put the main course I picked on their ala carte menu permanently, I'll dine there at least one a month.
So, the meal began with Fresh Tuna Fish Tartar. Which was above average but nothing to shout about. Everything is fresh, in the right proportion but nothing surprising.
Next was the Carrot & Basil Cream Soup. For those who know me, I have a carnivore living in me and that wouldn't even tempt me to taste it but I did. I was so good!. Right level of creaminess and not a tinge of that awful raw veggie taste. Very well-balanced.
Malloreddus Sardinian Pasta came next but I highly suspect my expectation was set too high when the waiter highly recommended this dish. I thought it was good but again, not something that would make me go ga-ga over.
By now, you might be thinking if I'm serious about giving them a positive review. For the main, I picked the Slow Cooked Cod Fish Vicentina style and my friend picked the Braised Beef Cheek in Forest Mushroom sauce. The beef was so soft and tasty. But the cod was definitely the night's winner. The light lobster bisque reduction that the cod was sitting on was as perfect as I will ever remember a sauce like this to be. The cod was baked to close to perfection although it was a tad dry. The kaleidoscope of taste exploded in my mouth and the aftertaste was so hard to let go. I wish they can put this item on their menu so I can enjoy it again.
Dessert was the Warm Apple Strudel with Vanilla ice-cream. I must say perhaps I was too stuffed, I couldn't fully enjoy it hence I'm not in the position to fairly comment on it.
Given the disappointment I sat through over the past week with the other restaurants and of which, one gave me a bad tummy, I will highly recommend Gaia. Service standard was a little random. Long in short, the male staffs were friendly, polite and knowledgeable. The female staffs look like they are PMS-ing and weren't very responsive.
I give them a 8 out of 10 and 8 to me, is very high!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Maverick In Japan
Japan is always talked about, so accessible from where I am and absolutely gorgeous. Oddly, I have never step foot on sakura land. The time arrived when my life went into a voluntary roller coaster ride and I needed that "ME" time to put a closure to the last chapter of my life. I have absolutely no plans of boring you with depressing details to my life. However, I will over the new couple of weeks, show you my path in Japan and share various reviews of hotels, restaurants and places of interest.
The trip began in Osaka and ended in Tokyo. For a single traveller who doesn't speak much Japanese apart from Ohayo Gozaimasu & Arigato Gozaimasu, I embarked on the trip with intense nervous anticipation. Before I left, I did a tremendous amount of research and I will also share some tips with you.
Firstly, as a modern traveller, we will very likely need our indispensable mobile phone and as such, 3G/4G services are extremely important. But with data roaming, I will effectively donate part of my bank account to the mobile service provider. After doing much research, the most value for money solution for a single traveller will be the data SIM card. you will be able to find more information from b-mobile. If you're travelling as a group, you might wish to consider the MiFi i.e. mini wifi i.e. pocket wifi. But because it needs to be charged separately and I didn't wish to carry yet another gadget on me AND have to return it by the end of my trip, I opted for the SIM card option. Please note that I had some issues trying to activate the SIM card and although it eventually worked, I was left very frustrated for the first hour upon receiving the card from the hotel's reception. To add on to my frustration, the English speaking helpdesk is only open from 7-10am on selected days, which is absolutely ridiculous! The good thing is that they can send it directly to your hotel which is what they did for me.
To kickstart my trip, I planned to meet my guide at my hotel the very morning I arrived via the red eye flight. Not the brightest idea... Anyhooooo, as I had previously liaised with Ikuko via email, I knew almost immediate (while I was fiddling with the SIM card) that the middle-aged ladies beside me were her and her sister-in-law. The services of these goodwill guides are free but you are responsible for their travel expenses and admission fees. If you are planning to have a meal with them, you're required to pay for them as well. But trust me, Japanese in general, are very considerate and the last thing they want is to impose on you. You can find more information here: Japan National Tourism Organisation For Osaka, I contacted the Osaka Goodwill Guides Club and they assigned my guide to me. They are mostly retirees and in my case, Ikuko is a part-time English teacher and is semi-retired. I only have good things to say of Ikuko and her sister-in-law.
The trip began in Osaka and ended in Tokyo. For a single traveller who doesn't speak much Japanese apart from Ohayo Gozaimasu & Arigato Gozaimasu, I embarked on the trip with intense nervous anticipation. Before I left, I did a tremendous amount of research and I will also share some tips with you.
Firstly, as a modern traveller, we will very likely need our indispensable mobile phone and as such, 3G/4G services are extremely important. But with data roaming, I will effectively donate part of my bank account to the mobile service provider. After doing much research, the most value for money solution for a single traveller will be the data SIM card. you will be able to find more information from b-mobile. If you're travelling as a group, you might wish to consider the MiFi i.e. mini wifi i.e. pocket wifi. But because it needs to be charged separately and I didn't wish to carry yet another gadget on me AND have to return it by the end of my trip, I opted for the SIM card option. Please note that I had some issues trying to activate the SIM card and although it eventually worked, I was left very frustrated for the first hour upon receiving the card from the hotel's reception. To add on to my frustration, the English speaking helpdesk is only open from 7-10am on selected days, which is absolutely ridiculous! The good thing is that they can send it directly to your hotel which is what they did for me.
To kickstart my trip, I planned to meet my guide at my hotel the very morning I arrived via the red eye flight. Not the brightest idea... Anyhooooo, as I had previously liaised with Ikuko via email, I knew almost immediate (while I was fiddling with the SIM card) that the middle-aged ladies beside me were her and her sister-in-law. The services of these goodwill guides are free but you are responsible for their travel expenses and admission fees. If you are planning to have a meal with them, you're required to pay for them as well. But trust me, Japanese in general, are very considerate and the last thing they want is to impose on you. You can find more information here: Japan National Tourism Organisation For Osaka, I contacted the Osaka Goodwill Guides Club and they assigned my guide to me. They are mostly retirees and in my case, Ikuko is a part-time English teacher and is semi-retired. I only have good things to say of Ikuko and her sister-in-law.
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