50 Best and then some day 8: no pictures, part 1

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This is it. The reason why I paid an arm and a leg to change my return flight to spend 2 extra days in Kyoto. The reason for my detour. Dinner with Geruhage. At least it wasn't last minute like last year... this time he did ask me 2 weeks in advance.

Iida (飯田) is a name that would be familiar to anyone who is serious about fine dining in Japan. The restaurant had the honor of holding 3 stars in the Michelin Guide for Kyoto in the 2018-2020 editions but, like a few restaurants before them, had supposedly asked to be delisted from the guide entirely. The reservation for dinner tonight was made by my friend back in 2022, so I felt I should make the effort to come and see why it's so difficult to dine here. Basically, they're just not taking any bookings from new customers they don't already know.

50 Best and then some day 8: shopping for wifey

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Since I went to bed this morning at around 4 am, naturally I decided to sleep in. I had bought some pudding (プリン) desserts from Family Mart yesterday, so it was time to see what they taste like.

Pudding tart (プリンタルト)

50 Best and then some day 7: Gaijin kaiseki

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I woke up stupidly early this morning for my flight out of Seoul, as I finally bid farewell to my tropical hotel room at Shilla Stay Samsung. The saving grace was that the bus to the airport picked up right in front of the hotel, and I had an uneventful trip as I tried to catch some Zs.

I arrived at Incheon a little too early, so I had plenty of time to get in some breakfast before checking in. After strolling around and finding many options less appearling, I finally got myself some seolleongtang (설렁탕). One last meal of having kimchi with my meal...

Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2024

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After a few years' absence, I'm back catching up with chef friends at the awards ceremony for Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Aqua Panna. This year Seoul plays host to the awards, bringing in chefs, restauranteurs, KOLs, groupies, and wannabes to the large metropolis. Most of us having been eating our way around town, but we've finally arrived at the main event.

Of course many people take pictures to commemorate the occasion, especially chefs. After a few years of trying, Hong Kong team finally got their act together to take a group picture. This year there are 6 restaurants in the top 50, plus another 6 in the back 50 - which is a slight improvement over last year.

50 Best and then some day 6: piggy feast

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At an event a few days ago, Mikacina introduced me to the owner behind Geumdwaeji Sikdang (금돼지식당), the famous "Gold Pig". The place is apparently very famous, and came highly recommended by my friends including Kutsuyama, who has been there and could vouch for how tasty the food is. Well, OF COURSE Gastronaut and I were dying to go, so strings were pulled and we got ourselves seats for lunch today - without needing to line up outside the no-reservation restaurant. I was really looking forward to lunch today.

I was not too surprised this morning when I got a message from Gastronaut, informing me of a sudden engagement on his side. He won't be joining me for lunch, but others will take his place. I'll be lunching with his chef friends.

I saw a group of people lined up outside the restaurant entrance when I arrived, but the others were already upstairs on the top floor. At my table were Chef Edward Chong of Peach Blossoms (鴻桃軒) in Singapore along with family and team. As I was the last one to arrive and the boss had already set us up with a selection of goodies, Britney arrived shortly and began her introduction to the different pork we would be having.

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