The best dishes I had in 2023

Pin It

Another year of eating pretty well, now that we've been released from the shackles of the pandemic and resumed travel around the world. Revenge travel, it is called, and I've made no less than 6 trips to Taiwan just to see the Parental Units. Of course, there were other trips, too... and I finally made it outside of Asia towards the end of the year.

Once again I have compiled a list of dishes I've enjoyed during the year which drew the most emotional reactions from me. I've had many, many delicious dishes over hundreds of meals, and as always it is no easy task to pare the list down to a manageable number. The dishes were tasted in Hong Kong unless otherwise indicated.

Golden roast pigs from New Territories Farms (新界農場大金豬), from Red Seasons Aroma Restaurant (季季紅風味餐廳) - it had been four years since I was last able to taste this roast pork... where the pigs were roasted in underground ovens and the very crunchy crackling come with that beautiful smoky flavor. Just so, so happy to be able to enjoy this with friends again.

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 6: 2 more ramen

Pin It

Just as we were leaving Shuho (酒峰) to go out for some ramen (I had successfully persuaded Rydo to have ramen instead of standing sushi), Goh-san pinged us and told us that he was finally leaving the restaurant. He was supposed to have joined us for our sake session but had stayed behind to spend time with some Korean KOL. He would meet us on the street.

As we were close to the hotel, I suggested to the group that we hit Men-chan Ramen (めんちゃんラーメン). It's not particularly famous or anything, but it's where I witnessed a gyoza battle between the Dining Austrian and his son during my first trip to Fukuoka. It's tasty enough, and we could stagger back to our hotels without much difficulty afterwards. Luckily for us, there happened to be 6 seats available at the counter when we arrived.

Ramen with spring onions (ねぎラーメン) - I chose to get the bowl with tons of extra diced spring onions.

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 5: hanging with Vlad

Pin It

Foursheets left early this morning on a business trip, so I'm hanging out on my own today. Once again I'm having breakfast in my hotel room, trying out the two packs of Amaou (あまおう) strawberries I bought outside a Lawson in Kokura (小倉) yesterday. They were fairly cheap and, therefore, not so great in terms of quality. Oh well.

Since the boss of Hakata Daruma (博多だるま) came to dinner last night, Vlad and I decided to go try out their ramen. It's only a short walk from my hotel, and we were there on a weekday so the wait was pretty short - only 10 minutes or so.

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 5: sukiya dinner

Pin It

Dinner tonight was at Chisou Nakamura (馳走 なかむら), a well-respected kaiseki (懐石料理) restaurant whose taisho (大将) had trained in Nara. We were fortunate enough to park ourselves at the 7-seat counter so as to watch chef Nakamura Akira (中村 亨) in action.

I was so, so happy to see a written menu. I used to think that written menus were standard at kaiseki restaurants, but that just shows me how little I know... This was hand-written in calligraphy by the okami-san (女将さん).

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 4: Goh(Gan)

Pin It

The reason why we are back in Japan, and in Fukuoka in parsticular, just a few weeks after our last trip was to come to dinner tonight. Gaggan had mentioned to me in Singapore that they are doing GohGan again this month, but the dates were only finalized a couple of weeks ago. Gaggan asked us to come a couple of days early so we can hang out together.

When Foursheets and I came to Fukuoka last month, we chose to dine at Goh because we wanted to try Goh-san's cuisine. We also chose to not dine at GohGan since we knew we would return one day for a proper GohGan collaboration. So here we are tonight.

But Gaggan did not come. There's a family emergency the likes of which takes priority over everything else in life. And all of us told him over the last 2 days that he shouldn't come, so in the end he didn't board his scheduled flight. His absence would be explained to the diners, and they would understand. Well... in his absence at least we can pose for a selfie with this puppet, which cost Goh-san an arm and a leg to custom make.

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 3: flaming tangerine

Pin It

After resting a little in our hotel room, we walked over to Warayaki Mikan (藁焼 みかん) to meet up with the boys for dinner. Vlad has been to the restaurant a few years ago when they were at their old location, and they are obviously good friends with Goh-san, judging by the place cards on the counter where they had reserved seats for us.

As Goh-san was still busy with tonight's service and wouldn't join us till halfway through dinner, we tried to negotiate upfront with the boss to let us pay for the meal. Unfortunately our offer was rebuffed, as we were told that Goh-san had already pre-paid for the dinner. This was, of course, a lie... but we were in no position to argue. The only thing we could do was to refrain from ordering expensive alcohol...

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 3: another day, another park

Pin It

Another morning, and another trip to C'est Très Bon for breakfast. We did not realize, though, that this bakery doesn't open till 10 a.m. Neither does Tully's Coffee. So we had to get Foursheets' caffeine fix at Starbucks... which is just as well since the coffee at C'est Très Bon is pretty crap.

While Foursheets had her croque monsieur, I decided to try the French dog (フレンチドッグ), with bechamel, mustard seeds and cheese. Pretty nice, but I think the croque monsieur is still better.

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 2: boys are back in town

Pin It

We had read about C'est Très Bon from a guidebook that Foursheets bought, which piqued our interest because it's in Canal City Hakata just steps from our hotel. So we trudged over to take a look and see what we could get for breakfast. Their most popular item is apparently the petit milk baguette, which is a small baguette sliced open and filled with some sweet milk cream. Pretty nice, actually... as the sweetness worked with the light saltiness of the bread.

Japan Michelin tour 2023 day 1: Kyoto in Fukuoka

Pin It

Less than a month after we took our first trip to Japan in more than 3 years, we're back... and again starting in Fukuoka. We're here to hang out with some friends and, of course, to eat our way through the city. The weather is a little warmer this time around so we have slightly less luggage...

The first thing I did after checking into the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka was hitting the Family Mart just across the street. Needed to get my fried chicken fix! I decided to get the aromatic chicken with burnt soy sauce flavor (香ばしチキン 焦がし醤油風味) to try it out.

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 11: Hakata No.1

Pin It

It's our last day in Japan, so we must start off with a good breakfast. After days of searching and failing to purchase one, I was finally able to grab an egg sandwich (たまごサンド) from a Lawson last night! I could finally complete the tasting of the egg sandwiches from the big three convenience store chains! Unfortunately this was also my least favorite of the three, as there seemed to be less filling compared to the others. The chunks of egg white seemed smaller, and while all the yolk was mixed in with the mayo, it just wasn't as creamy and satisfying as the one from 7-11.

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 10: Hello Kitty Shinkansen

Pin It

Our time in Kyoto has come to an end, and it was time to make our way back to Fukuoka. Another day of long rides on the Shinkansen, but this time there is a special train we are riding on. We checked out of The Thousand Kyoto and pushed our luggage across the street to Kyoto Station, then boarded the train. We were hurrying a little so we forgot to snap some pics with the Hello Kitty display at Kyoto Station.

We had a 40-minute layover at Shin-Osaka Station (新大阪駅), so I sent Foursheets to go shop for some ekiben (駅弁). This is one of the biggest stations in Japan so there were, naturally, plenty of choices. She came back with a couple of surprises.

The Special Makunouchi Bento (特製幕之内御膳) included specialties from the Kanto (関東), Tokai (東海), and Kansai (関西) regions - represented in the top, middle, and bottom rows, respectively. From Kanto we have Fukagawa meshi (深川めし) with the clams; Hida beef umani rice (飛騨牛うま煮ご飯), ebi-fry (海老フライ), misokatsu (みそかつ) from Tokai; and plum rice with baby sardines (梅ちりめんご飯), black beans (黒豆), and yuba (湯葉) from Kansai.

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 4: legendary pain

Pin It

It’s out last morning in Fukuoka on this leg of the trip, and we decided to take in a full breakfast at Hotel Miyako Hakata. Somewhere Restaurant on the top floor of the hotel provides a decent view of the city, provided one can snag a table by the window.

We chose the Japanese breakfast, which included a range of little nibbles starting from sashimi, mentaiko (明太子) - a local specialty in Fukuoka, grilled cherry salmon (桜鱒)… etc. It was pretty filling, and would give us a good start to the day.

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 3: same Goh-san, new Goh

Pin It

Once I had planned out the tentative dates for our trip, the first thing I did was to get in touch with our friend Fukuyama Goh to book seats at his new restaurant Goh - which has only been open since around November last year. We had missed our chance to go to La Maison de la Nature Goh on our previous visits, and the restaurant was closed last October. It was ranked among Asia's 50 Best Restaurants from time to time over the last few years, and I would have liked to have tried it before its closure.

But the new Goh is now housed in the brand-spanking-new 010 Building, which is also home to the new permanent GohGan as well as a bar. The building sits on the bank of the Naka River (那珂川) just below the southern tip of Nakasu (中洲). The design is certainly dramatic, and the view at night is pretty impressive.

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 3: a walk in the forest

Pin It

On our third day in Japan, we once again dragged our asses out of bed at a relatively early hour. We had an appointment this morning and needed to get Foursheets her daily doses of coffee in the morning. Café Miel (カフェミエル) is just on the other side of Hakata Station, and it seemed like a quaint little place that one could easily find in Japan.

One could order coffee prepared one of four different ways, including siphon. Unfortunately we did not have a lot of time to wait for it, so I just got mine poured through a tea strainer. Figured I couldn't go wrong with the house blend "Miel (ミエル)".

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 2: shop till you drop

Pin It

Despite having a pretty tiring day yesterday, we managed to drag our asses out of bed relatively early this morning for an excursion out of town. But first... breakfast! I managed to grab some goodies last night and we needed to make sure we have enough fuel for the day.

The egg sandwich (たまごサンド) from Family Mart was pretty nice. There were chunks of both egg white and also cooked yolk, with some of the yolk then mixed with mayo. Overall, pretty good.

Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 1: back to FUK

Pin It

The very last trip that Foursheets and I took to Japan was a short hop to Fukuoka. We were piggybacking on DaRC and Ro Ro's trip and pretty much didn't have to do any planning at all. It is therefore fitting that, on our first trip back to the Land of the Rising Sun since the start of the pandemic, we are starting our 11-day journey in FUK. And we arrive on the 12th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake.

But... first things first. As we were not planning on eating on the plane, we took our breakfast at the Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge in Hong Kong. The Prince of Napa chastised me for reviewing food from an airline lounge on my last trip, but I just had to make it known that the wonton noodles (雲吞麵) at the CX lounge had become so bland. Other than helping me fill my stomach it was almost a waste of calories.

Well... I wasn't gonna make the same mistake twice. So this time around, I took two bowls of their famous dan dan noodles (擔擔麵). Yes, this is an airline lounge food item that is beloved by the airline's customers. In fact, I think the Noodle Bar at CX lounges play a reasonably significant part in maintaining customer loyalty. Even small potatoes like me always want to try to maintain at least our Silver status in order to have lounge access and get the noodles. But, I digress. The noodles were delicious thanks to the rich and flavorful broth.

The best dishes I had in 2019

Pin It

It's been a busy year at work, thanks to me changing jobs at the start of the year.  I definitely did not take as many holidays as I had planned, and in fact I ended up eating out less altogether.  That being said, I still found plenty of opportunities to pig out all over the world.

As in previous years, I have put together a list of the dishes which I thought were "the best", in the sense that they elicited the most amount of positive emotions from me.  They are listed in chronological order here:

Deep-fried garoupa filet (吉列老虎班球), from The Sports Club (五陵會), Hong Kong - there's something about battered and deep-fried fish, and this was probably the best version I've ever had.  I was totally amazed that something like this could be executed at this level... with light and crispy batter enveloping very fluffy and soft fish.  And that starchy egg drop and corn sauce was beautiful.

Braised stuffed sea cucumber (海參鑲肉), from mom - OK, so I'll never grow tired of eating this dish from mom.  Soft and wobbly sea cucumber stuffed with minced pork.  I'm so lucky that mom is a wonderful cook.

Pre-holiday FUK: late-night eats

Pin It

Maybe it's that late-night session last month... I don't know... but for someone who very rarely goes out for late-night supper after dinner, I inexplicably felt the need to binge while I was in Fukuoka.  I just felt that there were things I wanted to eat and places I wanted to hit during my slightly longer stay this time around.

On my first night, after a sake session, I was dead set on getting some motsunabe (もつ鍋).  It's something that originated from this part of Japan, and I didn't get around to having some during my short trip last month.  So I's gonna git some!

It was past 1:30 a.m. and many shops selling motsunabe were already closed or closing... and I was by myself.  I left the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka on foot and headed in the direction of Tenjin.  The sign outside the Haruyoshi (春吉) branch of Ryu no Su (龍の巣) advertised motsunabe, since they specialize in horumon (ホルモン), so I sat down and ordered one up.

First, a little appetizer...

Original kasu motsunabe (元祖かすもつ鍋) - I've never had a real authentic motsunabe, so this was all new to me.  We've got mostly cabbage and chives, along with raw cow intestines, and surprisingly deep-fried intestines and fat (かす)... all seasoned with some garlic and sesame.

Pre-holiday FUK: late-night drinks

Pin It

There's bound to be drinking when DaRC is involved, and on this trip I went out for drinks each night after dinner - to a variety of bars.

After our dinner on the first night, we rushed over to Shuho (酒峰) for some sake.  We arrived at an earlier hour compared to my last visit, and it suddenly hit me that people do come here for food as well as sake...

We started with a round of something DaRC and I both like a lot:

Azumaichi Junmai Daiginjo Tobintori Show Selection (東一 純米大吟醸 斗瓶取り 選抜酒), BY28 - seimaibuai (精米歩合) of 39%.  Initially served too cold, showing banana notes but kinda oxidized.  Very smooth on the palate.  Sweet at first but gets a little drier.

I've been dying to open a particular bottle ever since my last visit...

Pre-holiday FUK day 4: take it easy

Pin It

It's our last full day in Fukuoka, and DaRC hadn't planned anything so we thought we'd just take it easy.  I missed out on visiting Goh-san at his restaurant when I was in town last month, and since I only confirmed our visit two weeks ago, La Maison de la Nature Goh had already been booked up.  Thankfully Goh-san was still kind enough to make time for us, and took us to Iihi Tonkatsu (いい日とん勝) - his favorite tonkatsu (とんかつ) shop near his home.

Unfortunately for us, the restaurant didn't have any of their Bimiton loin cutlet (美味豚ロースカツ) from Kagoshima Prefecture (鹿児島県), but Goh-san did manage to get a little something special for us.

Pork loin cutlet set (ロースカツ膳) - just look at the gorgeous pieces of pork, covered in panko (パン粉)!