“Where would you like to eat?” That was Matt’s blank check for his grad dinner; he didn’t want to “flex” in a “bougie” place that would be “so extra.” Instead, he chose this restaurant whose main entrance is via a parking lot. Manila paper with brown tape lined the walls behind our plastic table with…
Category: Food Experiences (Palate and Food Business Education)
Secret Tea House in Omotesando, Tokyo
When you cross the threshold behind the flower shop facade, you cross over to the secret world of the Aoyama Flower Market Tea House. These await you…. The outdoors indoors… a short yummy menu (handsome Frenchman not included) using vegetables, herbs, and flowers… beauty on the walls, tables, and food… The beautiful ambience is almost…
Sankaku Market Otaru, Hokkaido
Food, Glorious Food in Otaru. 4 kilogram live crab! Succulent, fresh crab (loved the legs more than the body meat here), melt-in-your-mouth (even if slightly firm) chu toro, and other seafood! The rice: nakakainis sa sarap! This meal at Sankaku Market, just steps away from Otaru train station—- one of our best and most fun…
Furano Tour, Winter Edition
Do you know your CQ (Cheese Intelligence)? 🧀 At Furano Cheese Factory, you can take an electronic quiz to find out! 😂 Hokkaido’s yummy dairy comes in different forms here. Squid ink cheese among many flavours 🧀 , creamy milk🥛 , milk pumpkin cheese or corn ice cream 🍦 . My favourite this visit is…
Takayama, Japan
Dubbed as Little Kyoto of the Japanese Alps, Takayama —meaning “tall mountain”— (sometimes Hida-Takayama) in Gifu Prefecture, is an ancient feudal city known for its Edo-style preserved old town. Despite its distance from the rest of Japan, it gained prosperity during the Edo period when the city was placed under direct control of the shogunate…
From Osaka to Gion, Kyoto with Lunch
From Osaka to Kyoto, there are several travel options and the most convenient/ quickest will depend on where you are coming from in Osaka. If you have the JR Pass with unlimited train rides, from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto is a 15 minute train ride but you will need to make train changes from where you…
Gluten Free Desserts at Usagi Sweets, Vancouver
Usagi Sweets on Oak Street is run by Moeno and her Japanese mother who used to have another commercial kitchen at another location previously. The treats at the bottom shelf are gluten-free. The round cupcake-shaped desserts have a chewy texture and they are not too sweet. My favorite dessert among the selection I tried is the…
Elysian Coffee and Ernest Ice Cream, Vancouver
There’s some good coffee across St. Paul Hospital’s Lights of Hope, downtown Vancouver. It’s Elysian Coffee on Burrard and Helmcken They also have Vancouver’s famous Ernest Ice Cream but be warned, it comes in a recyclable one pint size only. For a green effort to encourage recycling, if you bring the jar back, you get $1 off…
Mink Chocolates, Vancouver
Award-winning Mink Chocolates are preservative-free artisan chocolate bars made in small batches with Belgian chocolate. Among their many interesting flavors they have are Fountain of Youth (with blueberries and goji berries) No Grumpy (organic espresso) Open In Case Of Emergency (Kentucky Bourbon and fresh mint in chocolate ganache) PB Wannabe (almond butter and organic grape…
Cafe Crepe, Downtown Vancouver
The lines to this restaurant on Robson Street were often long whenever we passed here on the way back to our hotel so one day when there was no line, we got curious to try it. It’s quite nice inside and the open production area for the crepes whets your appetite to have some! It…
BUTTERFLY IN THE SPRING 