Re-Blogging for K Because I’ve Relocated to Tokyo :)

Test test.

Wow, it’s been almost a year since my last blog post. What with running Matchaya full-time with K (yes it’s our baby, please support!!), I simply didn’t have the time and energy to write. But now that I’ve officially relocated to Tokyo (don’t ask me why), I’ve decided to revive this blog because I see it as a way of communicating with K 🙂

I also want to keep a diary of the wonderful food which I’m sure I’ll be having, to share with whoever still reads this blog (thank you!) and for those who are planning a trip to Tokyo, I hope my subsequent posts will be useful for you. Pardon the photos though; I merely use my iPhone to take a quick snap these days.

Go beyond the touristy eateries; yes they may be good but it seems like everyone goes to the same old places (think Midori Sushi, Luke’s Lobster, Sushi Dai/Daiwa, Ichiran, Gontran Cherrier etc etc).

Tokyo (and Japan) is way more than that, and I’m going to spend the next few years re-discovering this city I love.

I moved to Tokyo on 28 March 2017, just when spring arrives and the cherry blossoms are about to go into full bloom mode. Gonna take that as a good sign!

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Restaurant Hoshigaoka

Restaurant Hoshigaoka is a good place to indulge in affordable, fuss-free Japanese cuisine. While we were there, we saw quite a few Japanese families dining there as well – a positive sign even before we started eating yay!

To keep things interesting, they do a monthly promotion for set meals where you get an appetizer, salad, main, rice and miso soup. We went in June so the featured items which caught our eyes were salmon for me (duh!) and steak for K. I remember each set cost less than 20 bucks – great value for money for the generous portions! This month’s promotion is slightly more expensive though –> see menu here

K loved the medium rare juicy steak and declared this to be the best dish for the day!

Me? I prefer the items from the ala carte menu! Like the deep fried soft shell crab… It was forgivably skinny and thankfully not oily at all.

Soft Shell Crab ($6.50++)

The hamachi (yellowtail) was the best out of the lot! Rather fresh, likewise the salmon and scallop (hotate). Can’t say the same for the swordfish (mekajik) and tuna (maguro) though. I reckoned sashimi is not their strong suit and you can get better quality elsewhere…

Sashimi Funa Mori ($28++)
6 assorted types of sashimi

Okie, this is my favourite dish for the day! The grilled fish head was superb with delicately fatty and soft cheeks. It’s not available everyday though, you know what they say about good things coming to those who wait 🙂

Grilled Yellowtail Cheek/Collar (market price)
off the menu

Unagi and cod are pretty much no-fail and no-brainer items for us to order since we love them too much. These were so good that I was so tempted to re-order, just to up my Omega-3 fatty acids intake you know haha #actuallyjustgluttony

Unagi Kabayaki ($22.50++); Gindara Teriyaki ($17.70++)
grilled water eel; grill cod fish

We can never say no to ice cream (check out how many soft serve we had in Japan), especially green tea! Not shown here is a taiyaki ice cream ($5.80++) favoured by K so much that he still craves for it every now and then!

Green Tea Ice Cream ($5++)
served with red beans

Skip this. Chocolate “cup” was ridiculously hard and impossible to break while the “tiramisu” only had cream cream and more cream. Make it a real tiramisu please…

Green Tea Tiramisu ($6.80++)
in chocolate cup

My special thanks to Yi Ting for the kind invitation!

Restaurant Hoshigaoka
#04-00, Isetan Scotts
350 Orchard Road
6734 9725

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