Travelogue: Okinawa >> Nagoya, Japan - Day 6

The gorgeous morning at Miyako Island. Bound for Nagoya on this day!

Day 5 Yokohama, Japan

PS. I realised I haven't finish my entry on Summer 2013 in Japan.
So for the sake of looking back in future. I'll start doing them up!

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Summer 2013

Yokohama and Shibuya

Cup Noodle Museum for the instant noodle diehard fan, Impromptu Anpanman Museum visit, Shibuya crossing, Ichiran Ramen!?!?, Pablo awesome cheese tart x

Travelogue: South Korea #hertravellingyears (Location: Seoul)

This is actually pretty good! Better instant rice than the Japanese counterpart. 

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A Taiwan Travelogue: Singapore Edition

So, I've decided to go for an elaborated travelogue in Singlish.
Rather than my usual one sentence, almost-proper-english post. Hope you like it!
*In case you are wondering, I'm holding off my Europe trip post because there's just too many photos.
This round's Taiwan trip was rather short, hence very fast to churn out!

Super cute design! I love this too much.

Day 1

Arrived at Taoyuan Airport at 0530. Went to the convenient store to get food while waiting for the telecom store to open at 0700 (Chunghwa) at Terminal 1! Their unlimited data sim card is only 300NT/S$13 for 5 days! Throughout the trip there wasn't any disruption in the connection. We got the Easycard (equivalent of EZlink card) from the Taiwan Visitors Association Office in Singapore. It's a limited edition card with 50NT credit inside! Super awesome. So remember to go collect your freebies before heading to Taiwan okay!

Erm yeah, maggie noodles first thing in the morning.

It got kinda strange when we were the only one on the sky train. Early morning, no one!

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Sweet Treats: Gelato In Italy!

Last month, I was in the motherland of pasta. Changed that, motherland of gelato.

OH HELL YEAH

My love for ice cream is at it's peak over in Italy. Everyday I need nothing but gelato. Yes, it's that serious. I'm also on a quest for trying the best gelato! Hence the #projectgelato on instagram. 

ARE YOU READY?!

Top Left (Anti-clockwise): Grom Pistacchio + Flavour of the month (2.5Euros/Piccolo Cup), Vatican City Gelato, Blue Ice Cappuccino + Pistacchio, Grom Caffe + Pistacchio

Verdict:

Grom's flavours were all delectable! My ultimate flavour was the Caffe.

Next up, I did not note down which store this gelateria was called because I honestly didn't have much hope for random stores. This one was from the entrance towards St. Peter's. It's to the left of the street while you walk to St Peter's. Their Nocciola/Hazelnut is yummy!

Blue Ice's cappuccino and pistacchio is bad on all aspects. I've seen a couple of stores in Italy but nawh, I'm not gonna try further. 

Top Left (Anti-clockwise): All Grom's! Crema di Grom, Caffe, Pistacchio, Fiordilatte

Verdict:

Crema di Grom is some sort like their cookies and cream. Nice flavour but not my absolute must-eat. Fiordilatte, however, was amazing! It means sweet milk/cream and it's better than plain o' vanilla?! I love this flavour with Caffe. PERFECT.

Top Left (Anti-clockwise): San Crispinos's Blue Mountain + Hazelnut, Edoardo Hazelnut + Fiordilatte, Pompi's Pistacchio (2Euros/Piccolo Size) + Hazelnut, Grom's Perfect Combo.

Verdict:

San Crispinos has many fruity flavours. Perhaps I didn't choose the best ones. But they tasted alright to me. Nothing mind-blowing good.

Edoardo's gelato is so-so as well, but their waffle is the bomb! Super love.

Pompi's Pistacchio + Hazelnut was something I had for 4 days straight in Rome! Says a lot about how awesome it is yeah? Hah.

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All in all, hands-down to Grom. I can stay in their shop and just order flavours after flavours of gelato. Each one of them yummy! Go and eat all the gelatos!

Gelato In Italy 101
1. Choose from Cono (Cone) or Coppetta (Cup)
2. Choose from Piccolo (Smallest Size) to Grande (Biggest Size) Usually Piccolo will be suffice!
3. Even Piccolo comes with a choice of 2 Gusti (Flavours), Ask for their recommendation.
4. One of the flavours unique to Italy is the Pistacchio. Try Grom or Pompi.
5. At some places, you have to pay first then pass the receipt to the gelateria counter.
6. Enjoy! And eat more!

Find them at:
Grom
Florence - Via del Campanile (At the alley next to the Cathedral's Belltower)

Rome - Piazza Navona

*Opens from 10.30am and 11am respectively, Till Late!

Pompi
Rome - Via della Croce, 82

Food Review: Chicken Up at Tanjong Pagar.

With the influx of Korean cuisine popping up and our love for Korean food apparently, we find ourselves heading to the fairly new establishment at Tanjong Pagar.

Chicken Up!

The Truffle Fries ($8) was very mediocre, it barely has the truffle taste. I had to spam lots of mustard sauce to enjoy it. I'm a huge truffle fries fan. And this sadly doesn't meet the mark of many others I've tried.

The highly raved Yangnyum Fried Chicken (Half; 4pcs at $22) was a disappointment. The sauce doesn't have much kick to it and the portion of the chicken was too big. With the sauce just covering just the outside of the chicken, there wasn't much taste to the meat. Thank god we ordered only 1 portion to try. I can't imagine going for the chicken buffet and stuffing our belly with these.

While it is famous for it's fried chicken, we find ourselves loving the Andong Chicken Stew (Half Portion at $33) best! Half portion is sufficient for 2pax to feel relatively full. Otherwise, it's enough for 4pax to try and share. The chicken chunks were oh-so-tender, the spicy broth super tasty and I love the glass noodles in them! Includes pieces of potato, carrots and toppoki! AWESOME.

Here comes the unique Watermelon Soju ($38) ! I've seen it in pictures before and it's our first trying it. While the drink is pretty nice, it's not chilled enough and way too pricey just for half a watermelon shell with it's juice and adding just a bottle of soju. I'll rather go have 2 cups of Starbucks or whatnot. Essentially, it's something you can do yourselves for a gathering. Buy cups of watermelon juice and bottles of soju. I guarantee it will cost you less that a fraction of that price.

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All in all, it's an okay restaurant. I'll be back only for the Andong Chicken Stew and that's about it.

*There's a 20% early bird discount for those who finishes their meal before 7.30pm. Very good deal considering how expensive it is for such store in a shophouse.

48 Tanjong Pagar Rd
(Beside 2D1N)
6327 1203
Opening hours: 5.30pm onwards

Hello Japan! (Day 3)

Day 3

Still based in Kyoto. I woke up at 6am. Packed my stuff and it's time to move to Female Dorms. 4 bedded! It's good to say I like all my roomies!

First stop was the Nishi Honganji Temple since it was within walking distance. The temple is nothing fanciful, almost bordering plain. With only one particular small cherry blossom tree that caught my eyes. Photos above!

Itinerary of the day is based at Inari station. Just a few stops away from Kyoto Station (JR line) Good for people with the Rail Pass! Surrounding the station lies Fushimi-Inari shrine and Tofukuji Shrine. You might have seen all those red Tori Gates in photos. This place is a must-see too!!!

Pretty impressive with the stretch of endless tori gates. I went up to about 1/4 of the path? It's actually a hike if you want to go up all the way. Takes about over 2hrs according to my roomie who did it. I guess I'll do it next time!





Forever in awe by how creative Japanese culture/people can be. So cute!
And it was time to make my own wish too.

By the time I was there it was 10+am. A little too late, there are several tourist roaming around. It's so hard to capture a proper photo of the tori gates without anyone in it. But I manage to get some lucky shots! (As seen above) Left the place around 12-1pm.

Nearby was the Tofukuji Temple. Along the path towards it there is shops selling confectionery too. Not many though. Tofukuji was so-so in my opinion. Except for this yellow-white mixed sakura tree upon exiting the temple. Gorgeous isn't it!

After which, headed back to Kyoto and walked to Toji Temple. Oh yes, in Kyoto. There is ALOT of walking. It's crazy. I probably never walked this much on a holiday before.

Togi Temple is so gorgeous!!! I really liked it. There is this little pavilion shop at the entrance that sells ice-cream and red-bean desserts. I just sat there and stoned for about an hour. Hello, I'm SO TIRED okay. hahaha. Meanwhile I waited for the sun to be out because throughout the next few days it was a little gloomy because of the rain. Photos only look good with the sun! So yes, perfect excuse to rest my overloaded brain and body.

Here's the photos!

If you actually do see the pink spots in the photo, it's actually sakura petals falling!
It's such a pretty sight.

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After which was dinner at my favourite ramen hut!
Located right at Kyoto Station Level 1; Along Asty Road






It is not the very best. But I'd say it's really really decent and yummy. Also, there's always quite a number of people whenever I'm there. As what people always say, look for a restuarant that has a lot of people/locals. You'll never go wrong. For the price of 700-800yen (less than 10sgd) It is my favourite no-brainer place to dine at.


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Click the tag "Japan" below for previous posts on my trips!