Kobe Beef Adventures

One of the things I really wanted to do this time in Japan was eat Kobe beef. Since it is impossible to get outside of Japan, and I friggin love steak, I felt like it was one of the things I had to spend a million dollars on at least once. We had read that Mouriya is one of the best known places in Kobe for Kobe beef, and it was my birthday, so we decided to go.

The restaurant was set up so that diners ate at a counter right next to the chefs. This dude grilled some garlic for us to have as seasoning.

The first chef was replaced by another guy when it came time to cook the steaks, for reasons unknown. I asked the first dude if it was okay to take photos, and he said yes but was really awkward about it. I figured out why when I asked the second chef the same thing and it became clear that he thought I was asking if he could take a photo of us, rather than me taking a photo of him with the meat. This is because I had forgotten that when Japanese people say "take a photo", what they mean is "take a photo of me with something in front or behind me". I have never really understood this phenomenon, because surely the thing I am trying to take a photo of is more interesting than my dumb face superimposed in front of or behind whatever I am trying to take a photo of? I don't know, enjoy this photo of my dumb face behind these steaks that we later ate.

First up was the steak Shara ordered. It was slightly less fancy (only marble factor 8 or something), and marginally cheaper (only $130 or so). 

The steaks came with "baked" (grilled) eggplant, baby corns, mushroom, and zucchini. 

The seasonings were grilled garlic flakes, salt, pepper, wasabe, soy sauce and miso sauce. This steak was off the chain. The best steak I have ever had in my life, not close. I found the garlic too overpowering, so I stuck to a combination of sauces and salt and pepper.

Cooking the second steak, which was a bit fancier (marble factor 10-12 I think?) and more expensive.

This was still insane, but Shara and I actually both found that the fattier cut of meat had slightly less flavour, and preferred the less marbled one. 

Shara also got dessert, which came with a weird square spoon. Side note: the butter knives in Japan are super weird. They have very short blades, which is fine for spreading butter, but I'm not sure how you are supposed to use them to cut things. 

All up this was a tremendous meal, and although it ended up costing about $330, add another n=2 to experiences over possessions.

Food and Drink Review

Mochi Choco

Sara gave us this when we met her. It's mochi covered in chocolate with chocolate inside it. Tasted like a marshmallow egg but with a firmer texture. I am on-board with all marshmallow egg-esque things, so would eat again. 4 stars.

Orion beer

This is apparently an Okinawan beer. It had a stronger flavour than seems to be typical for beers in Japan, but was pretty good. I am bad at describing beers. 4 stars.

Kirin Chu-Hi (green cherry?)

I'm not real sure what flavour this chuhai was, but it tasted of cherry? I assumed it would be lime or apple but it definitely wasn't either of those. Anyway this tasted better than many chuhais (other than Cocktail Partner) I have had. 4.5 stars.

Slat (peach flavour)

[No picture]

I thought I had taken a photo of this but apparently not. This was super delicious, and probably even better than Cocktail Partner. The only downside to this is that as I remember it only has 3% ABV, so it's not going to get you super drunk. All the stars.

Orangina

Sara was excited about this because I guess this is a UK thing that maybe isn't around anymore? I guess this never came to NZ (or is before my time), because I had never tried it before. My first impression was that this tasted basically the same as those flavoured Deep Spring sparkling mineral waters. They are pleasant enough, but nothing to write home about. However, as I drank this, it became steadily more and more bitter. It got to the point where I could barely stand to drink the last fifth or so of the bottle. Orangina's gimmick seems to be that it contains bits of orange, but I guess it's the rind? All of the bits seemed to have fallen to the bottom of this bottle (and it didn't tell me to shake it before opening), so the end of this drink was just the pits. Not even its funny name could help it. First 20% of the bottle gets 3.5 stars, the last 20% gets 1 star. Average 2 stars.

Coffee (ice)

We got breakfast at one of the faux-European cafes that seem to be reasonably popular in Japan. Meals are commonly sold as part of a "set" that includes toast or whatever and then a drink. However, the only available drinks are coffee or tea. They wouldn't give us a green tea (even though surely that's the cheapest option? They only have to provide water and a teabag), so I decided to get a cold coffee that also seem to be pretty popular in Japan. I am not a coffee drinker, so this was not a good idea. The unsweetened coffee was so disgusting, I cannot believe that people drink this shit. The container on the right of the photo was filled with sugar syrup. I dumped the whole lot in and it got a lot more tolerable, but it still had an aftertaste that highly resembled butts. I gave up halfway through and had the coffee taste in my mouth all day. Coffee is gross zero stars.

Dragonball Z soda (Trunks flavour)

I think the gimmick of this soda is that there are nine different cans you can get, and you're supposed to collect them all? I was hoping for Vegeta but sadly I got Trunks, the most boring character. I'm not sure if all the cans are flavoured differently, but Trunks actually tasted not too bad. It's been a while since I had this, but as I remember it tasted basically of Fanta? Not nearly as bad as what I was expecting. Oh also this had a bunch of vitamins added to it, so I guess you're supposed to power up after drinking it? I did not, but it was still reasonably pleasant. 3 stars.

Gokuri (peach)

It is this. This is the best drink in Japan. 5 stars.

Food review

Fanta (melon Calpis)

Karaoke came with all you can drink soda, which was pretty awesome. The only soda I hadn't already tried was melon Calpis Fanta. Melon Fanta is already by far the best Fanta, and this tasted as you would expect it to, like a combination of melon Fanta and Calpis. Basically like a ice cream soda but with melon Fanta. I think I prefer regular melon but this was a nice change. 4 stars.

Crunky

I got this mainly because of the name. It's just chocolate with "malt puffs" in it. I think there's a candy bar in Australia that is the equivalent of this ("Crunch"?). 3 stars for the candy, add an additional star for the name.

Pocky (nutcream)

Haha okay I definitely bought this for the name. Nutcream Pocky is very delicious. I guess it's just Pocky with peanut butter on it, but I liked it more than regular Pocky. Would buy again. 4 stars for the candy, add an additional 2 stars for the name. YES THAT IS SIX STARS THAT IS HOW FUNNY IT IS TO SELL YOUR CANDY AS NUTCREAM FLAVOURED.

Okonamiyaki

I had this for lunch. This was a pancake type of thing with pork and plum in it. It was pretty good, but there were some bites that were very plummy and then other bites that weren't plummy at all. We cooked this ourselves but the restaurant lady was the one that mixed up the batter, so that's on her. 3.5 stars.

Pancake thing (chocolate)

This was a pancake filled with chocolate. Shara thought this was delicious but it was a little rich for me (plus I was still full from lunch). 3.5 stars. 

Crepe cake

This was Shara's dessert at dinner. It was a cake made out of alternating layers of crepe and cream. I had some, but again, a little too rich for me. Still good though. 3.5 stars.

Icecream sundae

Oh man this was delicious. This was my dessert at dinner. Icecream sundae with strawberry topping BUT the entire bottom half of it was some sort of strawberry froyo/gelato type of thing that was v. delicious. I was pretty full at this point but I would eat again. Also it was 200 yen. 4.5 stars.

Food review: America

Bill and Kristen bought us many delightful treats and I ate most of them so here we goooooo~

TGI Fridays Potato Skins (Cheddar & Bacon)

These start off great, and then get worse the more you eat. They originally taste like Rashuns (which is awesome because Rashuns are awesome) and then after the fifth one they taste like feet. They are not potato skins btw, they are just reconstituted potato like everything else in America.

Rating: 2 stars (4 stars if you only eat a couple)

Burger King Ketchup Chips

I didn't eat these because tomato sauce is gross. They smelled a lot like Tomato Munchos though. Which probably means they are gross. Bill liked these.

Rating: 1 star (estimate)

Doritos: Late Night Taco flavour

These tasted exactly like what they are, which is Doritos that have been dusted with the seasoning sachet you get in an Old El Paso taco or burrito kit. They tasted okay, I guess. Would be easy for non-Americans to replicate.

Rating: 3 stars

Sun Chips

Inferior Grain Waves.

Rating: 3 stars

Peanut Butter M&Ms

I will never understand America's boner for peanut butter. These were the worst M&Ms I have had. They are better than if someone made M&Ms with raisins inside, I guess? They are still M&Ms though. Everyone else seemed to like these for some reason.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Almond M&Ms

Superior Peanut M&Ms. Would eat again.

Rating: 4 stars

Pretzel M&Ms

THESE ROCKED MY WORLD

Rating: 5 stars

Milky Way

I didn't try any of this, but it just seems like a Mars bar without the caramel? How is that good on any planet?

Rating: 2.5 stars (estimate)

Butterfinger

I did try this, but I can't really remember it. It was really chewy? Maybe a wafer or some form of nut at the bottom of it? I dunno I don't remember it being that exciting. Butterfinger is a really unappetizing name btw

Rating: 2.5 stars

Baby Ruth

Again, I think I tried this, but I don't remember it too well. Kind of like a Picnic I think? Maybe this was the chewy one. I do remember this being significantly better than the other ones.

Rating: 4 stars

Today we ate lunch at the self-proclaimed best pizza in New York, Lombardi's. It was pretty good, 4.5 stars. I had a beer that cost me $7 with tip (I was not aware it would be this much before ordering).

Reviews: London

No pictures here sorry.


Irn Bru

I know this exists in Sydney but I'd never tried it and everyone always wanks on about how great it is so I thought I'd give it a go. It tastes super super sweet. It reminds me of something I've had before that I wasn't fussed on, but I can't think of what. Maybe creaming soda? Anyway Irn Bru is not as great as everyone wants you to think; don't listen to them.

Rating: 2 stars


Rolo milkshake

This seems to be a thing in England, where you select a chocolate bar or fresh fruit and then they make a milkshake out of that for you for around 2.5 pounds. I had a Rolo one. DELICIOUS. This is up with cricket as the greatest thing you have ever invented England, well done.

Rating: 5 stars


Steak lunch at pub

This was real dry and terrible and also five or six pounds. BOO

Rating: 2 stars


Blackcurrent soda

I was at the pub and I asked the guy what sodas he had and he didn't understand, and so I asked him what soft drinks he had and he didn't understand, so I ended up getting this because Ro ordered this right before me. It is a glass of soda water with a bit of blackcurrent syrup at the top. This is the best drink because it is 30p for a pint. A+ would drink again.

Rating: 4 stars


Wanky fish and chips

On our first day in London we went to a wanky fish and chip restaurant in Covent Garden. It was like 11 pounds but it was real good, so probably worth it. Take off one star if you want to take into account how expensive it was.

Rating: 4.5 stars

cupman, explained

Previously I posted a picture of cupman, but the text didn't email through.

I bought this guy in a fancy department store for ¥750, which I feel is worth it. His sole job is to hold down the lid of your pot noodle, rather than struggling with a fork. As the noodles cook, his arms go white, to entertain you!

I made a point that Japan has superior instant ramen technology, in the above noodles it has a separate tear off section to easily and safely pour off the water from your ramen without losing any of the tasty cabbage & meat cubes inside.

The ramen above is UFO (¥168), and is super tasty. The dehydrated meat cubes inside are DELICIOUS! We might take some to Iceland because we won't be able to afford any other food - 4.5 stars.

Day 5: Tkoyo (part 1)

Sorry I forgot to talk about yesterday and a lot has happened since then so please forgive me if my memory is patchy.

Yesterday we decided to go to Asakusa, because Shara and I hadn't been and it looked like it might have some exciting things. We got out of the subway station and were immediately confronted by a giant panda hell yeah:


We are doing that pose because we once saw an elderly man do it while posing for a photo and it was amusing to us. Anyway we first went to Senso-ji because Lyndal had yet to see a temple. While we were looking at the map on the street trying to plan our trip a man came up to us and asked us if we wanted directions. We told him what we wanted to do and he gave us very detailed help. We thanked him and gave him a Caramello Koala that Lyndal had brought with her for just such an occasion. He initially refused but we insisted and he got really excited and said "thank you! It is so rare!" which was good.

Anyway here are some photos of a temple (Shara wanted me to point out that she hasn't fixed things in Photoshop yet):






While Shara was taking that last photo she got stuck in a river of elderly Japanese people. It was a very slow-moving river.

These people walk very slowly

Fortunez

Shara and Lyndal got their fortune at the temple (they both got "regular" fortunes which is better than a bad fortune I guess?) and while they were doing that some old Japanese dude came up to us and spent 5 minutes asking us English Conversation 101 questions. After he ran out of english to ask us he took his photo with us and left.

This woman is a taily

ilu vending machines

This guy is everywhere

Thoughtful Lyndal is thoughtful

After we had a look around the temple we wandered through Asakusa looking for Kappabashi-dori. On the way there we walked past a porn theatre which just had a bunch of pictures of nude ladies out the front which was weird to us (NSFW obviously). Next door were these clown figures:




The entrance to Kappabashi-dori had many streamers for some reason, maybe to differentiate it from the streets with brothels and porno theatres for the tourists.

Lyndal waves to Japan

The purpose of Kappabashi-dori is to house many different shops that sell supplies to people who own or wish to own diners. There were heaps of stores selling knives, bowls, cooking equipment, LED signs, and what we were there for, fake food. Almost all Japanese diners and restaurants have a bunch of shelves of fake food in the front window, showing people what they can order and how much it costs. This all gets sold in Kappabashi-dori. Unfortunately because it is being sold to businesses it is all mega-expensive, so we couldn't buy anything :( It looked amazing though!

This fake beer is very cold (it is not very cold)

On our way back to the station we found our first ever Japanese supermarket! This was very exciting to us because up until then we had only ever been into the convenience stores that populate the cities. Here are some exciting products you can buy from a Japanese supermarket:

This watermelon was like $30

After this we went to Ginza for a look around and some more stuff happened, but it is late and everyone else has gone to bed so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

breakfast times!

This sushi guy had bits of seaweed mixed into the rice perhaps? There was nothing inside and it tasted weird so I gave it to Shara - 1 star

I like these weird triangle guys! You have to read the instructions for opening because the rice is wrapped in plastic and the nori and separated, so you have to construct it yourself. I was a bit scared of these though because I know that having a plum inside is very popular but this guy had a picture. It was kind of sweet, maybe teryaki? - 3 stars

This triangle guy had a picture with mayo so you can't go wrong! It had tuna and was delicious! The only downfall was that soy wasn't included - 4 stars

Shara bought this without realising that it was coffee (despite all the coffee beans on the packaging). This came in a plastic bag and was in 2 types of plastic case and also had plastic on top of the cream. The cream was the bulk of the cake but it was fresh, and the cake had a very light flavour - 5 stars

Shara had this as her breakfast dessert but I had some too. It was a crepe but inside was a piece of sponge, some cream, some crunchy crepe covered in chocolate and some custard! Amazing!! - 4.5 stars (Shara rated it 4.5 stars too)

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Yesterday we spent about 5 hours watching tv after lunch which was insane but also so amazing. It's fun to try and figure out what the hell is going on.
When we went to Namjatown we were unsure if we should be spending ¥300 on entry to what was probably just a food court but WHOA it was so amazing I mean you got a cute ticket to put through train ticket gates and the section before Ice Cream City had a WWII themed section with lots of skeletons without heads, but there was calypso music playing everywhere? I guess it's because Japan.

I'm not sure what we are doing today, everything has been amazing without even trying!

Japan.