visions of clarity...do as infinity

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Day Four: Roppongi Hills, Odaiba, Drug Party

Hello

xD xD xD BEAMS. One of most satisfying days ever!!! =D =D =D Not only was there wonderful food, I got to buy Gackt's 2006 Tour goods!!! xD xD xD SO EXCITING!!! I was beaming to myself since I seemed to be the most excited person in the queue.xD xD xD Teehee.

Ngyahaha!!!

*composes self*

Right! So we went to Roppongi Hills this morning, one of the newer shopping complexes in Tokyo [the other being Omotesando Hills]. ^_^ It's a beautiful shopping complex that is spaciously laid out and is home to hundreds and shops and eating establishments. The stores there have beautiful clothes!!! *bounces about* My mom and I were drooling over them.xD And Tokyo isn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Sure it's expensive, but not completely utterly totally terribly unaffordable.^_^

We made a reservation at L'atelier de Joel Robuchon for lunch and I swear.. The food there is superb. *beams to self* We had a fantastic lunch!!! Hehe.

After wandering around the shopping complex and buying some gifts, we went to L'atelier de Joel Robuchon for lunch and were shown to our seats by the black-clad staff. The restaurant is beautifully designed with a long row of counter seats as well as tables for four. The good use of space and minimalist decorations make the place feel warm, yet classy. The colour scheme is red, brown and black, accentuated by the use of food items as decorations. The seats were very comfortable and were just the right height for the table.^_^ Top marks for decor!

Once you're seated, you are presented with the menu that is in French and Japanese. The staff can sort of speak English so it's not really a problem if you don't quite understand the menu. [Seriously, if you just know what the main ingredient is, that's quite good enough..xD Hehe.] There are 3 sets as well, the 3000 yen, 6000+ yen and 12000+ yen menus. While my dad had the 6000+ yen menu, my mom and I ordered a la carte.^_^ Due to my irritation with Blogger's picture upload, you'll only get to see my meal, everything else will be up on Flickr eventually.^_^" Gomen ne?

Right! On to the food. I was all tempted to get the 12000+ yen menu because they had EVERYTHING I wanted!!! xD Haha. But that would obviously be far too much food so ahem! My dad suggested I order a la carte instead, something I gladly did.^_^ Beams.

Amuse Goule [spelling?]
Thin slices of baguette topped with pork rillete [spelling?]. ^_^ Quite yummy with the wine.

Bread Basket

Ohh.. LOVELY bread basket. The bread was really good.=D And so nicely presented! And so generous! My favourite was the brioche [the round little buns in front], it was so light, fluffy and buttery. YUM. I kept eating it..xD Hehe. But omygosh. So good!

Le Coquille St. Jacques

Scallops!!! xD xD xD This was made with herb butter and served on the [reused] shell. ^_^ They looked marvellous and tasted even better. I was swooning over the scallops. They were just cooked through so they weren't raw or overdone at all. While the scallops with probably seared and broiled with a herbed butter, an extra scattering of salt over them gave a wonderful crunch and enhanced the flavour considerably.xD Beams. So. Good. Scallops should always be like this! Words fail me when I want to say how good this was.. YUM. I've had very few fantastically good Western-style scallops in my life and this definitely makes it to the list. *drifts away on a scallop shell*

Le Caille

Quail with Joel Robuchon's famous mashed potato with 2 slices of black truffle. xD DELISH. This was like, swooningly amazingly good. On the plate are the quail legs as well as quail meat that had foie gras wrapped within. Then a slightly sweet [honey I think] sauce was drizzled over the quail to make the whole dish so. absolutely. amazing. The greens on the plate were spicy and complemented the quail very well. They were dressed lightly in a dressing that didn't clash with the sauce. My parents commented that they had never seen such meaty quail before. Ahaha.xD Beams. It was perfectly cooked as well and the mashed potatoes were creamy and so smooth. Eating the gorgeous puree with the truffles gave the mashed potatoes an amazing flavour that was slightly tinged with the scent of mushrooms. Omygosh! I think I like truffles.xD BEAMS! I loved loved loved this dish. It was a wonderful followup to the delish scallops.=D

Sorbet

Basil and lime sorbet with berries in syrup. This had a lovely and slightly pungent basil aroma that was very sour and cleared the palate nicely.=) I think basil and lime make for a yummy and interesting combination. The intense acidity from the sorbet was calmed by the very sweet berries.^_^ Yum. I love berries! They put in blueberries and sliced strawberries.=) Yum.

Millefeuille

Joel Robuchon's version of millefeuille, the noodley layers were fried and filled with fresh cream and the yummiest raspberries ever.xD Beams. It was a bit of a let-down after that fantastic meal and is the one fault I have to say for this meal. However, the raspberries saved the day and smooth, creamy vanilla ice-cream was yummy.^_^

We also had a Pinot Noir with the meal.=D The first red wine that doesn't taste funny after I eat something! Haha.=D

Hmm. My parents and I agreed that the meal was really amazing and passed with flying colours on all counts except dessert. The service is wonderful, they are attentive without being irritating. While the staff hover, they do it subtly and appear at magical moments with food! ^_^ The open concept kitchen also allows one to watch the chefs at work and despite the huge number of staff, they all seem to be busy at every moment. When we came in, the hostess also made sure we were seated, had ice water and took our coats for us. We noticed that they even take your shopping bags for you! xD That's what I call service. The staff were also very polite and tried their best to explain what was in each dish.

Yay for L'atelier de Joel Robuchon! =D I would HIGHLY recommend it if you go to Tokyo. While at lunch it is possible to get a seat if you walk in, dinner is a reservation thing.^_^

After that lovely meal, we dropped the shopping back at the apartment before heading for Shiodome where we changed to the monorail to Odaiba! =D Odaiba is the new development in Tokyo Bay with 4 mega malls, Aqua City, Decks, Venus Fort and Palette Town. Aqua City has rather nice shops, Decks is slightly tackier but with shops for young people, Venus Fort is an Italian-themed mall that reminded me of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas [and apparently Gackt had a performance there! xD] and Palette Town is home to the Toyota Showcase, Zepp Tokyo [!!!] and a giant ferris wheel. To get to Odaiba, your train will pass on the 2nd deck of the Rainbow Bridge so you get a nice view of Tokyo.^_^

Odaiba is rather..nice I suppose. I bought my gloves! Yay.=D Finally. And they were very affordable too! =D Beams. However, it wasn't that big of a deal. The highlights were the Toyota Showcase and Zepp Tokyo where Gackt's Training Days 2006 Drug Party is held.xD xD xD BEAMS.

The Toyota Showcase is HUGE! And they've got tons and tons of cars for display from every line that they have.=)

Jiamin's dream car.. I think? She has about 3 thousand dream cars.. But this was a Lexus sports car and I remember her saying something about it..xD Haha. It's a nice car actually in real life.^_^ There were these foreign people hovering around it just before I snapped the photo.^_^" Obviously attracted to it...

My future car [unless a better one appears]! =D The Toyota Prius is a hybrid car that is environmentally friendly [relatively more so than a regular car] since it can run on hydrogen and fuel.^_^ Yay.

After the Toyota Showcase, I zoomed over to Zepp Tokyo and the Training Days 2006 Drug Party venue!!! xD xD xD

Isn't it exciting! *feels the power of Gackt calling her* =D Beams. There were TONS of Gackt fans milling about, mostly carrying at least the tour pamphlet or the tour bag [it looks like a damn plastic bag.-_-" It looks worse in real life. Really. O.o].=D Very easy to spot. ^_^ I joined the queue for the tour goods.

Me in the queue for Gackt's tour goods. My dad insisted on taking a photo.-_-" He thought it was ridiculous that people were queueing to buy this useless stuff.xP Hrmph. Nevertheless, I was all excited and happy just to be in the queue [and THAT much closer to Gackt! xD]. There were women of all ages around me and many obliging boyfriends.=D Haha. The older women tended to be dressed quite normally and looked quite classy while the younger set tended to veer to the gothic clothing side. There were people promoting the Gackt Card for Upty and DARTS. I saw some people carrying giant Uptys and others with Upty swinging from their bags! xD Brilliant stuff. Anyway, the queue moved pretty quick and I was soon lining up for the tour goods. SO EXCITING! xD

I finally reached the start of the queue! xD And yay!!!! Bought:
- the Tour Pamphlet [am flipping through it now]
- the double poster set
- the postcard set
- Gackt's Desktop Calendar 2007, I won't have to look for Lawson anymore! Ahaha. I'm still a bit sad that I can't get the completely gorgeous and to-die-for Giant Calendar though..

Do not even ASK how much I spent. *faints* [Pictures below, at the bottom of the post.] I was completely BROKE after buying all that stuff so I didn't even buy extra to sell!!! *sobs*

After walking through Palette Town and Venus Fort, we went back to the apartment before hitting Roppongi Hills for dinner at Katsukara, a place that specializes in Tonkatsu! =D

Amazing dinner again. Yay!

The decor was simple and minimalistic.=) The staff were pretty attentive too and very helpful at attempting to explain what we, the useless foreign tourists, didn't know. [Stuff like what the sauces were for and all that..xP Haha.]

Curd Salad

It's really just tofu salad. Haha.=P Dressed with plum dressing.^_^ Refreshing!

This is the pestle and mortar to grind your own sesame seeds fresh before adding the Tonkatsu sauce for dipping. There's a separate sauce for the lettuce and pickles provided with your barley rice and miso soup. Very cool.=D Haha.

Chawanmushi

OMG. This was SO GOOD. I loved it. The egg custard was soft, wobbly and so flavourful from the wonderful broth they used. It had the perfect consistency and was so so smooth. With a generous amount of ingredients [chicken, prawns, naruto (fishcake), gingko nut and coriander], the chawanmushi was even lovelier.xD

Prawns

Do not even start comparing this to the ebi fry you find in Japanese restaurants in Singapore. Those are absolutely horrendously bad. This however.. The crumb was so loose and crunchy, thanks to the lovely batter that held it all together. The prawn inside was fresh and juicy, lovely and crunchy. It went brilliantly well with the katsu sauce.xD YUM.

Pork Fillet

O my gosh. I've never tasted more delicious tonkatsu. xD xD xD Again, the batter and crumbs were lovely but here the pork shone! =D Juicy and tender, it had a lovely yielding quality when you bite into it. It had a wonderful aroma and had just enough fat to be juicy but not overpowering.xD YUM. Again, this went fantastically well with the katsu sauce.

Pork Sirloin

This had a large amount of fat in the meat and this made it really juicy and melt in your mouth.=D Yay! Very yummy too.

^_^ Wonderful meal. Wonderful! =D I have a changed impression of Tonkatsu.xD

After that we walked down the street near Azabu-Juban.=) There was a huge LV store there and the streets were lined with trees decorated with Christmas Lights!

So beautiful.^_^

It's been a lovely 4 days in Tokyo.=D Wee! I haven't yet eaten everything I wanted to so that WILL change! =D Haha. Beams.

The stuff I bought today! =D

The makeup is the eyeliner recommended in Urban while the mascara was recommended by YX.^_^ Yay! I can finally experiment with liquid eyeliner. All the girls here use a lot of mascara.=P Goes to show that Japanese mascara mustn't be too bad right? Hehe.

^_^ We're off to Washington DC tomorrow and then Michigan after that.=D I'll update when I can and take more photos! With my brother around, photo opportunities should be plentiful.=D

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Cherry Girl Koda Kumi + that new Mika Nakashima song]
[mood : =)]
[food : xD]

PS: Cherry Girl by Koda Kumi is annoyingly catchy!!! I found myself singing it to myself one day. *dies* The video is so wannabe Ayumi though. O.o I keep watching PV channels. Haha.=P Food and music: 2 things that cross language barriers.xD

Zeelei: I didn't see KAT-TUN calendars at HMV actually.=S But they keep showing the new KAT-TUN PV on TV. Sigh.

cch: Lobster tails!!! *bounces around*

Jiamin: Yay HYDE! xD Haido? AHAHA. I had to pronounce it like that at the record store before they understood me. So embarrassing.=P And Gackto. Ahaha. I didn't see much Keita or w-inds. or KAT-TUN stuff you know. Except for the photo thingums like the ones at Mise? =X Gomen nasai!!! xP

Labels: edibles, Gackt, Japan, Tokyo, tour 2006

Monday, December 18, 2006

Day Three: Tsukiji, Yasukuni Shrine, Shinjuku, Ginza

Helloo

Was pulled out of bed by very grumpy parents this morning.-_-" Apparently I must shape up my sleep habits or suffer and DIE when I get to America.*sobs* Anyway! We went to Tsukiji Shijo [Tsukiji Market] this morning.=D Then we had breakfast-cum-lunch at a sushi place before getting lost in Kanda and eventually ending up safe and sound at Yasukuni Shrine. Then we went to Shinjuku, bought tons of pastries and stuff before going back to Roppongi to enjoy them in relative comfort. Finally, we went to Ginza before returning to Roppongi for dinner.^_^

Omg. I was so trigger happy today that my camera is now out of battery. Out of battery! My camera has never been out of battery till.. today. (T_T) Ah well. Loads of photos for your viewing pleasure. ;)

Wee! So this morning, we went to Tsukiji and hit the External Market first.=)

It's full of stores selling everything from fish to slippers to steaming hot bowls of ramen. There were tons of people out and about, buying groceries and being tourists.^_^" Heh. The old ladies in Japan are very scary. They push past you with no remorse whatsoever. O.o And of course, you can't quite retaliate.. xP

We spotted interesting vegetables! [My mom was fascinated, repeating over and over again how gorgeous the vegetables were.. =S]

Here's the.. thing we ate at the tempura restaurant that I said was like a potato! My mom says it's available in Singapore too but instead of being blueish, it's brown and huge. O.o Being the strictly-supermarket girl that I am.. I was like Mmhmm! *pretends to know what's happening* Coughs.

Fresh wasabi of many different grades and sizes! Ooh. *interested*

Freshly shaved bonito flakes! =D It was cool because this was right in front of the shop that was shaving the bonito flakes from bonito fish!

There was this old lady grilling shellfish in their shells with a shoyu-based sauce. My mom and I shared the scallop:

Fresh and lovely, scallops should never be allowed to be anything worse.xP

And my mom had this queer shellfish.^_^

Then my dad spotted this place that was recommended by a TV show according to a sign outside so we trooped in for the set menu. My mom and I had the 3000 yen set while my dad had the 2000 yen set.

First up, eel! =D This was stewed and brushed with a lovely soya sauce based sauce.^_^ It was served over rice and was soft and delicious. Yum. I love eel!

Crab miso soup. This was very light and yet had this lovely flavour from the crab.=D It was surprisingly not fishy and served as a wonderful complement to the sushi [not least because I was dying at times from the wasabi..].

The sushi platter! =D

From top left [clockwise]:
Tamagoyaki: Firm, sweet and cold.^_^
Tuna [maguro?] and cucumber roll: The cucumber lent a wonderful textural contrast to the soft tuna.
Salmon roe: Salmon roe is usually marinated with soya sauce and this was no exception. It made the roe salty and slippery, while retaining the burst-in-your-mouth quality of fish eggs.
Sea urchin [uni]: Urm. Unpleasant and fishy. Why do Japanese love this so much? O.o
Sweet prawn [amaebi]: ^_^ As usual, amaebi tastes light and not too bad.
Tuna [toro I think, which is tuna belly]: ^_^ This was rather yummy.=) Firm and not too slimy, without the strong oily taste that salmon has.
Some white fish: The wasabi under this had me sputtering and choking.xP Not very pleasant. The fish tasted fine though.
Tuna [no idea which part]: This wasn’t too bad too! ^_^ I was quite proud of myself for eating so much raw fish since I usually don’t touch more than 1 piece. Abalone: I didn’t eat this but my parents reported that it was really tough.
Mackerel [hamachi? Or is that yellowtail..]: The ginger and spring onions added a nice touch to the fish.^_^

Then we had..

Ootoro! At 2500 yen for a plate of 4 pieces, this wasn’t particularly cheap but boy was it good.xD Hehe. The fish was as good as they say it is, like firmer butter that melts in the mouth.xD I was curious because Haruhi in Ouran High School Host Club constantly drools over ootoro.xD Haha.

This is really interesting:

Whale sashimi! =D The white slab on top of it is whale fat. Just like what I’ve read [and what I learned from Da Chang Jin xD], whale meat is a lot like red meat. While the fat tasted quite bad to say the very least, I felt the whale meat itself was good.=D Hehe. It was rather enhanced by the whale fat once it had sort of melted. Interesting indeed! ^_^

After lunch, we made our way to the main Tsukiji market where they sell fish and other seafood only. It was a nice change to see Japan messy and dirty [though it was still pretty clean, just very wet], pointing to how they are normal after all.xD Haha. There was tons of weird seafood but most of the market was closing so we didn’t get to see that much..

After wandering around the area, we made our way to Kanda, got lost and finally took a train to Yasukuni shrine.^_^” Sorry about that.. Yasukuni Shrine is located just outside Nippon Budokan, home to judo and concerts.^_^ If it sounds familiar, it is! Miyavi had his Last Indies Live there.=D

Look at the entrance! =D Isn’t it beautiful? There were loads of little elementary school kids about. Was there a ceremony? Or do they all walk through Yasukuni Shrine to get to the train station? There were also tons of ambassador's cars. O.o

The grounds of the shrine. There were gorgeous gingko leaves scattered everywhere. Beautiful yellow shade.=)

The main shrine! ^_^ Isn’t it beautiful and peaceful looking? [Forget about the symbolic value of the shrine to the Japanese for a second! *waves hand around for magic dust *]

There were loads of students praying to pass their entrance exams for university.^_^” Hehe. Perhaps it’s due to the universities in the shrine’s vicinity?

The beautiful gardens!

Can’t you just imagine sitting there, admiring that view, lost in contemplative thought?

The main doors to the shrine’s grounds with the royal family’s symbol of the sixteen petal chrysanthemum. I think the lighting in this photo is rather nice.=D Heh.

After leaving Yasukuni, we headed for the Shinjuku 3-chome station where Isetan Shinjuku is located. ^_^ We wandered around the food hall, lost and confused and while my mom bought some pastries from some other patissier from Paris, I checked at the information counter for the counters I was looking for! ^_^

Sadaharu Aoki! He’s a Japanese patissier based in Paris and is most well-known for his millefeuilles [a thousand leaves in French] as well as his fusing of Japanese and French influences. Unfortunately, there were no millefeuilles available so I got these instead!

Yuzu éclair: Mm. The cream had a lovely citrusy fragrance from yuzu and was very light and luscious. ^_^ It was sweet without being overly so. I love yuzu..*_*! It’s the citrus component in ponzu too!

Mont..Something: Chocolate mousse, marron glace, stewed berries, almond cake and a cookie base. This has a lovely chocolate aroma that left a nice lingering aftertaste.^_^ Yum.

Next! =D I’ve been DYING to eat his pastries ever since I’ve heard of him..=D Finally I can realize my dream.. *glares at brother meaningfully*

Pierre Herme! He was the head chef at Laduree and Fauchon before branching out on his own.=)

From left, anticlockwise
Macaron Plenitude: A caramel shell with a chocolate shell that sandwiches a dark chocolate ganache filling.^_^ His macarons are sticky and chewy, a distant cousin of Laduree’s light as air confections. It’s really a matter of taste which you prefer.. I like both! ^_^ Hehe. I thought the chocolate filling was a bit too heavy for the macaron though.

Ispahan: His signature creation, Ispahan is a heady combination of rose, raspberry and lychee. With a rose macaron sandwiching fresh raspberries, rose cream and lychees, it makes for a very interesting combination.=D The raspberries lifted the whole creation up with its wonderful freshness.^_^

2000 feuilles: A variation of the traditional millefeuille [filled with vanilla cream], this flaky, buttery pastry was a joy to eat. Filled instead with hazelnut cream and chocolate cream, the leaves of pastry were amazingly good. Mm… xD xD xD

Finally, Le Pommier Frederic Madelaine.

Apple Macaron: It was a bit disappointing as it wasn’t a true macaron since the halves contained flour and were a little like sponge cakes. The apple filling was yummy though artificial tasting..

Creole: Chocolate and banana make a classic combination and worked well here. Sadly, although it was good, the chocolate didn’t leave a wonderful lingering aftertaste.

After enjoying our afternoon tea in the apartment, we went to Ginza next to try the famous Toraya.

Toraya is famous for its specialty, wagashi. The exquisite Japanese confectionaries follow a strict seasonal calendar and are sold by many many stores. Toraya is special however because they supply the Imperial family. Only the main stores are supplied by their main factory that is located in Akasaka. Everyone else [like the department store counters] are supplied from elsewhere.

Notice: you’ll have to depend on my descriptions because I haven’t the faintest idea what these are called in Japanese..=X

Multi-layered cake that looks like sponge cake!
- I didn’t like this. While the middle layer was red bean and was nice, the other 2 layers were really weird.=S

Multi-layered cake that looks like jelly!
- This was very firm and was really nice. You could taste the subtle sweetness of the red bean in this wagashi but I have no idea what the other layers are made out of..^_^"

Kuzu “noodles” with brown sugar dipping sauce!
- I originally thought the noodles were made of konnyaku but a quick check with the waitress led us to find out that they were made of kuzu. I have no idea what kuzu is but.. It made the noodles translucent, springy, slippery and chewy. When dipped in the sugar sauce, it was lovely and light. I can imagine this as a wonderful summer dessert for cooling down.^_^

Each wagashi came with matcha and when we were first seated in the tearoom above the Toraya shop, we were served cold roasted barley tea in frosted glasses.=) Lovely teas I might add.=)

After leaving Toraya, we walked down Ginza and bought some stuff at Uniqlo, a huge chain of clothing stores.^_^ I finally got a cashmere sweater!!! =D Haha. I’m hoping I’ll find other pieces in the US, though it is doubtful whether they have cashmere or not..

However, on a completely unrelated note, I did walk into a record store and saw this!

Gackt!!! xD His platinum boxes are available at every record store I’ve walked into so far. OMG. TOO TEMPTING. (T_T) They were screening the Platinum Box DVD on the mini DVD player..xD Shall we cowboy?? Ahaha. Hilarious. I saw screencaps and stuff.. xD Gackt keeps laughing and smiling. So cute! ^_^ Beams.

My parents were obviously unimpressed. Although they were rather shocked at the cost.=S

=D =D =D The Secret Garden single is simply too pretty to resist! xD And HYDE’s ROENTGEN is just an amazing album.=) Wee!

Unfortunately, by the time I managed to bustle out of the record shop, Mikimoto [pearls!] was closed. We wandered around Ginza looking for a place to eat but eventually went back to eat at an izakaya in Roppongi.=) Then my dad and I had ramen before retiring to the apartment.

Note to self: Yoshinoya only serves beef bowls from 11am to 3pm. *deep sigh *

Okay if any of this post sounds stilted or anything, please forgive me. I typed out everything, uploaded all the photos and just as I was correcting all the BLOODY spaces that Blogger loves to throw in for FUN whenever you upload photos that causes the formatting to be completely RETARDED, everything, I repeat, EVERYTHING got deleted. I AM SO ANNOYED. Bloody Blogger. STOP DOING THIS TO ME. I AM WAY TOO TIRED AND IRRITATED TO DEAL WITH BLOODY FORMATTING YOU COW!!!!!!!! So I retyped everything as best as I could for you dear reader. Sorry for being not very descriptive but I was too tired and irritated. If anything sounds bad, do not hate me. *flings self off roof while sobbing in frustration *

Thankfully I saw Gackt’s Takano Yuri ad soon after that, which calmed me down CONSIDERABLY.xD Ahh!!! Gackt! Don’t look so good all the time! *faints*

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Yuki no Hana Mika Nakashima + Shallow Sleep HYDE]
[mood : irritated but slightly mollified]
[food : ^_^]

pixiezdust: I was hunting for Lawson stores today but none to be found.xP I shall try again tomorrow.^_^ But I really want the giant calendar!!! *sigh* But of course, the desktop calendars being all exclusive and everything makes them very appealing..xD

Jiamin: Yup. No Keita stuff to be seen. There's SMAP and Orange Range, Mika Nakashima, Koda Kumi and Ayumi but urm. No Keita. =S And yes I saw the GIANT Gucci flagship and Dior as well, but I was a bit too far away to take an acceptable photo..xP Gomen nasai! *bows apologetically* Gomen.. And yes! Totally boycott HMV. RAWR.

Labels: edibles, Japan, Tokyo

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