Japan in October 2014! (Day 1 and Day 2)

Went to Japan again with <3 in October. We got the tickets from some scoot promotion and the price before adding additional luggage weight was around $200+. It's pretty worth it to buy Scoot's ticket's during their mega sale (eg. birthday sale) if you don't mind flying budget. No blanket/ food/ entertainment so we brought our own. Transit was at taipei and there was just enough time to make it to board the flight to Tokyo. No time to eat though. There is no need for any Scoot through as that is only meant for flights connecting at Singapore.

It has been awhile since our last trip so we were really looking forward to it! Brought my uncle's goprop along but we were not able to use it properly as we did not have the right mount. Nevertheless, it will be a good equipment to bring along to trips.

After checking into our hotel, i brought CW to my favourite Ichiran ramen located not too far from our hotel as we were starving! We chose the richest soup base and CW loved it! He finished the last drop of soup. Eating at Ichiran is fast as the environment does not encourage people to sit there to chit chat. Eat and leave. You can buy the tickets for your meal before heading in.

All smiles

Can't wait to dig in

The usual. No greens with an egg.

We made our way to Asakusa (Sensoji Temple) after the meal but we were too late. Most of the shops were closed so we headed to Tokyo Sky Tree. Another wrong decision. We should have booked tickets earlier as the queue to go up was really long. However, looking at their website, it seems like it's not possible to purchase the tickets on your own as a foreigner.  

Night at Sensoji

100Yen a try. Romper from LoveBonito.

One for you?

Since we did not head up the Tokyo Sky Tree, just some random pictures that we took while checking out the place.

Tokyo bananas!

Sky tree from the bottom.

And that was all for our first day in Tokyo. We rented a car for the next day to drive to Mt Fuji! Second time driving in Japan so we are more prepared for what is to come. We rented a GPS with english instructions but like all GPS in Japan, you need the phone number or location code to key into the GPS. Not easy to find some of those quotes but with some hard work searching on the internet, we managed to find all the information that we need. Instead of the usual Lake Kawaguchi, i opted for Lake Yamanaka this time. We also booked a night in Hotel Mt Fuji which comes with an awesome view right outside the window. The most expensive accommodation of our trip.

View of Fuji along the way. Picture taken with iPhone 6.

View of Fuji along the way. Picture taken with iPhone 6.

View of Fuji along the way. Picture taken with iPhone 6.

View of Fuji along the way. Picture taken with iPhone 6.

Happy thinking that we can still get to see Fuji.

This Mazda is an awesome drive! Spot CW behind. Free parking at the hotel.

Cw doing what he does best. Love the sun rays shining down.

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Lake Yamanaka is very laid back as compared to Lake Kawaguchi. You need to research earlier beforehand to know what is in the vicinity if not you will be quite bored. As it was cold when we went there, there are no activities on the lake. It was so convenient with the car as we could go anywhere we wanted to and not be restricted by any bus schedules. We also visited Oshino Hakkai. It was one of the more touristy spots at Yamanaka.

Really clear water.

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Lots of tourist like myself.

Meow

We ate fish beside live fishes. Cruel much? This was grilled on the spot and it was awesome with lemon!

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Picture by CW. www.eleventwomedia.com

Since we did not want to have dinner in the hotel, we drove to Denny's (one of the very few restaurants still open). The trip at Lake Yamanaka was planned with Mt Fuji in mind BUT we only got to see the mountain on our way there. The moment we reached our hotel, Fuji was GONE. Totally covered in clouds. From then till the next day when we checked out, we did not see Fuji at all and to make things worse, it kept raining and we were freezing. Will love to be there when the sky is clear. 

Food was not too shabby.

Supper in the room. Taken with iphone 6.

Symmetry Cafe

Symmetry Cafe

9 Jalan Kubor #01-01 S(199206)

 

Finally visited Symmetry! Wanted to check out this place since forever but never got the chance to. It's not easy to find parking lots nearby so it's better to go by public transport. Also, the entrance is easy to miss to do keep a look out. Went there on Sunday at around 2pm and there were 2 groups in the queue before us. Got in after waiting for 10 minutes. From the outside, the interior looks very dark. In my opinion, space is very limited and is hard to walk around. We ordered big breakfast, potato fries, Ham Hock & Pancetta Steak and iced mocha. I like the design of the menu!

 

Food was good. One of the best truffe fries till date. We couldn't finish the fries and we brought home the rest. Bad move because the fries turned soggy. It will be best to finish the fries there to enjoy the taste. The bucket of fries will be enough to be shared among 4 people. For the big breakfast, the scrambled eggs were awesome. It's the right done-ness- not too dry, not too hard. Mushroom wise I still prefer the one from Food for thought. Usually when i order breakfast set for lunch, i will hardly touch the bread because it's always dry and hard. Their bread here is different. It's still soft and goes very well with the jam provided. The chicken cheese sausage rocks too! I also like it that their bacon is not too salty and not oily. CW enjoyed his pork knuckles too. We had a good experience at Symmetry cafe. Can't wait to be back to try other food!

 

海底捞 (Hai Di Lao)

Happy 6 Years and 9 Months CW <3. 

Had 海底捞 (Hai Di Lao) for the first time in Beijing 2 years ago and the experience in China was amazing. The service was expectational and it makes their guests feel like royalties. They provide manicure services, shoe polishing services, even in the toilet they have staff giving you napkins etc. The staff are very attentive to your needs and are ever ready to help you with preparing your food. I tried the 麻辣 and mushroom soup in china and this time, I tried the 麻辣 and tomato soup. OMG the tomato soup base is so good! As there were only 2 of us, they offered us the table with 2 separate pots. The food is fresh and the soup base is good. The bill came up to $91 for 2 pax. Their noodles are quite special, there will be someone who will do the noodle pulling performance before serving the noodles to you. The noodles are thick but the texture is Q. I like the noodles but i'm not very comfortable with the performance because i'm so afraid that he will hit someone or something in the process. Their shrimp paste is good too. We left ours soaking in the soup for quite some time but it still tastes the same as when it was just put in. I'll definitely be back even though the price is high. 

Currently, they have 2 branches. Once at Clarke Quay and the other at Somerset 313. Heard from the staff that they are looking to open another branch but the location has not been found yet. Please open one in the East and is easy to access!

Hungry CW waiting

Look at the meat!

Shrimp paste in the soup.

Walked around 313 and decided to try Llao Llao located at the basement. Heard that the usual queue is very long but I guess we were lucky that we only waited 10 minutes to get our Sanum. We had Sanum with Chocorock sauce, caramalised cookies, kiwi, strawberry and banana. Chocorock sauce is the bomb. This combination is the bomb. I'll have to drop by to try the other sauces that they have. I'm already craving for it looking at the picture.

Staycation at Capri by Fraser

Capri by Fraser
3 Changi Business Park Central 1, Singapore 486037

We had a staycation at Capri by Fraser at Changi City Point to celebrate the July babies birthday! I'm not sure how we ended up choosing this place but the room was amazing. We paid about $70 each for 4 people. 3 of us slept on the bed and 1 on the sofa. 

3 on the bed but there's still alot of space to move around!
This is a really nice place for staycation and I won't mind coming again.

The early birds

The bed

 In front of the bed, there's a huge space where everyone can gather and sit on the floor to eat/play/talk! That's the best part of the room! TV is facing the sofa but can be rotated to face the bed. There's a super long table at one side but there's not enough chairs for everyone to sit there. Love the cooking area. Just nice for a cookout staycation.

Bathroom

Wardrobe

Like a boss

View from the room

Pool and gym in the background

Time for food!

Dinner

Filled fridge

Hard at work

All ready to eat. Ramyeon party.

Bought a cake from Chef Yamashita for the girls! The cakes from Chef Yamashita are really good. We had 2 small ones when we bought the cake. Ringo pie and mille feuille stole CW's heart. Can't wait to head back to try other cakes.
Their cakes cannot be kept for long outside the fridge, at most 30-45 minutes and up to 1 hour with an icepack

Chef Yamashita

BLOCK 1,TANJONG PAGAR PLAZA 

#02-44,SINGAPORE 082001 

https://www.chefyamashita.com

Happy Birthday Quek and YY! <3

The next morning, we headed to table manners for brunch! Having a mall right beside the hotel is really convenient. There's alot of food and also a supermarket. There are 4 sets to choose from the menu and frankly speaking, it was really hard for us to decide on which set as all the food looks tempting. Settled on set B in the end. 

Changi City Point
5 Changi Business Park Central 1
Changi City Point — The Oasis #01-68/69
Singapore 486038  

 

For the 4 of us, we tried:

Buttered Mash Potato
Truffle Fries

Scrambled Eggs

Mushroom Ragout

Striploin Steak

Baked Salmon with Garlic Lemon Buttersauce

Cajun Style Marinated Whole Chicken Leg

Southern Fried Chicken

Cajun Chicken with mushroom and scrambled eggs

Salmon with southern fried chicken, mash and mushrooms.

Steak with mushrooms and scrambled eggs

From what we tried, mushroom ragout/baked salmon/mashed potato/ cajun chicken were good. Scrambled eggs alittle on the dry side. Southern fried chicken's batter was too thick that it's hard to finish.Truffle fries and steak were normal. For the cajun chicken, it was undercooked when it came so we got the kitchen to redo it. For brunch like this, I still prefer Food for Thought because my favourite scrambled eggs and mushrooms are very well done there.