Mid Autumn Festival at Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands and Bread Street Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay - 23 September 2017

On earlier post, I have shared that I am currently residing in Singapore. It has been a long time for me to stroll in the city due to the working schedule. Usually I become a "sloth" at home during the weekend, simply due to the busy activities during the weekdays.

This morning I was browsing Facebook and found out that there is an ongoing Mid Autumn Festival event at the Gardens by the Bay which caught my interest. This event has just started yesterday and will end at Sunday, 8 October 2017. 

So I decided that I will become a tourist then visit the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) area since the Gardens by the Bay are located directly behind the MBS.

Central Business District at Sunset time, Singapore

Marina Bay Sands at night time, Singapore

I took a train from my nearest MRT stations (Circle Line) and stopped at CC4 - Promenade since I want to take some MBS pictures at sunset and night time. 

If you want to go directly to the Gardens by the Bay, you can simply take the Downtown Line or Circle Line then stop at DT16/CE1 - Bayfront.

Singapore MRT Map

After I took the photos, then I proceed to the Gardens by the Bay. It's as what I expected, it was super packed by the tourist even though it was 7:30 PM!

They decorated the pedestrian street beside the Dragonfly Lake with the handcrafted hanging ornaments.

Pedestrian street beside the Dragonfly Lake 

Handcrafted hanging ornaments

There were a lot of lantern sets which were very colourful! I couldn't get a really clear shots due to too many people taking a pictures from the side of the lake.

Be careful when taking the shots, make sure that you will not fell to the lake. :)

Lantern Sets in the middle of the Dragonfly Lake

At first, I thought that the lantern sets only available on the middle of the lake, but I was wrong. There are also other lantern on other places. You will need to be very patient if you want to take a clear shots as you need to wait for other people and it's not simple since there's too many people, so just be patient and take the shots when you have the chance!

Sunflower Lantern

The most interesting lantern set that I found was the Lantern Tunnel, basically it's a tunnel that is decorated with a colourful LEDs. It was very bright and colourful!

Lantern Tunnel

Lantern Tunnel

Apart from the lantern sets, there were also a small stage which have several performers where they are going to sing, do a traditional dance, etc.

There were also several tents where you can play some games such as balloon popping by darts or buy some merchandise such as balloons, mooncakes, lanterns, etc.

After I finished the visit, I went to MBS to have a dinner. This time I decided to try the Celebrity Chef restaurant, Gordon Ramsay. I believe you have heard his name before, He has several TV-Series related with cooking / restaurants such as Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef US & UK, Kitchen Nightmares, etc. He is also famous with his ferocious temper where he usually scold his trainee/chef in his show.

He has one restaurant called "Bread Street Kitchen" which located in MBS, Singapore.

When I arrived, there were quite number of peoples queuing, usually you will need to wait at least 20-30 mins. If you don't want to wait it is suggested to make an online reservation at the MBS Website. 

Gordon Ramsay - Bread Street Kitchen

The price was normal considering that this is a celebrity chef restaurant, it's not too expensive hence still affordable if you eat once in a while or when you want to try Gordon Ramsay's cooking.

Bread Street Kitchen Menu as in 2017

I was given some bread, cheese sticks and butter after I sat down. The bread was normal, the cheese stick was nice, way better than you usually find in the supermarket.

I settled my order with the Fish and Chips (S$29) as I don't want to eat too much on dinner.
The taste was up to my expectation, fish was fresh, fries was handmade (not the one we find in supermarket), the tar-tar sauce was not too sour nor salty.
I notice that some of the condiments is imported from UK, such as the Tomato Sauce (the one in the small jar), the vinegar, etc.

Fish and Chips at Bread Street Kitchen, Singapore

 Lastly, they gave you a cookies as the "dessert". The cookies was crispy, not too sweet like Famous Amos, so it was great!

See you on the next post!

Ps: I took all the photos using my Samsung S8 with a little bit editing using Snapseed. 

Osaka Castle, Pokemon Center and Delicious Okonomiyaki - 25 March 2017

We started a bit late today as we were waiting for another friend that flew from Hongkong earlier this morning. He was a bit lost on his way finding the hostel as he didn't have any internet access and only relying on the WIFI.
Luckily, he is able to converse in Japanese, hence he could ask around for the direction. After a while, he arrived and checked into the hostel. Then off we go for our adventure today!

That's why I mentioned on previous post that having internet and google map access is a huge help during traveling regardless whether you are travelling with tour group or on your own. I always budgeted local data sim-card or pocket wifi when travelling abroad. Better be prepared than sorry. :)

Our first destination was Osaka Castle which located not too far away from our hostel.
We went to Namba Station then purchased the ICOCA card so that we don't need to buy one way trip ticket to save some cost.

Icoca Card

From Namba Station we took the Orange Line, Kintetsu-Nara Line to Tsuruhashi Station then transfer to JR Red Line, Osaka Loop Line and stopped at Morinomiya Station where we can walk to Osaka Castle. This trip cost us ¥330.

From Khaosan World Namba Hostel to Osaka Castle

One of the main reason we chose to go to Japan on late of March and early April is to see the Famous Cherry Blossoms (Sakura - 桜). We were expecting to see the Cherry Blossoms in the Osaka Castle area, however when we arrived we only see small amount of Cherry Blossoms. This year it was blossomed a bit late..

Osaka Castle Park Entrance Outside Morinomiya Station

Outer Moat Surrounding the Castle  

When we were walking to the Castle direction, we were greeted by several food stalls, they sell Takoyaki (たこ焼き), Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), Strawberry Daifuku (いちご大福), Yakisoba (焼きそば) and a lot more.

Food Stalls

I've always wanted to try Daifuku as it's quite expensive in Singapore, so I bought one to try. Cost me around ¥300. The taste was great, Strawberry on top of the Daifuku was fresh and sweet, the red bean paste inside was not too sweet, all of them combined with the not too sweet mochi which created a perfect combination.

Strawberry Daifuku

After we finished the snack, we continue walking towards the castle. It wasn't too crowded when I visited the castle as it's still early (before lunch time).

Osaka Castle from Far

Osaka Castle from Near

We purchased the ticket from the vending machine on the right side of the Castle. Ticket was ¥600.
Inside the castle there was a lot of artefact such as the war armour, weapons with their historical explanation, however mostly it's in Japanese. We are allowed to take pictures, however it's not allowed to use flash.
Note: The castle consist of several floor and you need to climb using the staircase. There's an elevator however it's used for elderly or disabled. Toilet also available on the first floor, just look for Otearai (お手洗い) sign inside.

After we finished, we went to the nearby food stalls to take a look and rest.

I saw Oden (おでん) and decided to try it as I have never had it before.
Oden is a hotpot dishes that have various ingredients such as fish cake, tofu, chikuwa (竹輪), boiled egg, radish (Daikon - 大根), and many more.

Oden that consist of fish cake, tofu and chikuwa

I took Chikuwa (the long one), tofu and fish cake. They also gave me japanese mustard (Karashi - 辛子) as the condiment for the oden. The taste was good, soup was based on light soy sauce so it's not too salty and the flavour was well infused on the tofu and fish cake. 

Note: Japanese mustard is different with normal mustard that we usually used for hotdogs, this is taste spicy which is similar to Wasabi (わさび).

We finished the food then stroll around in the castle park. As I mentioned earlier, this year's Cherry blossoms blossomed a little bit late. So we didn't really see Cherry blossoms when we stroll around the park.

This would be very pretty if there were Cherry Blossoms

Luckily that we were still able to see the Plums blossoms (Ume - 梅), even though it's not Cherry blossoms, it was still pretty!

Japanese Plum Blossoms

Osaka Castle from the nearby Plum Garden

From the Osaka Castle we took the train back to Osaka Station. We took the JR Red Line, Osaka Loop Line from Morinomiya Station which cost us ¥160.

From Osaka Castle to Osaka Station

Above Osaka Station, there is a lot of shopping malls. So we went there and take a look around. On the same time I was looking forward to visit Osaka Pokemon Center which is on one of the shopping malls. 

We arrived at the Osaka Pokemon Center, my 2 friends are not a big fan of Pokemon, hence they stroll around the area while waiting for me. With my current age, there was nothing much to buy however there was a lot to see! 

There was an event where Pikachu, the Pokemon Mascot walking around to greet the kids while I was there.

Pikachu, The Pokemon mascot

I stumbled upon a limited edition Gachapon (ガチャポン) and decided to try my luck to get my favourite Pokemon - Charmander. 

Characters available in the limited edition Gachapon
The Character  I want is the one in the middle 

My first 4 pulls was a dud, I got the same characters that I don't want consecutively, I couldn't believe it!! My 2 friends couldn't believe that I got the same characters in 4 consecutive pulls, so they donated some of their coins for me to try my luck some more. I finally got what I want after 8 pulls.. I gave 2 of the duplicated character from my first 4 pulls to my friends.

Souvenirs from Pokemon Center Osaka

Squirtle and Ditto on top of the Portable WIFI Router
This is what I got 4 times consecutively!

We went back to Osaka Station to get back to Dotonbori area (AGAIN!) for dinner. So we took Red Line, Midosuji Line from Osaka Station to Namba Station which cost us ¥230.

The Famous Kanidouraku Restaurant in Dotonbori, Osaka

Mizuno Okonomiyaki Restaurant in Dotonbori, Osaka

Tonight, we want to eat okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), we saw some okonomiyaki restaurant on our first day in Dotonbori and decided to look for the good one. So we found Mizuno okonomiyaki restaurant that is famous in Dotonbori area. They were awarded Michelin star in 2016 and 2017.

Mizuno is featured in Michelin Guide

We went to the restaurant and found out that the queue was amazing! After queueing for a while, we were thinking whether we should go for other restaurant or keep queueing. In the end, we continue to queue for Mizuno as we really curious how good it is.
While we were queuing the staff approached us and asked us what would we like to order.
The staff gave us the Japanese menu, so we asked if they have the english menu. Glad that they have the english menu. :)
We chose 3 dishes from their top 5 menu, Mizunoyaki , Modanyaki and Yamaimoyaki.

Their top 5 menu in both Japanese and English

After around 1 hour, we finally get into the restaurant!

The chef preparing the food in front of the customers

 We were ushered to the 2nd floor to our table.

Teppanyaki Grill on the table to cook the okonomiyaki

At first we were thinking that they will cook the okonomiyaki in front of us like at the first floor, however it was not, they prepared it in their kitchen then brought it to us. They will ask several question on the toppings. I.e. whether we want the mayonnaise, seaweed sprinklers, etc.

Yamaimoyaki

Yamaimoyaki was a bit unique compared to the other 2 as they were using a yam as their main ingredient, nevertheless it was delicious!

Left: Modanyaki, Right: Mizunoyaki

The taste was delicious, it was very different with the okonomiyaki that you usually buy at night market, food court or japanese restaurant outside japan.
To make it even tastier, use more sauces! 
The waiting was worth it! Totally it cost us ¥4160, the price is not so expensive considered that they are awarded Michelin star.

*Tips: in the case you need an english menu in japan, you can request it by simply saying "Sumimasen, eigo no menu ga arimasuka?" (すみません、英語のメニュがありますか？) which is translated to "Excuse me, do you have english menu?". 
Usually the staff will answer  "Hai, chotto matte kudasai" (はい、ちょっと待ってください) which translated to "Ok, please wait for a while" when they have the english menu.
Else they will answer "Sumimasen, eigo menu ga arimasen" (すみません、英語メニュがありません) which translated to "Sorry, we don't have english menu" when they don't have the english menu.

After we finished, we were looking for a dessert. We remembered that we saw a Melon Bread Ice Cream stall on the first night, so we decided to try it. The banner is quite hilarious "世界で２番めにおいしい 焼きたてメロンパンアイス" which translated "The second delicious melon-pan ice cream in the world". We have no idea why they wrote 2nd instead of the 1st.

Melon Pan Stall

We ordered the original Melon-pan with Vanilla Ice Cream which cost us ¥400 each.

She is preparing our orders!

Melon-pan with Vanilla Ice Cream

The taste was very refreshing since we ate it after our okonomiyaki dinner.
After this, we stroll around then walk back to our hostel. This ends our 2nd day in Osaka.

Osaka - 24 March 2017

My Japan trip journey began from Changi Airport since I lived in Singapore. Prior going inside the check-in area, I went to collect the pre-booked wifi router for Japan area from ChangiRecommends (their booth are available in every Changi terminal). They gave me the wifi router, charger with Japan plug (so don't worry) and the pouch to carry the wifi router and the charger. The price is S$5 per day, this is a decent price considering that I can share with my other 2 friends. 

For more details and how to reserve the wifi router, you can check it on https://www.changirecommends.com/owifi.aspx.

We took All Nippon Airways, NH802 from Changi Airport (Singapore) to Narita (Tokyo, Japan) then changed to domestic flight, NH2177 to Itami (Osaka, Japan).

It was the first time for me to travel with ANA, usually I always take Singapore Airlines (SQ), Cathay Pacific for long haul flight or the flight that is more than 4 hours. Was a bit nervous at the first time boarded the plane, however the cabin crew services and the comfortable chair (including the leg room) simply took away my nervousness! I forgot to take the picture of the meals since the quality was decent! *sorry about that :(

In the Narita domestic flight waiting room, there is a small shop that sell gifts, souvenirs. There is a lot of enticing boxes filled with well organized local sweets and cookies. In Japan this is called as Omiyage (お土産). The shop also sell bread, drinks and simple cooked food such as Rice ball (Onigiri - お握り), Ramen cup. Despite of the location, some of the food has less than ¥200 price tag, so it is affordable.

We took another flight to Itami, Osaka and arrived around 6 PM. We went to take our luggage and off we go! We went to the monorail station that is not too far away from the airport then purchased the ticket to the city. Our hostel (Khaosan World Namba) is a walking distance from Namba Station. There is no direct train from the airport to Namba station, hence we took the train to Senri-Chuo then transfer to Kita-osaka kyuko Line. 

I couldn't find any machine that sell ICOCA card in this station, hence decided to buy the one way ticket which usually more expensive. However in this case, the ticket cost considered not that expensive (it was ¥330).

Icoca Card

Once we reached the Namba station, we were a bit surprised that there were a very limited escalator! So be careful if you have a heavy luggages as you need to carry it through the stairs!

We went out of the station then walk to the Hostel direction with Google map assistance. I have to admit, having a google map access in Japan is really helpful, we would not make it if we were not having access to google map. After 5-10 minutes walking, we finally reached our hostel, yay!

Khaosan World Namba

Without time wasted, we went inside then checked into the hostel. During the check-in I tried to practice my Japanese which I learned before I went to Japan, however I failed............ I was so embarrassed, however funny enough that the staff was happy since I tried to speak in Japanese with them. 

So in the end we used english to do the check in. Luckily that the staff can speak english, so there was no issue. The room and cubicle was clean, there was one power plug on each cubicle to charge your gadgets.

Room shared with 12 persons

The Cubicle

We were very hungry as we haven't had any dinner and it was already around 8:30 PM, so we put our luggage then walked to Dotonbori area. It's a walking distance from the hostel to Dotonbori area, so it's very convenient!

We arrived Dotonbori area then stroll around to find the restaurant. There was so many interesting restaurant and street food, there was Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), Takoyaki (たこ焼き), Ramen (ラメン) and so much more.

Dotonbori entrance

We decided that we would like to have a Ramen that night, so we went to Ichiran Ramen (一蘭) which is quite famous ramen chain in Japan.

Ichiran Ramen (一蘭)

When we got inside, we need to queue and purchase the Ramen Ticket from the vending machine, we just need to choose which ramen we want and then put the money. I chose the normal Ramen as I would like to taste their original flavour (cost me ¥890). Once we bought the ticket, we were ushered to the 2nd floor, the dining area.

Interesting enough, there was an indicator to show which seat vacant (Green one means vacant), if there's a vacant seat, you can just go inside then sit. We waited for a bit since we were 2 persons and there was no 2 vacant seats that is next to each others.

Notification board to show seat vacancy

We went in and we were given a paper which we can customize our ramen! There's an english instruction so there's no issue. :)
After I completed the order form, the staff will take the order form and prepare the ramen as per our preference.

Ramen Order Form

 It wasn't even 10 mins and my ramen is ready! Not surprised that the soup was fragrant and rich given that this is Tonkotsu Ramen (豚骨, pork bone base). Noodle texture was perfect, soup was good, flavour blends very well, it's not too salty.
*Some tips from me when eating a ramen is to finish the ramen as fast as we can before the noodle become soggy, it will taste bad. However it doesn't mean that you should eat too fast till you cannot enjoy the ramen. Please enjoy the ramen! :)

Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen

After we finished the great dinner, we went outside then take a stroll around Dotonbori area.

Neon sign, peoples at Dotonbori 

Dotonbori River

While we were strolling around, we found a Takoyaki street vendor and tempted to try as the queue was long! We were thinking that the taste must be good if there's a long queue. The seller was friendly, he even wore the takoyaki hat!

There is 2 options, 5 pcs takoyaki for ¥350 or 10 pcs takoyaki for ¥650. We opted for 10 pcs takoyaki for our 2nd round dinner and didn't regret it at all.

Takohachi (たこ八)

He is preparing my order :) 

Here we go, our takoyaki!

Taste was good, it was soft and have a big octopus piece inside. We finished the takoyaki and left with satisfied feeling. :)

On the way back, we took several shots on the iconic Dotonbori sign, which is the Glico Running Man!

Glico Running Man

After we took several shots, we left the Dotonbori area.... while walking we found another interesting snacks.. it was an Portuguese egg tart!! I was surprised to find this in Japan. This Lord Stow's Portuguese egg tart is very famous in Macau. I always thinking when I can travel back to Macau only to eat this egg tart. So, I couldn't let this chance slipped, I bought one and eat it immediately (cost ¥210 each). Taste was exactly the same with the one in Macau, so I was satisfied. :)
They also sell the egg tart that is infused with Japanese culture, Matcha. However I didn't try it as I was very full.

Lord Stow's Bakery Portuguese Egg Tart

Lord Stow's Bakery Location at Dotonbori

After we finished the egg tart, we went back to the hostel (this time is really back to the hostel).
This ended our 1st night in Osaka..

To be continued on the next post!