Kobe - Wakkoku

I don't know which earthquake caused it, but I hear that Kobe Shinkansen station was entirely rebuilt anew because the previous one got thrashed by some natural disaster. This explains why the place is even more sparkling than usual Japanese places (which already sparkle, and when I mean sparkle, I really mean sparkle). At first when my brother and I arrived at Kobe we were intending on getting the famous Kobe beef, paying super-duper crazy expensive money for the finest beef in the world. So with that state of mind, evertyhing we saw around us in Kobe was like oooohhh rich. Ohhhh wow clean, high class. At first I thought, oh, could it be that Kobe is like a city of the elite, with rich people only and brands and designers everywhere? Well I actually did not get to verify that. We only stayed there the time of a super and a quick shopping spree for my brother, but the feeling I get from the high class mall the restaurant was at and the sparkling new station, is that Kobe people are rich.

The Place

So the restaurant is situated in the shinkansen station, that is connected to the mall, si very easy of access. I suppose that even for foreigner it is then quite easy to get there. Then, the fact that noone speaks English whatsoever complicates matter for people in general. There are expensive japanese wares on display all over the restaurant, as well as a big wall of different kind of wine from their large selection. We were out of the rush season so it might explain why, but there was only another couple of people at the time we went. The name of the place is Wakkoku Steak House <3. (the video showed pretty much what we had, except that we talked to our cook while he was cooking...and we chose two different piece of the meat, so we would have the meat's own fat to cook it with...)

The tables are basically immaculate plaques on which they cook the meat directly. I would have mistaken the tables for stainless had I not seen the cook make the food right on it. 

See my face reflecting in the mirror behind the vases?

The Food

We took a sort of full course meal, including the starter - we had a choice between two starters if I remember correctly. I can't seem to remember the other choices but we got a salad and smoked salmon. They were really fresh tasting and both simply and classily presented in nice plates. To be honest, we couldn't have cared less for starters, we just wanted the meat. I guess it was a good way to make us wait a little bit to appreciate more the rest. 

I cannot remember the names of the pieces of meat, but I think it was tenderloin and (?) loin? Anyways. We originally both wanted to get tenderloin, but the cooks told us that it was actually better to take half of both. Later we figured that mixing both was going to get us to eat the meat cooked in its own fat, and we got more to savour, being from different pieces.

Wow.

I seriously was not expecting much difference in taste and texture. I actually did not expect anything at all. My brother was clear from the start: being in Japan, he WOULD try Kobe Beef. That was it. For me, it was just treating ourselves to an expensive meal as we were in vacation. Never was so wrong. This. This meat is insane. You can see, even only on the picture below, the abnormal amount of fat in the meat. That, never making it chewy of gross to eat, that just melted in the mouth as soon as it touched it. It is a bliss of savour on the tongue, and tears came to my eyes as I was tasting. I actually decided as from then, to separate beef in two kinds: the Kobe kind, and the rest. I mean, steaks CAN be amazingly tasty, can be prepared in a way that throw off your feet, but Kobe Beef needs only itself. There were small amount of salt, pepper, mustard and the like piled up in the plates we used, but I think I only tried one. The meat needs nothing else to compliment its flavour, lest it'd be belittling it.

So Kobe Beef: definitely recommend.

Note here, as I said in another blog, Kobe beef is NOT exported. If you ever eat Kobe Beef out of Japan it's a fraud. They have had talks starting of this year, of exporting it to China eventually, but there are not a significant amount of that beef in Japan (country being so small) so they are reluctant to it. So long time until it actually goes to the US if at all. Don't get fooled.

The Mall

Here are a few sneak peaks of the mall and shops around there. After the beef we went to have a coffee in a very cute coffee place where they made latte drawings. Felt almost like treachery to take something in our mouths after the beef but well. They were cute... always a win for me in any case.

Montreal Summer 2012 - Food Review

Wow, it feels like an eternity since I went to Montreal!! Last time I actually went visit was in october 2011...ah, the nostalgic feeling of returning to a place you used to call home, and feel everything but home... There was way too many things I wanted to do and I ended up missing on good opportunities in the end. Was supposed to meet up with a friend and was too hangover so I stayed home; bought a clubbing dress since I hadn't brought any and ended up not going clubbing; missed out on a second time Karaoke session (clearly, once in a week is not enough); never ended up going to get myself Rolopan (god I was so stupid, how long will I crave for this thing now eh?) and did not spend enough time just plain chilling with my BFF. I am sure I am missing out on some of the things I wanted to do but meh, reading about another person complaining is not necessarily that interesting.

Now...

Odaki

What I DID get though is Japanese food. The first evening I got to Montreal Rosemary was out eating so I went with my friend Youngjin to eat sashimi at Odaki. Oh damn, talking about japanese food makes me remember that I missed out on going to Imadake as well... damn. Imadake is good.

My friend remembered how I craved sashimi in my hometown so we went there. Better than Kanda, though I like Takara better - closed on Sundays if I remember well... did not want to go all the way there to find it closed. So Odaki it was. 

One thing I've always been wondering about is why next to all Japanese restaurant are Chinese owned. I mean yes, people CAN get bored of eating always the same chinese food - and there are really a lot of chinese people in Montreal so there would be a lot more Chinese restaurant in Montreal if they opened them but.... the thing is that there is actually so much to chinese food than what they make it in most Chinese restaurants! While most people do know that there is almost nothing chinese in a chinese buffet, we don't have that many chinese restaurants that show us anything else. And I am not even mentioning Taiwan! Hmmmmm so much awesomeness in Taiwanese food and snacks. 

Really, they should show us what they can do instead of opening all those japanese inspired restaurants.

I suppose I am done rambling on Japanese/Chinese restaurants in Montreal. All in all, I actually haven't said anything relevent anyways for people who would want to know more about either cuisine... ha ha. Okay, one more, there is on Saint-Laurent (I think) a restaurant called Osaka that is supposed to have legit good Japanese cuisine (japanese owned restaurant - wow) so go try it out...

L'Avenue Mont-Royal

In the first days I spent in Montreal, I met up with Mika, an old childhood friend - pretty much an older sister to me - who set up a breakfast date in Mont-Royal. She asked her friends around for the best breakfast place in town and they all pretty much said to go to L'Avenue Mont-Royal. The link I put in is an guy's review on the place, did not find their official website and the rest was pretty much nothing and in French so I went for this one instead.

I liked the place, though I admit it is super duper noisy. We were lucky because our seat was just beside a nice window by the end of the restaurant, and the window gave on a backstreet that was full of greens and trees - hard to believe it was still downtown. TBH, I haven't appreciated the place half as I would have normally. I had had a drink the night before, and I ordered stuff that was wayyy too creamy for my stomac to digest (note that I had forgone eating the bananas they give us because I remember a bad hangover that ended up in a puking shift at work because of a banana.... did you know that the banana is one of the most, if not the most demanding to your stomac when it comes to digestion? Now you do). The place looks cool. Super kitsh and still has a sense of "we actually want it to look this way, and you do too". 

Anyways, I had an amazing benedict egg plate, if I remember it was called "Pancetta ton tour". Bacon, parmesan, cream etc... and a cappuccino. The service is pretty quick, and they make sure that if you are here for the first time, the you get a good spot and enjoy the place as one should. I'll have to go back when I am not having stomac problems... wow. I feel so old. Oh, also, the uniform has a black shirt, and most of the waiters are good looking. This is a plus for me anyways. 

OH!! Super important thing here... in the Burger section of the menu the talk about the awesomeness of Kobe beef... Damn I haven't finished my blog on Kobe beef.... whatever I'll repeat myself there. Kobe beef is a Japanese beef from Kansai - Kobe, where they actually take a really great care of the animal making its meat into some sort of blissful-tear-bringing-I-can-die-happy sort of taste. In the menu they talk about the beef and then go: here, try our 100% Kobe beef burger that so many people want to try!

-> Hello? This is bullshit. I am sure their beef is good. But Kobe beef HAS NEVER EVER BEEN EXPORTED and thus, sold out of Japan. I don't know if those people risk being sued for lying, but in any case, sorry guys, it is not Kobe beef. So a reminder here: if you ever eat awesome beef, and they make you pay like SUPER big money for it since it's "Kobe Beef" well you've been cheated. 

Ruby Rouge - Dimsum

Right after the breakfast at L'Avenue, I went to meet up with Jessica and Rosemary for Dimsum - Jess was craving it since she does not have those back in Bermuda. I was still feeling a bit weird stomac-wise, but the walk I took in between both meals helped and I felt alright to have a bite. I took what I always take: Baby squids, shrimp dumplings and touhua (sweet tofu soup with syrup). Dimsum is much much much better in Asia. To be honest, whatever they make here, is a pale imitation of it. Now that being said. Canadian Dimsum is not bad-tasting. Let us just not compare both. The only thing I've ever reproached Dimsum is the amount of 'paste' there is in everything, makes you feel fat when you done eating. Still, I like that much better than fast-food such as McDonald.

 Confusion - Tapas du Monde

Okay now we talk. A friend at work told me to try this restaurant. She told me it's downtown, and that you eat siting on swings. That was enough for me. I mean, swings? OMFG that is sooo the kind of random thing I love. What I did not know is that the place is actually a legit fancy tapas place where they have both a great selection of whisky and wine. I went with my friend Marie on a date there and we shared two tapas: salmon tartar and dates filed with goat cheese, with bacon rolled around it. Had it with half a bottle of Pouilly Fumé. I took a picture to remember the name of the wine, but the quality sucked and I did not notice. Shame on me.

They suggest each person taking three to 5 tapas for a meal: I beg to differ. I have a relatively small appetite, but splitting two in half with a friend was plenty for me so I doubt that having more than two each would be reasonable... in any case, what we chose was perfect for our needs and we paid some $30 each. Siting on swings :)

The salmon tartar was really tasty, served on a croquet of risotto, making the meal a tasty experience for my tasting buds, as it was a nice mixture of taste and texture. Definitely want to try their Foie Gras next time, as they have a big selection of it and it looks awesome.

Shabu Shabu - Korean BBQ

I went to my friend Youngjin's restaurant to get Korean BBQ for my last dinner in Montreal (should have been my next-to-last one, but I got sick the next day so did not eat at all so meh, yah, bad drinking karma). Since I was going for the first time, we ended up ordering much much too much food. It was amazing. Got spicy cold noodles, seafood pancake, porc loin and legs, steamed eggs and galbi <3 (I can never seem to remember which part of the beef galbi is from... oh well). 

Happy Youngjin before awesome food

Porc Loin

Galbi

Montreal for a week

Packing for a week in Montreal can suck.... but I just don't bother with it: I just put up nice clothes and that's it. What fits in my luggage will follow, what does not, will stay :O

So here is a stupid short entry: a sneak peak of my wardrobe for the week :)



much luv xxx

Picture fun and nails

Félixe, my niece, isn't she the most adorable thing you ever saw? <3

Omg I just got a new iPhone app called, wait for it, Princess Cam, which has a fairly similar way to make pictures look like japanese sticker pictures, Purikura (japanese photobooth of which the word consist of the shortening of the words 'print club' - purinto kurabu). I can basically do with my pictures whar the old purikura machines used to do in the late 1990. Still, when the picture quality is good enough (good light and no pixelisation), they can look pretty awesome.

So yesterday, when I was waiting home for my new laptop (next blog will be on that I think), I had fun with pictures of my niece and of myself, that came out quite interestingly...

Since I hurt my arm quite bacly the other week - got 5 stitches in my right arm, making me unable to do most useful thing properly, washing my hair and myself for one; working, for another, I ended up doing one of the only thing I could still do: paint nails. So I did my niece's, who got completely addicted to nail polishes, being uberly seduced by the idea that she can be a real princess by having nice shiny nails. Cute little thing, she is so demanding though, I can never make normal nails for her... she can stand with a straight back and unmoving hands on the table for over an hour whenI make those however, which is IMO quite amazing for such a lively 3 year old energetic princess....

So thing is, I got jealous of her nails, so I did myself the same. Mine being quite bigger, do not have as much cuteness, but I do what I can :)

This is the material I used:
1. base coat to protect my nails,
2. pink Essie color base
3. Grapefruit smelling pink glitter Revelon polish
4. white dots, and green leaves
5. Transluscent top coat for finish 

Okay this one is a bit over the top... ha ha... but wait, there is worse....

There were make up options on that iPhone app, so I added contact lense colors as well as fake lashes...intense XD