はなまるうどん Hanamaru Udon - Tokyo, Japan *.

We came to Hanamaru Udon for a late-night dinner. We saw a lot of Hanamaru udon shops at different locations and we decided to finally go in for a try! It's a boutique ramen shop with a variety of ramen choices. I was interested in the katsu udon sets but it was too late in the night for some good ol' fried foods - so I decided on the gyu-udon set. 

We were actually pretty against going to franchised shops, but we were starved and it was late.. so we came here lolll

* GYU-UDON SET (3/5)

The best part about the udon was actually the egg. The soft boiled egg was so creamy and delicious! The best way to eat it is to break the egg into the soup base. The marinated beef was also delish - it's marinated with sweet, sukiyaki-like sauce. This udon set lacks the amount of soup with the udon. I barely got any soup with it so it was too dry for my liking. If there were more soup base, I would give this a 4-star rating :)

😻 Picture makes the udon shop darker than it seems... it's actually VERY bright in there! 😻

Side note: This boutique sized udon shop is catered to those who want to eat alone or in groups of two. The shop isn't big enough for a large party size. When we were there, we saw a lot of "salary-man" who ate alone.

Hanamaru Udon

￥￥￥  Udon

北砂2丁目17-1
江東区, 東京都 〒136-0073
Japan

アウルの森 浅草新仲見世通り店 Owl Cafe - Tokyo, Japan *.

😻 Behold.. my new love for OWLS! 😻

This is the first time I've ever encountered owls.. and pet them!! 

😻 This is the owl that attracted me to go in the cafe haha 😻

I had so much fun at アウルの森! Thanks to this owl cafe, owls have become one of my favourite animals. There were approximately 15+ different types of owls when I visited. Note that some owls are petting-friendly and those with a warning sign, you should observe from afar. Sadly, one of the non-pet-able owls was Hedwig (refer to Harry Potter). 

😻 Check out Hedwig(s)! 😻

I saw someone attempt to pet an owl with a warning sign and the owl went crazy.. so don't do it! I was surprised to see baby otters as part of the owl cafe, there was even a chameleon! There was also a dog, that received zero affection from the visitors LOL.. poor thing!! I pet it once - then got distracted by the main attractions hahaha.

You will be asked to sanitize your hands after you pay for your visit at the front of the store. Your entry fee includes one drink, which can be retrieved from the vending machines. Hot and/or cold items are available in the vending machines. Additional drinks can be purchased for 100 yen.

😻 ...and the peach tea was really delicious by the way..! 😻

I had so much fun petting owls!! My favourite owl was the one that was sitting on the bench. I was able to get a very nice picture with sun rays and all with her haha - super satisfied. 

😻 Here's my magical moment :) 😻
I'd highly recommend owl cafes to anyone who love animals. It's rare to have close encounters with these precious fur balls so visit if you have a chance :)

😻 Mori-chan and I :D 😻

アウルの森 浅草新仲見世通り店

￥￥  テーマカフェ

〒111-0032 東京都台東区
浅草1-22-3

キョウズアン - Kyoto, Japan *.

We stumbled upon this ice cream shop on our way back from visiting Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. 

😻 Refer to my food IG for a short clip of me shaking the ice cream! 😻

It's on the way to the station if you're taking the pubic transit from Arashiyama Station. 
We were craving ice cream because of the hot weather and I'm happy that I did because this place has such DELICIOUS ice cream!! 

I'd highly recommend trying their tofu ice cream. I've tried the mixed flavour which includes both the sesame and tofu flavour. Having tried both, I'd choose tofu flavour over sesame flavour any day! Its specialty is that the ice cream doesn't fall off the cone easily, the lady who worked at the shop actually gave me my ice cream upside down! I confidently shook my ice cream after to test it out - safe - haha!

Kyo Zu An

￥￥￥  Cafes, Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt

京都市, 京都府
Japan

かに道楽 本店 - Osaka, Japan *.

かに道楽 (Kani Doraku) is my all time favourite seafood restaurant in Osaka. 
I came here a while ago and recently revisited. I loveeee this placeee!

😻 We got such a nice view from our seat too - so it was perfect!! Refer to food IG @ch3riebelly 😻 

Everything has exceeded my expectations! The quality of food, service, atmosphere was amazing :) I'd highly recommend this restaurant - specifically this location because my friends mentioned there were other franchises that aren't as good.

Highlights from my meal: 

(Basically what I ordered, I liked EVERYTHING!!)

* Crab sashimi - We wanted to order more of this but it would've been wayy too much food. 

😻 Grilling session begins! 😻 

😻 Before 

😻 After!

* Grilled crab legs - Your server will set up the grill for you, a tidbit is to not grill it for too long, it becomes dry if you do!

* Boiled Alaskan King Crab legs

* Crab Nabe (Hot pot) - After boiling vegetables and crab meats in the pot, the left over soup base is used to cook congee. The congee is amazing - I usually hate eating congee but I absolutely loved it!!

Remember to make reservations beforehand, this restaurant gets booked out really quickly!

😻 This was where we were seated :)

Kani doraku honten

￥￥￥  Japanese, Seafood

中央区道頓堀1丁目6-18
大阪市, 大阪府 〒542-0071
Japan

Alcatraz E.R. アルカトラズエアール - Tokyo, Japan *.

I've been tricked by Feho to come to アルカトラズエアール during my trip to Tokyo LOL -_- 
*Shakes fists violently*

It's a tourist trap!! To be fair, Danny Ho and affiliates genuinely enjoyed his experience at Alcatraz ER but I really didn't lol.

My dad warned me about these "themed-tourist trap locations" - I should've listened hahaha!! 
The only entertainment we got during our visit was when the nurse came with our blood bag drink - we watched him pour the blood bag drink into a plastic cup. - THE END - LOL

* that's the blood bag guy ^

Our group was the only group here at 6pm. Service was alright - the server who dressed up as a nurse (blood bag guy) was definitely nicer than the guy who dressed up as a doctor, he works at the cashier near the entrance. For some reason, I think the not-as-nice doctor server had a bigger fame in the restaurant. They had posters of this guy and a full body cardboard cut out of him... Is he the owner?! LOL D:

The drinks were overpriced. Be expected to pay a cover fee on top of food/drinks. Thank god I only came here for drinks and not for the food!! We ordered the blood bag drink, Oolong tea (lol) and a herb drink. We also got "medicine", free of charge - which were snacks to nibble on.

The gimmick of this restaurant is really just the prison decor. I'd recommend that you go for a prison-themed escape the room instead haha!

* Creepy hallway before you get to the bathrooms ^

Alcatraz E.R.

￥￥￥  Bars

道玄坂2-13-5
渋谷区, 東京都 〒150-0043
Japan

喫茶室ルノアール Ginza Renoir - Tokyo, Japan *.

😻  Happy July! 😻 
Hope everyone had a great long weekend! There are a lot of events coming up (yay SUMMER!) and I'm hoping to rip through most of my Japan posts soon..!!

I came to Ginza Renoir for breakfast. We were looking for a breakfast place with comfortable seating and we chose the right place! An extra plus is that you can't smell the smoke from the smokers room (the air filtering is amazing here haha). The interior reminds me of what you would see in the 1960s - cherry wood everything.

Highlights from my breakfast session:

* BLT Sandwiches - I love their white bread!! I'm so glad we ordered the toast too because their breads are somehow extra soft!

* Hot chocolate - The hot chocolate was very creamy and smooth. Perfect way to start your day :D

Service was excellent - note that none of the servers speak in English. We asked for directions to a landmark (in Japanese) and our server went out of her way to ask almost every staff in the restaurant to verify that she's giving us the right directions. Thank you!!

Ginza Renoir Shinjuku Nishiguchi Itchome

￥￥￥￥  Cafes

西新宿1-4-1
新宿区, 東京都 〒160-0023
Japan