Tag: featured

Lunar New Year Cruise

Hoi An waterfront

Last lunar new year, I spent ten days on Crystal Symphony with my relatives on a cruise that started in Hong Kong and ended in Singapore. Cruises are not for everyone but I think it is one of the nicest ways to go on holiday when you've got less mobile octogenarians in the group. Along the way, we stopped in Hainan Island (China), Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Since I live in Singapore, it was a convenient journey for me but familiarity with these stops meant that the cruise was not that...

Continue Reading

Takehara – Farmhouse Goodness

Japanese farmhouse restaurant

Tired of hearing the negative stories about the town's diminishing fortunes, Nishino Farmhouse Restaurant opened in Takehara to showcase the homestyle cooking and fresh produce in the area. Like so many of Japan's rural towns, Takehara sits just on the fringe of a large metropolis (Hiroshima in this case) but slumbers, its contributions forgotten, and emblematic of the country's aging challenges. The area was previously renowned for its fantastic potatoes, which the restaurant's...

Continue Reading

Gotetsu – Simply Good Chicken Yakitori

Recommended by a 3-star Michelin sushi chef, I knew that Gotetsu in Tokyo's Akasaka neighbourhood had to be good. And it was simply that. Gotetsu specialises in chicken yakitori served in an unassuming restaurant that seats probably not more than 25. We had all parts of the chicken including some of the best innards I've tried.

The restaurant is less than a five minute walk from the Akasaka subway station and located on a street behind Akasaka's main street. The clientele was local...

Continue Reading

Tokyo: A Walk Around Asakusa

On a recent business trip to Tokyo, I had a couple of free hours and decided to drop in on Asakusa, an old part of the city with a historic temple. The thing about Tokyo is that for historical cultural landmarks, it just can't compare to Kyoto. Some of this is because a number of temples and shrines and their surrounding areas have been rebuilt. This is certainly true of Asakusa. The place was also incredibly crowded - full of tourists as well as locals going to make their Sunday...

Continue Reading

Sushi Shikon – Sushi Yoshitake’s Excellent 3-Star Hong Kong Outpost

Sushi Shikon's uni sushi

To be awarded three Michelin stars anywhere is quite a big deal and I was all the more curious about this sushi-ya in Hong Kong to see if it measured up to those in Japan. It was only at the end of the meal that I found out that Shikon is the Hong Kong branch of Tokyo's Sushi Yoshitake, also 3-starred. Happily, I think Shikon measures up to its Tokyo parent although given the relative cost, I think the Tokyo original is more affordable.

I'd actually been to Sushi Yoshitake back in...

Continue Reading