Tag: food

13262229_10208024723670657_440522400_o

12 Things We Wished We Knew Before Going To Tokyo

15 Comments

It’s the middle of May and since my last post, I’ve traveled to 2 countries – Japan and Thailand thus my lack of updates. My mind was still savoring the experiences. You know how it feels right? They do say that when you travel, leave only footprints and take only memories. We’re all here for responsible traveling!

Now presenting the second post of my Things We Wish We Knew series (check out Korea here). In this series, I stumble, try new and odd experiences and make mistakes for you so you guys don’t have to go through it (though feel free to make your own mistakes and learnings and share them here as well). I want to save you guys the trouble and hassle that goes with traveling.

 

12 Things We Wished We Knew Before Going To Tokyo

          ESTABLISHED 1856

 

1. Reserve the Best restaurants in advance (LIKE 3 MONTHS)

 13242118_10208024739311048_1149186408_o
My Best Sushi Meal at Kyubey <3
Foodies would know that Tokyo has the most Michelin starred restaurants in the world. They also have the cheapest and most expensive ones in Tokyo. But it is VERY TRICKY to get a seat/reservation because Tokyo as a concrete jungle, only has limited space and so do their restaurants. It is cramped and there is only limited seating. You have to reserve 2 months AT LEAST to get a seat (I would suggest 3 months in advance to be sure) at the top restaurants. Now I didn’t follow this advice and lost the chance to eat at the best sushi restaurant at Sushi Saito. I did thankfully get a reservation at Kyubey because they had a lot of branches and Nakajima does not even accept reservations. For those that do not accept reservations, eat a light meal before going to you won’t starve while waiting through the LONG LINES.

Continue reading →

img_8558.jpg

Went to Thanks Nature Cafe Disguised As A Sheep – Seoul

1 Comment

Pandie Rating

Experience:  👍👍👍👍

Food:  👍👍👍

I’ve noticed one thing that usually happens around animal cafes.

The animals don’t care about you. 

Well most of the time anyway. If they’re dogs, they’ are either lazily sleeping or looking for the next person with food in their pockets or hands or if they’re cats, they are either lazily sleeping or plain ignoring you. You don’t strike a bond with these creatures because they see different people everyday and being a star is exhausting isn’t it? It’s like having to sign autographs 8-5 with few breaks in between. I can just imagine the boredom of these creatures.

But I am an animal lover. I wanted them to love me as well so when I decided to go to Thanks Nature Cafe in Seoul Korea, I wanted the sheep to like me as well. How else could I attract their attention. Hm… by dressing up as a sheep of course! I remembered my mom went to a sheep farm somewhere in Taiwan and she bought me this Sheep hat. It is SUPER CUTE and actually will help keep your face, head and ears warm. You can also put your hands in the long flaps of the hat as well to help you not freeze to death.

So let’s go to Thanks Nature Cafe!


It’s located near Hongik station, on the main road of Hongik-Ro but be careful. You might miss it because it’s located downstairs in the basement with only a small sign to signal its presence. Once you go down, you will immediately smell the scent of wildlife (or sheep poo and sheep smell) and the little cafe right beside it.

thanks

Image from Google Maps

We arrived a bit early around 10:30 am (sorry was too excited!) but the cafe was closed so we kinda roamed around a bit checking out shoes at the nearby New Balance store. Once the clock struck 11, we dashed towards the cafe and got the best seats in the house because we were the only customers there. The interior of the cafe was cute and filled with little sheep paraphernalia.


My Greywind funko pop tried to mingle with them but they oddly didn’t budge. xD


We got caramel macchiato, hot chocolate and green matcha tea. While they weren’t exactly mind blowing drinks (the hot chocolate tasted a bit like swiss miss chocolate but I liked it), their waffles though were in a totally different league. The ice cream blended the crispiness of the waffle and the fresh taste of the fruits. When in Korea, I swear order strawberry everything because these fruits are divine during the winter-spring season. I wish I could eat this everyday. A friend who went there also praised their crème brûlée and cherry blossom white chocolate.

Continue reading →

tumblr_inline_n279vquq1h1qzu0uu

Ilocano Dining at Victorino’s

Leave a comment

Pandie Rating: 👍👍👍👍

Since writing this review, Victorino’s has expanded its dining quarters due to incessant demand.

One could say that I’m not an avid Filipino foodie fan. I’ve always been puzzled at the lack of vegetables present during Filipino meals and the abundance of so much oil used in cooking or how they are sometimes all too salty that we even add a salted egg in some fish meals to make it more flavorful. It’s an odd conundrum for me and doesn’t shout healthy at all. But come on, who am I kidding. Filipino food is DELICIOUS (just not my top preference for health reasons). It may give you a heart attack someday but at least life is good. (not promoting eating lechon everyday anyway!)

So when we decided to surprise our friend with a cake on her despedida, one of my barkada suggested Victorino’s, which was tucked away in the little Scout community or Tomas Morato area in Quezon City. Victorino’s is partly engineered by no other than the famous pastry chef/baker Heny Sison who was also the teacher of my (same) friend’s grandmother! Imagine that, Heny Sison has been inspiring decades. I became extremely curious. So with the help of Waze, we found it!
tumblr_inline_n27932bVqu1qzu0uu

It’s actually just a modernized ancestral home and my dad likened it to his childhood home with the classic Filipino-Spanish interiors and nostlagic windows. It definitely had a cozy vibe and we were able to get settled in comfortably even when the restaurant was jampacked. It felt like visiting a friendly grandmother’s house. tumblr_inline_n2795u2jUt1qzu0uu

Continue reading →