Author: The Wifey's Corner

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2017 Japan Trip – Day 1

Kyoto Tower

Our 2017 Japan trip began with a dream to visit the cherry blossom country and with some guts to book ticket without getting annual leave approval beforehand 🙂 Thank God, it worked out well, no issues in getting annual leave approval from both offices. And so it went with the itinerary planning, accommodation booking, and researching. It had been an overwhelming process to plan for the itinerary, when at one hand we wanted to see as many places as possible. On the other hand, time and transportation from point A to B restrained us from going to too many places in a day.

I had been getting a lot help and advices from friends and fellow travellers to Japan. And that had been what made us end up with the final itinerary we did in our trip. We ended up took off handful of places from the original list and prioritized which we had to visit. And, whilst we were happy with how we did, there are still way many places more to visit. It just meant there will be another Japan trip(s) in the future (hopefully!).

 

Here goes Day 1

Our flight departed Sydney at 9.50 pm to Kansai Airport, stopped over at Hong Kong for about two hours. When we got to Kansai airport, it was already 12 pm the next day. Immigration was moving quickly and so was the luggage. And because we were heading straight to Kyoto, we bought the ICOCA + Haruka one way deal, it costs us ¥3,600. The ICOCA was already preloaded with ¥1,500 and that is definitely something you should get while in Japan. So convenient for not only paying transportation, also for lockers, vending machines, even purchase in convenience stores and other stores.

The Haruka train is an effective way, in regards to both time and money, to travel from Kansai Airport to Osaka or Kyoto. By the time we reached Kyoto station, it was almost 4 pm. Got into the Haruka before getting some lunch was a bad idea. By the time we finally reached Kyoto, we were both starving. And thankfully the first shop we saw when got off the train was this little ekiben shop. And that was where we got our late lunches.

 

Ekiben shop
Ekiben shop

 

Kyoto Ekiben – both tastes delicious albeit they were not even warm, but we got used to this few days into our trip. Total paid ¥1,950

Our Airbnb listing (more on that in the next post) said that it would take around 15 minutes walk from Kyoto station to the house. It took us a bit longer walking with suitcases, but it was easy walk and directions were clear. Exhausted after all that travelling, we also mind-blown with everything we see and experience. The city was so clean, everywhere we walked past, we didn’t see litters or cigarette’s butts on the street. The rivers are so clean that you could see the bottom clearly.

We actually took a short nap once settled in the apartment and only went out again in the evening to look for dinner and explore the surrounding. Agreed that we would have a busy day the next day, we settled on some boxed meal from nearby Family Mart. And let me tell you, for that price, the food were more than just OK. May not be really delicious but better than what you would get in any convenience stores in Sydney for that price. We got a box of ramen (with half an egg), yakisoba, one potato croquette, and a unagi roll – all for ¥1,558 only. And now doing this post, I realized we forgot to take pictures of those bento meals – what sleep deprived can do to you, right?

 

Manneken Waffle
Manneken Waffle inside Kyoto Station – smells divine, tasted even better! We tried the caramel apple one for Â¥323

 

Kyoto Tower
The Kyoto Tower viewed from street near where we stayed
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Happy New Year 2018

First of all, I’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and may you have a wonderful 2018. Yes, I know it’s very late, but better late than never, right? By the way, we have been back from Japan almost three weeks now but haven’t got time to work on travel posts and videos. It’s the holiday season where lots of catching up happened, but also we have family guests visiting.

A brief summary of our Japan and short Hong Kong trip was it was awesome, especially Japan. And I totally get it how a lot of people who had visited Japan kept on going back. We would love to do that, too! It might have something to do with being in an absolute new place, new experience, trying to figure out the transportation system and understanding the languages – that it became really exciting. Also not to mention some exciting alleys you discovered when you got lost – places you wouldn’t know how to go back to once you have access to internet. But, above all we enjoyed the cuisines much, from street food, depachika, convenience food, ekiben, to the famous kobe beef. Those were the times I felt truly alive, do anyone else feel that way about travelling?

Anyway, I am thinking to split the posts about our trip into these list below. Then, a hyperlink will be added to each bullet point once it is posted, and hopefully won’t be too long now.

Our Japan and Hong Kong trip itinerary looks like these:

So, see you soon in the next posts on our Japan trip 🙂

 

 

 

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Simple French Toast

French toast

What are you doing to that few slices of bread left on the fridge? There are few ways that I can think of right now, such as making croutons, bread butter pudding, filled with ragout – crumbed and deep fried for delicious savory snacks. But we can also make french toast, which is easy and take no longer than 30 minutes. And that is what we had for breakfast yesterday morning 🙂

Anyway, this is how I prepared my french toast:

  • 6 slices of sandwich bread
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • dash of vanilla extract
  • half teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • butter

Combine all ingredients (except bread and butter) in a shallow dish, whisk well.

Melt some generous amount of butter on your frying pan. Meanwhile, dip the bread on the egg mixture and place it to the pan. Just note that if you leave the bread dipping in the mixture for too long, it will absorb more liquid hence longer cooking time.

Cook each side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.

It is best to serve immediately, or keep in the warm oven until you finish cooking all.

French toast
Our simple breakfast, french toast with coffee…

If I have double cream at home, I would use half double cream and half milk for the egg mixture. It will add more richness to the french toast. But, I have also known some people use mix of nuts milk and they come out as tasty as using regular milk. This recipe is definitely a versatile one where you can adjust it according to what’s in your pantry.

Of course, how you serve the french toast is really up to your liking. We love it with drizzle of maple syrup, or chocolate syrup and fresh fruits. Some have theirs with slices of bacon, absolutely any variations that make breakfast or brunch special. The one we had yesterday was only with dust of icing sugar and some chocolate syrup for hubby’s.

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Jeans Chilli Chicken, Eastwood

Another late post on Korean food, again! We went to Jeans Chilli Chicken about three months ago, right in the middle of winter. I took pictures of our meal and thought to do a post. Then we go busy with moving, etc and I had totally forgotten about it. Until I browsed through pictures on my phone and reminded of the super late post. Anyway, here go our review on Jeans Chilli Chicken.

Located within Eastwood Hotel on the corner of Rowe St and Railway Parade, you may miss this place. Especially it surrounded by many Korean restaurants nearby! As the name suggests, it is famous for its chilli chicken with generous melted cheese on top. And they really live to the its name, those chicken are hot! They are served piping hot on hot plate and also spicy hot. On first bite, they may not feel that spicy; then as you eat more, your tongue will start to feel that burn.

Chilli chicken with cheese

The other highlight of Jeans Chilli Chicken is their sesame seaweed rice with bits of tiny chicken pieces. This comes in a package with the chilli chicken, but you can always order more. It comes with plastic gloves, where you use to mix the rice well and make bite size rice balls. When mixed together with the sesame and seaweed seasoning, it is really delicious. I guess there might be mix of glutinous rice in it as they are fairly sticky in texture compared to the ordinary rice you would have in other Korean restaurants.

My favorite – the sesame seaweed rice

The package also comes with three small side dishes: kimchi, pasta salad, and pickled radish.  We have had much better Korean side dishes else where, but they somewhat relief the burning tongue from that chilli. The pickled radish is quite nice, actually – but sometimes they are lack of taste than other times.

The side dishes

Overall we really enjoy the chilli chicken and the tasty rice. And even that spicy burning feeling on our tongue, we still keep going back (and it has been for few years now). The chicken pieces are tender and well marinated. There is a distinct smoky taste/smell to the chilli chicken that we cannot replicate at home. Hubby has tried cooking chilli chicken at home, but we just cannot get that right. Once we do, we’ll definitely share it with you Readers so stay tune 🙂

 

Jeans Chilli Chicken

115 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122

Phone: (02) 9874 1100

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Wagyu House Sydney, Croydon

Wagyu House Sydney

I just realised we had been to many Korean restaurants lately as reflected on my restaurant review posts. I guess they are extremely appealing especially during the colder seasons; but generally we enjoy the flavours anyway 🙂 The most recent Korean restaurant we tried out is Wagyu House Sydney, which is a BBQ buffet style restaurant.

Wagyu House Sydney is located on the busy Parramatta Road, Croydon – not exactly easy to get to by public transport. For that reason, we often passed this restaurant and yet never tried it for years. Only recently, we came to hear more about this place, how good their meat qualities and really good value for money. For those reasons, we decided to give it a try and yes, we are HOOKED!

First of all, as mentioned above its location is not close to any train stations. So, easiest transport options would be driving or by bus. Do note that they do not have big parking area, perhaps enough for 10 cars or so. On the last two occasions we went there before the busy dinner time, we could find parking inside the restaurant easy enough. But if you come during the busy times, you’ll probably need to find a street parking.

The restaurant itself consists of two building, separated by that small uncovered parking space. The building on the right side is where the main dining area where there are ample of seating. Also in the same area is where you can get the side dishes, rice, soup and carious seasonings. The left building is where you get your meat and ice cream. There are a few seating in this building, which I guess is only open when the other building is full.

So when you come here, first visit the seating area and the waiter there will assign a table to you. They will give you a ticket which you then bring to the other building for payment before grabbing the meat. Then head back to your table and enjoy the rest of the two hours slot. What impress us most is the quality of the meat also the options available and that they always refill them. There is never a time when we would find an empty meat platter, the same experience as many others have said as well.

Wagyu House Sydney - the seating area
The seating area

 

Wagyu House Sydney - Fried rice, fried noodle, soup and sauces
Fried rice, fried noodle, soup and sauces

 

Wagyu House Sydney - The side dishes
The side dishes, love their mashed potato salad especially and those refreshing watermelon chunks!

 

Wagyu House Sydney - meat selection

 

Wagyu House Sydney - meat selection

 

Wagyu House Sydney - meat selection
And more meat…

 

Wagyu House Sydney - Free stewed egg pot
Free stewed egg pot, 1 per table

 

Wagyu House Sydney - vanilla ice cream
Last but not least, the vanilla ice cream with several topping options 🙂

It only costs $29.95 per person and for all those options available, we think it is a really good value Korean BBQ buffet restaurant. And most of the meat are actually fresh meat and good cuts. The marinated ones are also very tasty, our least favorite would be the honey soy marinate. But the rest are delicious! And for that, we would definitely come back again and again 🙂

 

Wagyu House Sydney

668-670 Parramatta Rd, Croydon NSW 2132

Phone: (02) 9797 9999

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