Kyoto Day 2 - The Golden Pavilion Kinkakuji And Fushimi Inari Shrine
September 30, 2015
Yauatcha City's £25 Star Menu
September 29, 2015
£25 for a selection of dim sum and a cocktail at high-end restaurant Yauatcha certainly is a value hard to beat, so I decided to check it out with my sister as we both love dim sum.The newly opened Yauatcha in Liverpool street is very swanky, and full of elegance. It has a more formal vibe to the original branch in Soho which I have been to on 2 occasions, but Yauatcha's modern and sleek stamp is apparent. From the location itself to the half moon shape of the restaurant, this is a lovely venue for special occasions, catching up with girlfriends and perhaps a date.
As soon as we walked through the door, we were greeted by a lovely lady at the reception who took our coats to the cloakroom, and then another member of staff took us to our table. Each and every one of the staff were incredibly attentive without being overwhelming throughout the evening. Service like this just makes me dine whilst being completely relaxed.
A Chocolate Lover's Dream, Sweet Freedom Choc Shot
September 28, 2015
Finally, there is a healthy chocolate sauce on the market that is low calorie and all natural. Ingredients are derived from cocoa, sugar extracts from fruits and contains no artificial flavouring, colours or preservatives.
From Auto to Manual | Food Photography + Styling Tips in 5 minutes
September 25, 2015
Photography has never been a strong skill of mine and whilst it has improved vastly from my early days as a snap happy teen, there's still plenty of room for improvement. I shoot mainly on my iPhone 5s and sometimes my compact camera, a Canon S95 in auto mode. DSLR's scare me because I don't have the foggiest on how to operate one.
My Home In A Glance + Getting Covered
September 24, 2015
Our house was in good condition when we bought it and nothing really needed changing, but as my husband and I have very particular taste, we knew we were going to be in for a lot of DIY.
Yolkin Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich, London
September 21, 2015
Guys, guys, guys, let me introduce you to Yolkin, the macaron ice cream sandwich.
Unless you have been living under a stone for the entire summer, you'll have heard about these macaron ice cream sandwiches, a.k.a mac ice, thanks to the hoards of images floating on Instagram, twitter and facebook.
Kyoto Day 2 - Mitsui Garden Hotel and Exploring Nishiki Market
September 18, 2015
After a wonderful stay at Kikokuso on our first day in Kyoto, we head over to Mitsui Garden Hotel in the Sanjo area. At a much more pocket friendly stay of £60 per night (Kikokuso was £330 a night including a kaiseki dinner and traditional Japanese breakfast), this is going to be our hotel for the rest of our stay on Kyoto. Al Fresco Pizza at Pizza Express Merchant Square, Paddington
September 16, 2015
Fear not, this is where the new Pizza Express at Merchant Square Paddington comes in!
Royal China Queensway, The Best Dim Sum in London
September 14, 2015
Kyoto Day 1 - Kikokuso Ryokan and A Kaiseki Dinner
September 09, 2015
After a relaxing afternoon exploring Gion, we're back at the ryokan for an early dinner. Kikokuso is simply beautiful and encompasses everything we thought a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) would look and feel like. It's a step back into old time Japan, and generations of this family run business is evident in the photos that are dotted around the inn.
Kyoto Day 1 - Riding The Nozomi Shinkansen And Exploring Gion
September 07, 2015
Day 5 of our Japan honeymoon and we are set for Kyoto. Tokyo has been wonderful and we are sad to leave, but we know there is still so much more fun to come. We're booked onto the 10am bullet train that departs Tokyo station, so after 4 hours shut eye and very groggy, we stumble over to Shinjuku station.Tokyo Day 4 - Roppongi Hills, Sensational Ramen At Mutekiya Ramen, Kabukicho and Piss Alley
September 05, 2015
Once we arrive back into Shinjuku station after a day trip to Hakone, we go back to our hotel round the corner for a quick freshen up. I love the location of our hotel, and being so close to Shinjuku station was just super for quick refreshers like this. Hotels in Tokyo are not large in size, but they are super clean and very comfortable. We loved our stay at the Hotel Sunroute Plaza, and the vending machines with drinks and ice cube extras were such a nice touch.
Roppongi
Hills houses apartments, offices, shops, restaurants, an observation
deck, a museum and recreational areas. This spider figure was pretty
cool, very large and quite eerie at night!
These night view photos of Tokyo give me goosebumps! It's so wonderfully
romantic and alive with bright lights from around the city and cars
zooming about. The observation deck was a peaceful way to spend time
soaking in this amazing city and I was happy that we were able to make
time to see this.
A cafe inside Roppongi Hills. This is the kind of stuff you see all around Tokyo and there is just no other city like it.
Our evening ended romantically with a golden heart, a pond, and sparkly Tokyo Tower in the background.
Our bellies were rumbling by now. We had missed dinner and it was close to 10.30pm as we left Ropponghi Hills. There was a ramen bar on my eat list we had yet to tick off, and after a bit of stumbling around, we finally got ourselves to Ikebukuro. From Ikebukuro JR station, it's the East Exit and a 10 minute walk to Mutekiya ramen. This ramen joint is open until 4am every day!!
And the queues at nearly midnight are still nuts.
Once we are finally inside, it doesn't take too long for our food to arrive. And the ramen was sensational!!
The
broth was just so delicious and coated every strand of the bouncy
ramen. Adding freshly pressed garlic and a splash of vinegar took this
bowl of awesomeness to another level! This was serious travel food
magic.
I was happy to test out that theory although we had not yet headed to Osaka at this point on our trip. I have to say I didn't enjoy Tokyo's version too much. There was a lot of dough and just a bit average. Still, I liked that I could buy takoyaki from a van at 1am!
5 minutes round the corner is the famous Piss Alley which we knew about after seeing it on B-Kyu's blog. We imagine this alley would be busy in the evening with lots of tiny but incredibly cozy izakayas to offer a chilled beer and lots of beer snacks and light grills. Sad we weren't able to fit it in this time, but this is on our hit list when we eventually make it back to Japan.
This was the most exhausting part of our honeymoon. We literally hit the ground running as soon as we landed and throughout the 4 days, we had about 5-6 hrs sleep every night after walking for an average of 12-14hrs during the day. But it was worth the sore feet and tiredness to see/eat/experience Tokyo to the max on our short time here.
We're heading to Kyoto first thing in the morning. Sayonara Tokyo, but it's not goodbye forever. I'll be back.
My Top 5 Inexpensive Japanese Restaurants in London
September 02, 2015
Japanese food has become one of my favourite cuisines over the years, especially after our honeymoon in Japan, and I am always up for a Japanese meal when in London. I'm not talking about your usual sushi from Wasabi or Itsu, Japanese food is so much more than just sushi.
Here are my favourite authentic Japanese restaurants in London that averages £15-£25 per person for dinner.
1. Koya Bar
2. Eat Tokyo
3. Tonkotsu
4. Nagomi
5. Lingo
Do you know of any inexpensive Japanese restaurants in London that should be on this list too?
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