Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Osaka

D and I had dinner at the Japanese restaurant in the Ritz Carlton Osaka, Hanagatami.
It was really nice.
The staff went above and beyond to accommodate us. We don't eat meat,fish or meat or fish stocks. That rules out a lot of traditional Japanese recipes but the chefs changed their recipes slightly for us.
I was so amazed at how good they were!
I should really write a letter to say thank you.
The surroundings of the restaurant were lovely but I didn't take any photos.
It would of been a bit awkward. You know what I mean!
Look a the "Japanese Garden" aka trees in white stones.
It was really pretty.


For appetizer we had this lovely tofu dish.
It had a sweet sauce. I think it was miso. The butterfly was made from sweet potato. The cucumber was nice and crunchy.
Cute huh?
I may of had two. Hahahhahaaaaaaa



Entree we had this tofu dish with zucchini and okra. It was delicious!


SUSHI! D hates it when I take photos of sushi because he thinks they all look the same.
So wrong.
Plus I want to remember what I ate on my holidays for some reason.
Not sure why. Just do!



Tempura. I'm still not quite sure what vegetables we ate..
But can you see the cute dipping salts almost cut off in this photo?
They were all different flavours. Eg, the pink was cherry blossom, green was green tea, there was curry, seaweed and one other I cant remember.
I think they were some sort of special fancy salt. They were trying to explain it. I didn't really catch on.



I liked the use of different plates. It made it interesting when each dish came out.



We had a glass of champagne and a half bottle of sake.
How cute is the sake presentation?



In this photo D made me pretend to pour sake.
I explained how its supposedly bad to pour sake for yourself in Japan. So I pretended to pour his.
I wonder how seriously the Japanese people take it now.
I'd die of thirst if I waited for D to pour my drinks. haha. I think its a nice gesture though.


For dessert we had some Japanese style dishes.
Not sure of what they are called.
This was some sort of gooey thing with powder on the top.
Not sure what it was. Can't really explain the taste either.
It was nice and interesting though.
Very chewy.



AND RED BEAN!! WOOO
I love red bean.
Who doesn't? It's the best!
We also had delicious green tea. The REAL kind. The powder stuff. I have to find some of it in Melbourne. I'm not too fond of the tea bag variety of green tea.


Staying at the Ritz Carlton was funny.
I'm not into their style of decorating
ie, floral, ye olde worlde.

How funny is the bathroom?
It had 2 chandeliers.
Haha. Funny.
I took this photo at the time thinking I would post it on my blog.
I have no idea why a toilet would inspire me to take a photo for my blog.
Hmmm.
Kinda gross.
Hahaaha
I'm wearing the Kirrily Johnston dress again.
It's such a good dress when you don't have time or your not in the mood for fuss.



After dinner we went to the bar in the hotel called "The Bar"
Hahaha.
LOOK AT THE CURTAIN MATERIAL CHAIRS.
Now do you get what I mean about the decorating?
I think its a fun novelty though.
This Dry Manhattan made me so happy. Words cannot describe.
There was a man playing the piano to the left of me and "singing"
By singing I mean, slurring words to a melody.
It was like he knew no one could speak English so when he forgot the lyrics he'd just make a word up. Hahah It was funny.
He did some Elton John and Billy Joel numbers.



Here are a few more random photos so I can finish my Japan posts.

Kyoto Station.
I like how ultra modern it is compared to the very traditional city.



Ooooh
Here is another restaurant in the hotel.
Here is a more realistic photos of me eating dinner.
Hahaha
Scoffing down and looking at D weird.
I think I had cabbage spaghetti. It sounded gross but it tasted v nice.
The prices were really good for hotel dining in this place too.
Lots of vegetarian options and a macrobiotic menu too.

I'm wearing a Karen Walker dress that has a spider-web print.



Here is a cool chandelier in the restaurant.
I liked it.
Not all chandeliers have to be crystal right?



Here is the view from the window of our hotel room.
We could see people in the office building on the right with our zoom lens.
I wonder if anyone looks into the hotel?
Weird!



Ahhhh
Here is me leaving the hotel!! BOooo :(
On our way to the airport :( :( :(
My face looks a bit stupid and awkward.
It probably looks like that majority of the time. Hahahha.
I liked the crazy flower arrangement a lot.




Here is me at the Kansai airport Starbucks.
Stupid photo I know, but I wanted to show the card.
So cool!
In Japanese Starbucks if you order SOY you get given this card and you have to give it back to the barista when you collect your coffee to make sure you definitely pick up the soy milk cup.
Thats so cute.
Never seen this at a Starbucks before!



This photo scares me.
The weird face I'm pulling makes me look like my dad.
Scary!

I am watching Modern Family now.
It looks funny so far.
Then a friend is coming over to watch the GOSSIP GIRL FINALE!!
WOO
Can't Wait !!

Xoxo

13 comments:

  1. These photos are MAGIC. The food snaps are tres wonderful but I have got to say I Love the level of height and backcombing with your updo. Well Done. Excellent clothes, food, hair and scenery. This had better not be your last Japan post young lady.

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  2. Looks like you've had a wonderful time! Please keep posting on Osaka and Kyoto - I'm going in Sept. Can't wait!

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  3. I love your Japan posts.

    You have inspired me to whip out my Sprouse this winter too.

    I have found green tea powder in Chinatown here in Sydney, so should definitely be easy to find in Melbs. I am planning on having mine sprinkled over vanilla ice cream. In winter, I know....

    SSG xxx

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  4. Have loved your Japan posts. I too watched Modern Family and thought it was rather funny - I will be back.

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  5. the gossip girl finale nearly killed me!! it was too much for my failing heart!!

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  6. I love that they give you a Soy milk card at starbucks! There is nothing worse than picking up a non-soy coffee or them not hearing soy but skinny.

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  7. Lovely Photo's & All That Food Looks Yummy!!
    England Are Behind On Gossip Girl..I Wanna Watch The Finale!! :(

    http://thisstylishlife.blogspot.com/

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  8. LOL! Ye Olde Worlde :) My boyfriend and I constantly use this to describe things that are kinda old fashioned etc :)

    Modern Family is awesome!! Keep watching!!

    GG finale... OMG...

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  9. H and I loved the photos of the foooood. I'm not a huge fan of red bean, last time I had it the red bean was stuffed into a cake ice cream thing, it was very floury frozen and weird. We bought that at Fuji Mart - go buy one, let me know what you think. ♥

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  10. Gossip girl was super full on.

    I was thinking up heaps of possiblities but missed the mark completely with the ending

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  11. I really really like your hair colour. It just occurred to me how nice it is. Ha that was not meant to sound as creepy as it did. I've loved readin your Japan posts, I hope theyre not finished! PS what did you think of the GG finale? I'm still tripping massively from it. Insanity!

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  12. Aww that food butterfly is super cute. I'm a sucker for food presentation like that.

    I haven't watched the GG finale yet. Must rectify this situation, stat!

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  13. still loving that LV scarf! a lady came into work wearing it the other day and i thought of yours lol... is that weird ? you're the only person i know of that has it, lucky duck!

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