Kopitiam Bagus.Bagus 捌哥.捌哥特色馬拉茶啡廳 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I'm still trying to adjust to life back home after spending more than a week in my home away from home (Tokyo). 

With our afternoon meeting finishing right on time, I thought I should drop by Kopitiam Bagus.Bagus (捌哥.捌哥特色馬拉茶啡廳) for a quick afternoon tea.

Teh tarik (凍拉茶) – I haven't had Malaysian pulled tea for quite some time so this was long overdue. 

This was slightly disappointing due to some astringency in the tea. The waitress didn't hesitate to ask why I didn't finish. 

Kaya toast with fresh butter (鮮牛油咖央多士) – Of course, their kaya toast with coconut pandan butter was the main reason I was here! This was still very very nice. Perhaps the best kaya toast in town!

Somehow I was asked what kind of egg I wanted to go with my kaya toast. I know it was the traditional way they serve up kaya toast in Malaysia and Singapore (with egg) but I have never been offered any egg during my previous visits (and I have been here 20+ times before!).

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 188 Yu Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Sham Shui Po

Tel: +852 2253-6911

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily

Toshi Yoroizuka Kyobashi (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

Mom and I only have time for one last meal before departing for Narita Airport and I have planned a little surprise for her. It's going to be a return trip to Toshi Yoroizuka Kyobashi, one of her favorite dessert spots in Japan.

Given our tight schedule, I've already planned ahead and reserved two seats at Toshi Yoroizuka's exclusive dessert bar on the second floor of their Kyobashi location.

We were first started off with a small snack consisting of two slices of sponge cake, fresh berries and yoghurt.

Mom needed no introduction as she's been here on a couple of occasions. As usual, we went with the famed dessert bar's signature dessert, "Ukishima", Chef Yoroizuka's contemporary take on the classic Mont Blanc.

Ukishima is a beautiful and delicate creation by the chef featuring a brilliant mix of chestnut vermicelli, chestnut meringue, hoijcha ice-cream and red bean paste, finished off with a shower of rich and intense matcha ganache. Mom's a happy camper now~!

Once again, online reservations for seats at the counter dessert bar of Toshi Yoroizuka Kyobashi are available through TableCheck.

Food Rating: 7.5/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 1/F Kyobashi Edogrand, 2-2-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0031 Japan
Closest Metro Station: Kyobashi
Tel: +81 3-6262-6510
Website: www.grand-patissier.info/ToshiYoroizuka/shop.html
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm (Wed - Mon)

Tsukiji Tama Sushi Harumidori 築地玉壽司 晴海通り店 (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

Tsukiji Tama Sushi (築地玉壽司) is a sushi restaurant chain in Japan with a long history dating back to 1924. The restaurant is best known for its high-quality yet reasonably priced sushi, offering a variety of fresh seafood sourced directly from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Outer Market (formerly the famous Tsukiji Fish Market). Since its Harumidori location (晴海通り店) is right across the street from our hotel, it made perfect sense that we grab an early lunch there before heading off to the airport.

The main dining area is located on the second floor of the building.

Sushi counter with an elderly and a kid, thanks but no thanks!

In Japan, it was always a pleasure to have the convenience of an English menu, and even better when it included a nice photo of each item, in this case every sushi and roll came with its own picture. 

Crab meat with crab roe sauce – The crab roe sauce wasn't as dominating as I anticipated.

Unago (1,000 yen) – Mom's favorite with a homemade sweet soy and according to her, not bad.

Sushi platter – Jelloman wanted this all for herself and she thought a few of these including the uni and toro were pretty decent. 

This one is mainly for little nugget.

Fatty Tuna (600 yen) – was pretty good although I won't mind it to be more thick cut.

Prawn (800 yen) – little one's favorite and it's probably the best sushi we had this morning.

Scallop (400 yen) – Pretty nice although I didn't think the additional minty flavors did much to enhance the sweetness of the scallop. 

Abalone (800 yen) – Very very hard. I wanted to use the word "crunchy" but let's just say that it's more than just crunchy. And I thought it was pretty bland.

We intentionally didn't fill up our tank leaving sufficient room for more food in a few hours. Stay tuned.

Food Rating: 5.4/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 2-15-19 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Tsukiji / Tsukijishijo / Higashi-ginza

Tel: +81 3-3541-0022

Website: www.tamasushi.co.jp/shop/harumidori/

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:00pm daily

Shabu Shabu Le-Ta-Su Shibuya しゃぶしゃぶ れたす 渋谷センター街店 (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

Mom is under the weather the last couple of days so we strapped the idea of having Japanese grill tonight and replaced it with another shabu shabu instead.

Shabu Shabu Le-Ta-Su (しゃぶしゃぶ れたす ) is a place we are all familiar with in both Japan and Hong Kong.

While their branch in Hong Kong (Shatin to be exact) only offers set menus, here it's all-you-can-eat in 90 minutes.

Unlike the traditional shabu-shabu restaurants where diners share a communal pot, we all got our own individual pot here. 

Each of us got a share of vegetables, beef and pork to start off the meal.

I was so hungry that I decided to throw everything in at the same time.

Forgot to say that we got a choice between a number of broth and as usual, I went with this dashi made with vegetables, which I thought worked best with the meat and veggies.

I remembered dessert was all-you-can-eat in the past as well but now, we only got to choose one. 😟 Matcha tiramisu with red bean paste in the middle remained the best dessert option here, if you ask me. 

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 2/F New Shibuya Building, 28-2 Udagawacho, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0042, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shibuya

Tel: +81 3-6712-7108

Website: https://shabushabu-letus-shibuya.com

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 10:00pm daily

I'm Donut? Omotesando (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

I thought I was going to miss out I'm Donut?'s nama donuts on this trip for sure but the big guy upstairs once again got my back. 

Just when I was walking to another doughnut shop in Omotesando, I accidentally ran into their (relatively) new location near Zenkōji Temple (善光寺). I had no idea this place even existed!

It was nice to see that some of these nama donuts were still available.

Mission accomplished!

Pistachio (440 yen) – As the name “Nama” (生) suggests (literally means “raw” or “fresh” in Japanese), the texture of the doughnut was incredibly soft, fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth. 

It resembles a small bag made of soft dough, filled with a generous portion of delicate pistachio cream in the middle. Very very addictive.

Strawberry custard cream (460 yen) – The strawberry custard cream donut featured a delightful balance of flavors with the fruity essence of fresh strawberries coming through prominently. The creamy custard filling was enriched with a vibrant strawberry puree, providing a burst of sweetness that complemented the richness of the cream perfectly.

Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: G/F Daiichi Yoshida Building, 3-5-18 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0061, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Omotesando / Aoyama

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm daily 

Pierre Hermé Paris Aoyama (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

It's our last afternoon in Tokyo. Jelloman decided to spend it in Ikebukuro (池袋) bringing mom and little nugget with her but I know better than to waste my time in a foodie's wasteland. So, I decided to start my journey in Omotesando with a bit of cafe hopping and shopping at the same time.

Pierre Hermé Paris Aoyama was an itch I was dying to scratch so it was an easy decision to swing by just to check it off my list.

As usual, the picasso had something new and exciting for my indulgence. 

It;s been 13 months since my last visit and it looked like they had done some minor renovations adding a small bar area next to their ground-floor boutique.

Now, I could enjoy some music while savoring this beautiful dessert.

Infiniment praliné noisette (972 yen) – An absolute hazelnut praline lover's dream. 

The dessert features a shortcrust pastry, hazelnut biscuit, soft and crunchy hazelnut praline, topped by a layer of creamy praline cream and hazelnut chantilly cream, as well as roasted Piedmont hazelnuts.

There's a lot of nuttiness, and a lot of crunchiness, creaminess and sweetness there, making it a pretty heavy, rich dessert. 

Still got another 3 hours before dinner time. Let's get a couple more things done before it gets dark.

 

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: 1/F & 2/F La Porte Aoyama, 5-51-8 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Aoyama

Tel: +81 3-5485-7766

Website: www.pierreherme.co.jp

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 7:30pm daily

Tonkatsu Sora とんかつ そら〜空〜 (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

Both mom and little nugget have never been to Kichijōji (吉祥寺) their whole life. With two more days to go before we head back home, I thought it was a great idea to bring them on an exploration trip to Tokyo’s most desirable district to live.

My research indicated that several of my preferred dining destinations in Kichijōji were either closed or fully booked for lunch today. To avoid any complications amidst our tight schedule, I decided to get off a couple of stations earlier in Ogikubo (荻窪) to grab a very quick lunch.

Our lunch venue was Tonkatsu Sora (とんかつ そら〜空〜), a specialty restaurant renowned for its deep-fried pork cutlets made from Kaori Pork (香り豚). Thanks to TableCheck’s online reservation system, I was able to secure a table for us with just a click of a button.

We knew we were in for a treat when we spotted a small line forming in front of the staircase leading to our pork cutlet specialist on the basement level. Fortunately, we had our table secured a week in advance already.

As soon as we stepped through the doors, we were escorted to the table next to the counter bar.

This place didn’t have the smell of a typical tonkatsu restaurant, that oiliness in the air!

I didn’t expect a small restaurant in Ogikubo would have a full English menu. Our young server speaking fluent English was another pleasant surprise.

Shredded cabbage with potato salad

Kaori pork tenderloin cutlet (1,680 yen) – Very meaty but a little bit dry. Overall not bad.

Kaori pork premium loin cutlet (1,880 yen) – The texture was pretty nice with a well-balanced mix of fat and lean meat.

Kaori pork rib roasted cutlet (2,000 yen) – The crown jewel of the Kaori pork was undoubtedly  its rib section.

The well-marbled rib cutlet offered a very luxurious mouthfeel, combining tenderness with a rich, juicy flavor that melted in your mouth.. 

Chicken cutlet (530 yen) – Tonkatsu Sora is far from a one-trick pony as they also offer deep-fried chicken cutlets and shrimps as well. These chicken cutlets were tender and juicy!

Kaori pork is a premium brand of pork from Japan best known for its exceptional flavor, tenderness, and rich umami. The name "Kaori" (香り) means "fragrance" or "aroma" in Japanese, highlighting the pork’s distinctive, pleasant scent and taste. From what I've seen from the looks of my team, everyone thoroughly enjoyed this dining experience.

Food Rating: 6.6/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: B1F, 1-8-8 Kamiogi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 167-0043, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Ogikubo

Website: https://www.tonkatsu555.com/

Tel: +81 3-5335-7567

Opening Hours: 11:30 am - 3:00 pm (Tue - Sun), 5:30pm - 10:00pm (Tue, Thu - Sun)