I can never stay away from Kabuki Shoroku for too long. It's quite high up there on my list of favourite Japanese restaurants because of its chawanmushi with salmon roe, seafood hot pot and wagyu beef.
This time round, I went for something I've not tried before - the lobster set menu that consists of:
- the chef's choice of starters
- a whole live lobster served sashimi style
- assorted tempura
- a main dish of chicken or prawns which I swapped for the wagyu beef by paying the difference in cost of the 2 dishes (I had wanted the hot stone wagyu but they claimed they broke the only available hot stone and so couldn't serve the dish?!?!)
- lobster and seafood broth
- rice
- dessert
I added the following at an extra cost:
- chawanmushi with salmon roe
- the normal chawanmushi
- assorted premium sashimi
- hot sake
Left: The lobster was still twitching when it was served freshly killed sashimi style. Its constantly moving big black eyes were scary! *GASPS*
Right: The tempura was so-so. I've never been a huge tempura fan anyway.
The tuna, salmon and kingfish sashimi paled in comparison with the crunchy lobster sashimi. It was a huge lobster but there really wasn't much meat to satisfy my appetite.
I asked for medium rare but after taking the first piece, thought perhaps I should have gone for rare instead. I've been preferring my steak rare lately.
I ordered both the normal chawanmushi and the one topped with salmon roe. The roe makes all the difference in taste. The normal version was totally tasteless and a waste of, what, $10?
Because there was already a lobster broth in the set, I didn't order my favourite $100-a-pot seafood hot pot. This lobster broth was not bad; I got to suck all the remaining lobster meat off those tough shells *slurps*
Dessert was sooooooooooo good I couldn't have enough of it, especially the piece of premium dark chocolate coated with matcha powder. I passed on that bit of banana though.
Time to plan another dinner there in the coming new year 2011!
lobster set menu at kabuki shoroku
one night in dubai
It was a last minute decision to do a one day stopover at Dubai for some work meetings enroute back to Sydney from Frankfurt. Due to the packed schedule, all I saw of Dubai was the airport, my hotel at the Millenium, my work meeting venue at the Emirates Training College and the Club Lounge at the Hyatt where I had more work meetings. The below photos are all I have to boast of my virgin trip to the Middle East.
An Emirates plane getting refuelled.
Waiting lounge at Dubai Airport.
One of the many wings at the Emirates Training College is built in the shape of a jet plane.
View from the outdoor dining section of the canteen in the training college. I can't help but get reminded of Singapore. Everywhere I turned, it seemed to be a duplicate of Singapore - the roads, city skyscrapers, high rise residential flats and apartments, road signs, trees lining the roads, banners on the lamp posts... Apparently Dubai was modelled after Singapore or so I've heard from too many sources.
I could watch the sky slowly turning dark as I was having the last of the work meetings at the Hyatt Club Lounge. I looked wistfully at the Spire wishing I had the time to at least venture into the city for a bit. No chance at all.
Left: the corridor leading to my room at the Millenium.
Right: the reading corner in my room. I love the richly coloured carpet and the super high ceiling.
I crashed into the luxurious bed and prepared to fly 17 hours back to Sydney the following day.
the princess met the pauper for a frankfurter
Work took me to a little town called Neu Isenburg, 10 minutes outside of Frankfurt, Germany in the middle of November. Besides the lovely flowers and chocolates that greeted me upon arrival at the hotel, the next best thing that happened to me in the short four days there was capturing the above scene when I was taking a morning walk along the main street - Frankfurter Strasse - outside the hotel. I chuckled at the contrast of the gleamingly well polished BMW convertible against the run-down shophouse sandwiched between modern apartments right there in the prime area along the busiest street named after my favourite sausage.
I named this picture The Princess and the Pauper. All other photos taken on this short stopover - which aren't very interesting - can be viewed here in my Flickr album.
Even spending half a day in Frankfurt itself checking out the Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral and Museum where a baby christening took place under the watchful eyes of the many scary-looking God-related figures and taking a stroll along the romantic river Main where too many couples cuddled and kissed did not yield anything exciting enough to blog about.
Perhaps experiencing grey sleepy gloomy cold Deutschland (the weather sure didn't help, neither did the jet lag and fatigue, I guess; I could feel it in my bones a mega illness approaching to overwhelm me such that all my sensory receptors went into hibernation mode in preparation for the great fight against the viruses) right after taking in the colourful sights, smells and sounds of always bustling and filled-with-life Istanbul has in comparison paled the relatively more peaceful Frankfurt city and the sleepy town of Neu Isenburg in terms of the excitement factor.
Don't get me wrong. Frankfurt is a beautiful city with extremely friendly and helpful people unlike the cold and aloof Sydneysiders who I had the misfortune of meeting in my first days of working Down Under. I recall thinking as I was appreciating how clean and neat the streets everywhere were while taking the tram to the CBD and again when I was having the nicest schnitzel I've ever had in my life for dinner one night that I actually don't mind relocating to work and live there. In fact, it's worth some serious consideration if only the winter season is not so harsh.
extremely long distance message
Exhaustion and jet lag hit me with a tight slap on the face when I arrived in Istanbul after about 30 hours of travelling. Add to that two full days of attending to an exhibition booth, you get a fatigue so severe that even lying down to sleep feels painful.
So I offloaded my misery in a single torrent of babbling on the phone to a certain someone. All I wanted was for the trip to end right away so I could fly straight home to sleep on my own comfortable bed with my special pillow formation (I have difficulty sleeping in an unfamiliar environment).
A big bouquet of blood red roses in a crystal vase and a huge box of chocolates (I counted total of 60 pieces in that box!) greeted me in the hotel room when I arrived at my second destination - Neu Isenburg (10min away from the city of Frankfurt) in Germany.
What a sweet way to try and send me some comfort from 16,000 km away. (How amazing is it that with current technology, you can reach out to anyone on earth with just a simple phone call: "Hello is this ABC florist? I'd like to have a bouquet delivered to...." when it used to be that people had to wait ages for hand written letters to arrive by snail mail before you even know if the other party has arrived at his/her destination safe and sound?)
Although the chocolates and roses didn't take away my physical distress, they did stir up some fuzzy feelings inside that kept me warm in the harsh German winter cold. while I endured the next part of the work trip.
a day in istanbul...
... and I got...
... a peek of their streets...
The roads - always full of cars.
The trams - always coming and going, with people packed in them like sardines.
The parks and squares where people gather at all times of the day.
... a taste of their national drinks...
Sweet tea - plain, apple, rose, cinnamon; you name it, you have it. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, locals and foreigners alike, drinks TEA everywhere!!!
Turkish coffee to wake up you with its bitter grainy coffee powder taste or pomegranate / orange juice for a dose of extreme sourness to perk you up.
Too bitter or too sour? There's plenty of sugar cubes to go around.
... a glimpse of their religious devoutness...
A place for performing the Wudu (the act of cleaning oneself with water in preparation for a prayer) before entering the mosque proper.
Sultanahmet Mosque (more popularly known as the Blue Mosque) seen from both the inside and outside.
Facing the Qiblah.
... to behold the awe of their ancient yet majestic architecture...
Both inside and outside the Sultanahmet Mosque.
Ruins within the Topkapi Palace.
A run-down toilet in a once magnificent palace.
A ceiling with gold trimmings vs one of simple stone.
... to cross paths with other visitors from foreign lands...
The shuffling of feet everywhere; tourists rushing to cover as much ground as possible within the stipulated time frame in the itinerary, sometimes they step onto areas not meant to be accessed.
A bunch of local students on a school excursion has the same curiosity as a foreign tourist.
A travelling photographer beholding his fellow tourists visiting the Haghia Sophia.
... to immerse in the locals' way of life...
A romantic afternoon for these lovebirds by the Baths of Roxelana.
The friendliest barista I have ever met preparing my Turkish coffee.
Morning peak hour rush - some make urgent business calls, some read the paper at a leisurely pace.
Most would go to extreme heights to restore their faith.
Feeding oneself by feeding the birds around.
A pigeon lady's life can be very colourful too.
...and of course, not to mention, my silent exchanges with the furry residents of the city.
Istanbul is a city to love, be loved and to fall in love in.
the furry residents
Istanbul is a city of cats. Below is a showcase of a little project I did on a morning walk: Feline sightings within an hour of arrival.
"Will you be my friend?" was taken when a little kitten assumed this position near my boots and remained staring at what must have appeared as towering brown monsters to it for more than a few heartbeats.
"Waiting to pounce on the Adidas" was taken when I noticed a cat lurking around under stools in a roadside cafe. Its black and white coat of fur coupled with the same coloured stripes on that pair of sneakers prompted me to do away with the distracting colours for this picture.
Left: "Behind bars" is of this cat behind a gate that looked at me with the most soulful eyes as if it was imploring me to set it free albeit it could have easily slipped out through the gaps.
Right: "Whatcha eating?" features that same cat in "Waiting to pounce on the Adidas" that had turned its attention to some plates of food at a neighbouring table.
Left: The model in "Daydreaming" strikes a great resemblance to Garfield, don't you think?
Right: This one glaring at me looks like it's "On guard duty" while its mates snoozed.
"Will you buy a coaster from me please?" is of one without much business sense as it stubbornly refused to remove its paws from the very coasters I sought.
And finally, "Cat nap" is of course of a cat taking a nap.
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