H O N G K O N G

Wow, has it already been a month now that we've been absent? Time really flies... it wasn't without cause though. We just returned from a 3 week trip back to Vancouver for one of my best friend's wedding. Between that, seeing friends and family, we were not left with much free time. 10 days at home isn't enough but we're already now looking forward to coming back. We snuck in a week long trip to Hong Kong too. It was a much needed break - work in a professional services firm is fast paced and sometimes you just need to have some time to yourself to slow down. This is going to be a heck of a long post but I please bare with us :) V A N C O U V E R  A K A  Home We will likely always call Vancouver our home. We love to travel and we likely won't be living in Vancouver for a while but our family and a lot of good friends still reside there. It is always a good time to be back. Visiting family, hanging out with good friends, having daily meals of sushi and wandering around old neighborhoods brings back a lot of memories and reminds us of what to be thankful for. My friend's wedding was beautiful and it was so cool to see one of my best friends get married to her husband, Bruce. Being back made us realize how much we love the Northwest Coast of NA. Just a couple of shots below - you know, since we were in the stunning Hycroft Mansion and all.

H O N G K O N G Janice was born in HK but I was born and raised in Vancouver. The last time I went to HK was back in 94 and to be quite honest, I don't remember much of it. My recollection was limited to my memory of how dirty it was haha. But understandably, this place has changed over completely. It was modern and much cleaner than I remembered. The bigger shock though? It was hot... and sticky. 32-34 degrees celsius with humidity that made it feel like 37-39 daily, we were constantly sweating. I was warned but being born in Vancouver, no words could have prepared me. It was bearable though so it wasn't all bad. Walking through the streets of HK, I was again amazed as to how different Asia is from the western world. The visual stimulants there are abundant, invasive even. But you have to appreciate it, it makes for some great pictures :)

Walking around the city Alright, so we knew Hong Kong had good shopping. But even with that expectation, the amount of malls surprised me. It wasn't just the sheer number of malls but the shops in each one. From Chanel, to Tiffany's to Celine, to whatever you want. If you have the money, this place could be your shopping haven but for me and J, it was just a place to escape the heat. Hong Kong can look a bit like a concrete jungle but from high up, there's no denying how cool a view the cityscape is.

Indulgences Food in HK. Pretty much everyone who thinks of this city thinks of it in conjunction with great food. It doesn't have to be fancy by any stretch of the imagination though. Some of the best food in the city is simply comfort food. Simple. Delicious. Cheap. We ventured to some local favorites including Australia Dairy Company, Tim Ho Wan, Tsim Chai Kee, Honey Moon Dessert, and others. What a vacation. Great food, great company. We were happy.

Impressions Hong Kong may not have always been at the top of my list for travel destinations but it sure shot right up there now. We had a great time roaming the city and enjoying all the good eats. It was great meeting some of J's friends and family too :)

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B E E F I N J A P A N

Japan really is the country for foodies. When you think of Japan, most would automatically think of sushi as their first thought but to think that that is the only cuisine they do well would be a misnomer. There is something about the beef in Japan. I have never seen so much marbling in my life. You can instantly tell that the meat will be succulent and tasty just by looking at it. You almost think that there is no way you could screw this up because it looks that good. While we did not wander into Kobe on this trip, we did try to find some good beef. Our first meal with a focus on beef was in Osaka at a place called, Matsuzakagyu Yakiniku. Matsuzakagyu Yakiniku, Osaka

This was one restaurant that we did not plan on eating in (like so many of the other meals we had in Japan). We simply wandered the old streets of Osaka and came across this one. A classy yakiniku joint along the cobblestone street that was clean but lit in a way that reminded you of movies of olden day Japan where lanterns lit the way, Matsuzakagyu specializes in Matsusaka beef (a form of wagyu). We were seated in our private booth which had drapes to separate you from the rest of the restaurant. There are English speaking waiters and waitresses and in any case, they are very polite and helpful. We settled for the beef platter which worked out to be around $120-130 USD per person. For that price, you get a variety of cuts of beef, each with a different form and varying marbling. Like any yakiniku, the food is grilled at your table. The cuts of meat varied and were written in Japanese as you can see below but all tasted delicious. You can use the house sauce as well but the meat tasted great on its own. The beef was tender and flavourful. Was it the best steak I’ve had in my life? Probably not but it was pretty close. The next place we went to though, took that prize.

Yoroniku, Tokyo Yoroniku is another yakiniku in Japan but this is one that we had researched and made reservations for. From reading several blogs and reviews, Yoroniku was identified by a few to be one of the best dining experiences they had in Japan so we knew we had to experience this ourselves. Unfortunately… the only reservation time they had open was at 10:30pm. That was fine by us though as we timed our hunger so that we would be hungry again by the time our table came up (i.e. ramen in Shibuya for dinner at 6pm). This place was a little hard to find (as are lots of restaurants in Tokyo) as it was quite literally only identifiable by a single lamp. Even our taxi driver was wondering where he was dropping us off.

When we got in, we were surprised that this was a smoking restaurant but such is Japan in some cases. We’re not smokers and we don’t like the smell but it is part of their dining culture in izakaya’s and the like so it is just something we had to deal with. We once again ordered the fixed price menu of $70 USD per person which comes with 10 different dishes. The difference here though is that a server is assigned to cook the beef for you. Might as well because they know exactly how it is done. They literally let the beef sit for no longer than 2 seconds in some cases! The beef came in varying sizes and cuts but I tell you, I haven’t seen beef look this good before. Starting with the perfectly seasoned raw beef tar tar, we eventually made our way to the thin cuts of beef. The beef was cut so thin, the cook called it “silk”. It was marbled thoroughly as you would expect but it was marinated as well. The beef was actually sweet and savoury at the same time and just melted in your mouth. The house sauce was delicious and the cook tells you how to eat each slice (with sauce, with no sauce, with lemon, etc). One of the more memorable pieces was a thin, thin cut of beautiful beef that was cooked then mixed with a raw egg yolk. It sounds risky but it was incredible. We also had the sirloin steak but honestly, the thinner slices were the highlights. By the time the cook said that it was the last meat dish, I was sad. For me, this was the best beef that I have ever had – which is saying a lot because I love steak. I was full but almost did not want the goodness to end. Yoroniku easily ranks up there as one of the top three meals we had in Japan (better than Matsuzakagyu Yakiniku in Osaka).

S U S H I D A I

When we decided to go to Japan, we had food at the forefront of our thoughts. So when we asked people where some of the best places for sushi was, we were excited that we had so many options. One of which is more well known amongst tourists - Sushi Dai. Located in the Tsukiji Fish Market, Sushi Dai is known as one of the top 2 sushi-ya's there. The omakase was for 3,900 yen which translates to roughly $40 USD. For fish that is as fresh as it could get, prepared by masters in their craft, it's not a bad deal right? The only catch? You have to get there early. We'll get into that in a second. We were lucky enough to be staying in the Shiodome area so the fish market was only a short walk. Good thing because our phone alarm woke us up at 3:00am and we arrived at Sushi Dai by 4:00am. So we thought we would be keeners and get in the first round (the restaurant opens at 5:00am). Boy were we wrong. We got there only to see about 30 people already in the line-up. Sushi Dai is counter seating only which is very common for independent sushi restaurants in Japan. The problem is, they only seated about 10-12 people at a time. We waited and waited and waited... We thought at one point that we were going to get in for the second round for sure at 6am but we were the last couple that didn't make it :( I must say... it was a great experience waiting in front of the windows, watching others eat that delicious looking sushi. We made it in by 7am and by that point, we were not only starving but cold as well.

To be honest, the omakase at Sushi Dai impressed us. The meal included 12 pieces of nigiri which were definitely bigger in quantity (both in rice and in fish) than most other traditional spots. No, it was not as refined as Daisan Harumi or Sushi Iwa which we had the previous 2 nights but the quality of fish was there. We came here with a bit of skepticism. This was a touristy spot after all. But we were left satisfied and honestly feeling like our 3 hour wait was worth it. I personally loved the horse mackeral and o-toro. So impressive and fatty, the o-toro just melts in your mouth. It really is unlike any tuna you get in North America where its texture just doesn't hold and disintegrates rather than melts if that makes sense. The uni, while it wasn't the best we had in Japan, was delicious, had a super creamy texture that was rich and sweet. Of all the sushi restaurants we have been to, the only one in North America that we could definitely say is better than Sushi Dai may be Sushi Yasuda in New York. But then you're looking at a price difference of $40 USD versus $200 USD per person. So, to conclude, would we come back? Definitely! I just hope we don't have to wait in line for 3 hours again next time... Sushi Dai Chuo-ku, Tsukiji 5-2-1, Tsukiji Market Building No. 6 Tokyo, Japan

H A M M E R & T O N G

This Easter weekend, our quest to find more great brunch spots in Melbourne took us to Hammer & Tong in Fitzroy. Fitzroy is one of those pockets in a city that is as creative as they come. A place where its age shows, this area of town is not lacking in character. Hammer & Tong sits just off of Brunswick Street (for people that live in Vancouver, it is much like Main Street or Commercial Drive) and is home to one of the more well known soft-shell crab burgers in the city. We arrived at the door at about 11am and was met with a lineup that took about 15 minutes to get in (not too shabby). Not surprisingly, the restaurant was bustling and very full. We were served some great coffee here in no time... what came after though, didn't come until almost 40 minutes later. Needless to say, we were starved by the time our food arrived. We get that the restaurant is busy but 2/3rds of an hour is too long. Having said that the food hit the spot and I suppose that was this experience's saving grace.

We ordered the smoked trout, kale, poached egg on a rye bagel with seaweed hollandaise along with the zucchini and corn fritters with poached egg. The smoked trout was good but maybe a little dry. The combination of the ingredients is what made this dish so memorable. It was delicious and we polished off that plate with ease. The fritters had a very mexican flare to it and it also had a great, crispy texture on the outside. To end our meal, we shared a soft shell crab burger since it was selling like hot cakes. Our conclusion? It was good - the bun was very soft and warm (I'm no good with descriptions as you can tell) and the flavor was distinctly asian - but it was a little too salty. Overall, we enjoyed it. We may have had better in Melbourne but this ranks right up there with the best. We'll be back. Hammer & Tong 412 Brunswick Street Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia