Ok wow, it's been a week, more... haha, since the last short post. Life's been busy, really messed up at some point, but hey, everyone's got to have bad days in order to get good ones, so I guess it's not all that bad. Am I trying too hard to be optimistic here? ^^'' Anyway, life goes on, and so does food. Been indulging in too much these days even, because weather's been cooling down, and I eat -alot- when the weather gets cold. I think it's prefectly natural to eat more when it's cold (and snuggle in bed with thick warm blankets. I swear I'm not a bear), but that does mean gaining winter weight, which gets lost in summer when it's too hot to eat anything anyway, so here goes~

From Week 10, 2010

Unhealthily delicious, this was from back two weeks ago actually, Sunday when I didn't have work. Went with my brother to Rhodes after church for some quick breakfast at Ikea, but unfortunately they ran out of the cheap breakfast when we got there. No matter though, we were first in line to get lunch- first in line to get piping hot meatballs~ complete with gravy and lingoberry sauce!

From Week 10, 2010

TonTon regulars now, the lady who works there probably recognise us as the two people who snap up  onigiri early in the morning before lunchtime. Usually, we'd visit at about 11:30am to beat the lunch rush (during lunchtime, not only is it busier, but the self-serve water cannister will probably be empty by then, AND you get smaller servings) and grab about 4-6 onigiri for later. There's usually about 9 in the basket, so when we grabbed 6.. well, there's most of the onigiri gone, though I'm not sure if they make anymore during the day.... This was their shouyu ramen I think?

From Week 10, 2010

This was actually pretty interesting and tasted pretty Chinese rather than Japanese. TonTon seems to be very Chinese-inspired with their cuisine, what with mabou tofu and spicy jah jiang (wait, that's Korean...?) and this one, I forgot the name of it, but it has seafood and meat on top of ramen, in a pork broth that isn't quite tonkotsu....

*tt said it's Nagasaki Champon... how he remembered that, I have no idea*

From Week 10, 2010

Visit #2- we went to TonTon the day after too, so it's really no wonder that the woman working there recognises us now. Chicken karaage don- super crispy! =D Loved it except for the gari on top.

From Week 10, 2010

My sukiyaki beef udon. They had quite a few varieties of udon there... the usual tanuki, tempura, kare... thought I'd try something different. I think I'll try the curry one next time. This was pretty good though!

From Week 10, 2010

Ahhh... this place... =P Someone's been asking where this is. I actually found out about this place from my brother, who recommended it to me even before he went there himself. Beautiful interior. I never expected it to be quite so spacious and elegantly decorated before I went in. Once you step down those dark stairs and turn around the corner, you go through a corridor with private function rooms complete with karaoke. Those are for bigger groups of course, unless you can afford to pay $400 for 3 hours in a private room by yourself. Then further down is the public dining areas, but by public, it's actually quite private because each table is sectioned off. Ever been to Wagaya? It's very similar- except nicer. Just look at the fake Sakura trees!

From Week 10, 2010

Upon being seated, a waiter or waitress will attend to the table and ask if you've ever used an ordering system from touch screen monitors like this one. Like the one at Wagaya too. This system is getting pretty popular with Japanese restaurants. Poporo had it once too, except they went downhill and scraped it =_= The waiter left us with the caution that once you've confirmed the order of the dish on the screen, you cannot correct it. That's ok, because they'll actually get you to confirm it twice on the screen, so if you pressed the green tick twice by mistake... well... that's really your own fault then.

From Week 10, 2010

As usual, we went during a quiet time. Usually, lunch for us is about 11:30~11:45, but this time, because we had lunch at TonTon, we waited till about 4:30, 5 to try out this place. It was too late for lunch, and too early for dinner, so the menu selection was fairly limited. We could choose drinks and snacks. Very quiet at that time. Like I said before, it's a huge place and there's a sushi bar at the front, and sitting area with magazines and comfy sofa stools near the exit.

From Week 10, 2010

Bigger tables around the corner, more sakura trees lit up.

From Week 10, 2010

The food? We actually weren't hungry, so snacks suited us just fine. The first time we went, the menu was definitely smaller than the second time, which means they must keep adding to the menu as they progress. It's still a fairly new place afterall, so no doubt it's going to be like another TonTon- start off bad, and gradually gets good as it gains popularity *cough unlike wagamama which never got good and thus never gained popularity cough*

From Week 10, 2010

Surely this cannot be saffron? It sure looks like it... but I've never actually seen saffron before, or if I did, I never knew it's saffron. The most expensive spice ever? On top of our crocodile karaage? Maybe not, but I like to think it is =D Yep, it's crocodile karaage, $8.80. Taste like chewy-tough chicken, but so nice! Always wanted to try crocodile actually, glad it's sold somewhere in Sydney at least, haha.

From Week 10, 2010

Snack 2- School prawn with curry salt. They look like shrimps, but are actually bigger than normal sized shrimps, yet smaller than the usual prawns... I don't know what I'm saying anymore, it's about yay-big *2cm gap between finger and thumb*.

From Week 10, 2010

Last snack we had- silver fish with seaweed salt. Both shrimps and this one were $5.80 (argh, I don't like putting prices up for the food I eat because I like to just enjoy the food without worrying about the cost and just seeing the price on my blog acting as caption to my pictures just makes the whole reminiscing experience more depressing than not, but I've been influenced by other ppl *ahem yw*) Not bad, a bit bland next to the crocodile karaage, but goes well with soy sauce actually.

Also had a miso soup which I didn't take a picture of because how different can miso soup really look? Imagine black lacquered bowl with cloudy liquid inside plus some seaweed and tofu =) Service was actually really good, the waitress kept coming over to refill cold water for us... but maybe that was because there weren't anyone else around. They were playing Japanese music the whole time, unlike some Japanese restaurants that prefer to play Western pop music (I'm guessing to please Westerners who visit...) and by Japanese music, it's not just pop. I heard a really old song called "Ojiisan no Tokei"- Ken Hirai's Grandfather's Clock played there, along with some Yuna Itoh, and of course, Ayumi Hamasaki. Yet to hear any MoMusume or AKB48 though ^^''

We actually went back there another day for lunch, which will be in the next entry. I haven't even uploaded the photos for that yet.

From Week 10, 2010

Then we went to watch Alice in Wonderland- 3D at Imax. It was amazing! I took one photo just for fun while they were showing the credits... no surprise, even with the 3D glasses, the photo didn't turn out 3D ^^'' The photo isn't blurry, that's what it's meant to be like!

Oh yea. I feel like I've forgotten something.... like... the name of the Japanese restuarant? =P It's Mizuya, Japanese Karaoke Restaurant, Basement 614 George Street.