Dinner at Arami, Chicago

Arami’s windows and at the bar

During my vacation/stay in Chicago, Arami was one of my dinner stops here. After some research, this was considered one of the good Japanese spots to have sushi. As a sushi fanatic, I’m excited to eat here and booked a reservation.

What surprised me was that [...]

Ramen at Misoya (Before I Head Out to Chicago)

A few days ago, I had a very filling lunch at Misoya Ramen with a friend. I’ve read around Chowhound that this ramen newcomer might be comparable to my favorite ramen restaurant Ippudo. Since I love to eat a soul warming bowl of ramen during the chilly Monday we had here, it [...]

Spirits And (A Few) Still Wines Gift Guide 2011

Here’s my next holiday gift guide. As I’ve tweeted early this morning (as in around 12 AM), this mainly focuses for the cocktailian, a certain spirits connoisseur (Cognac, single malt scotch, etc.) and a few still wines that I found worth mentioning.

Like my previous guides, if you’re reading this from your iPad or [...]

Matsuri Restaurant: Preview of the Seven Deadly Sins Menu

Matsuri: At the bar, my yuzu cosmopolitan, and the dining room

Matsuri is a Japanese restaurant located at The Maritime Hotel in Chelsea, under the helm of Chef Tadashi Ono. I do like Chef Ono’s style of traditional Japanese cooking, as I do cook out of his book The Japanese Grill, co-written [...]

Hario Glass – Coffee Made Many Ways But Still Get a Great Cup

Probably you might have known over the years, that I love coffee, up to the point that I am a coffee geek. I love and appreciate my cup of coffee. I even admit I’m one of those crazy people who is willing to do more than insert a coffee pod and press a button at [...]

Aburiya Raku – I Would Love to Eat Here Frequently…

Aburiya Raku, or simply known as Raku, found in the heart of Las Vegas’ Chinatown, is a Japanese pub that generally specializes on the robata, grilled meats and vegetables, but it’s so much more than that (I’ll explain later). While doing research for my trip about three weeks prior to my flight to Vegas, I’ve [...]

WA Imports’ Brands – Amazing Japanese Food Products

WA Imports’ brands

I stumbled upon WA Imports from shopping once every so often to the museum-like gourmet store (same goes for the prices), Dean & Deluca in the search for unusual marmalades (for spreading on sandwiches, scones, sandwich cookie filling, or serve along on a cheese platter) that D&D stocks frequently. [...]

Lady M Confections – A Jewelry Box Patisserie

Lady M’s signs and looking down the display case

I decided to head up to the affluent neighborhood of the Upper East Side and indulge myself with edible jewels from Lady M Confections. It’s certainly not the first time I ever been to this Cartier-like cake display, Japanese-owned patisserie/café, except they didn’t [...]

Day 1 in Hong Kong: Adorable Kittens and A Japanese Izakaya Buffet

Taken place back on April 29th. Yeah, I’m that behind. This is Day 1 of my vacation that dates from April 29th – May 10th (May 11 was my flight back to NYC.)

Flying from JFK to Hong Kong International was a long and sort of exciting. It’s my first solo international flight that lasted [...]