Tiffy in Japan | 梅の花

Tiffy's Stay in Japan
梅の花

Near Fushimi Station

This year summer, I was able to climb Mt. Fuji with six other fellow exchange students. So to earn more money to sustain my love of traveling and eating, I tutor English part time for an average rate of ¥2,000 an hour. One of my students is a guy named Kenji, whose son and wife is being taught English by Rachel, an exchange student from Canada. Before I left for Shizuoka prefecture and then for Tokyo, he planned a dinner get together with Sakiko, this Japanese girl that we met when we had one of our lessons.

Kenji told me that since Japanese people around 40 need to eat healthier, they go to this traditional Japanese restaurants that serve food made from soy beans -- tofu and the like.

To start our meal, they served three kinds of food:

Mineoka Tofu, a tofu-like food made from milk, fresh cream, and arrowroot starch. It tasted more like a dessert rather than an appetizer. It had the mild taste of soy milk (it actually reminded me of the 45%-less-calorie soy milk that I bought in Tokyo) with a sort of jelly consistency.

Ohitashi, boiled green vegetable seasoned with soy sauce and fish stock. I liked it because it's crunchy and it had a slightly sweet-tasting sauce.

Yubani, cold boiled yuba. Yuba is a delicacy composed of fresh or dried layers of the skin of soybean milk. Its consistency kind of reminded me of the layer of skin inside the egg after the hard shell (did that make sense? :o).

Next in line was otsukuri, better known as sashimi. They served up some tuna sashimi with these cubes of white crunchy stuff. I don't really know what it is but it might have something to do with tofu again.

Meibutsu Tofu Shuumai is a Chinese-style dumpling made with tofu. This one made me miss dumpling. It has a milder flavor than the dumplings that I'm used to eating but it made me miss dumplings all the same.

Chawan-mushi is one of my favorite food! It's steamed egg custard, and this one contained shrimp, mushrooms, dumpling, and ginkgo nut. I'm not sure I liked ginkgo nut. Tastes familiar -- I probably know it by a different name.

Oshinogi is lotus root dumplings topped with fish stock sauce. I'm not sure if I like this one. It was... sticky. I really liked how it was a little sweet though. By this time, I was a bit full. But I'm not complaining -- good food can be had.

Namafu Dengaku is deep-fried wheat-gluten coated with miso paste. Now this one's really sticky. Not watery-sticky like the oshinogi, but more chewy-sticky. I wanted this to be dessert-like -- really sweet. But it wasn't. It had a slight salty taste to it.

Yuba Age is deep-fried yuba roll with ground whitefish. Now let me be frank. I don't know what the hell whitefish is but this dish reminds me of squidball except it's made of fish. We used to add those fish cubes in our shabu-shabu. But this one is nice too! They even gave us lemon and lemon squeezers! Lemon squeezers! To squeeze lemons! Can you believe that?

Yuba Gratan is gratin. And from what I understand, it's probably tofu skin topped with cheese and egg and butter. YUM. I love all things caloric. I couldn't really taste the tofu in this. It tasted really... cheesy!

Yuba Suimono is clear soup with yuba. That's the only description it has. Pretty straightforward. Sooooo many dishes, soooooooo little time!

Han-mono is savory steamed glutinous rice. And let me tell you, I didn't really like this. It didn't really have a lot of taste. And I don't like eating rice without any flavor and any meat or veggie or fish alongside it. Phooey. And the only food around was the yuba suimono and kō-no-mono. And although kō-no-mono is made of vegetables, I didn't like it. Too... tasteless.

Kō-no-mono is Japanese pickled vegetables. As I've said, I didn't like it. Maybe I've taken to Korean kimchi too much. I loooooooove kimchi. And this doesn't taste pickled. When I think pickled, I think sour. Maybe I'm too ignorant when it comes to food! Ironic, isn't it?

And my favorite part...

DESSERT!

You have two choices. Lemon sherbet or tofu something ice cream -- I didn't really catch the name. The lemon thing is sour (duh), and the tofu thing is sweet. I like!

Whistlestop 24/7 Redux

Whistlestop, a 24/7 restaurant which started back in 1977, is back after closing last 2005! "We're the only 24 hour restaurant, which offers a wide range of cuisines, and serves nothing but your good old comfort food," Lex Ledesma, the new owner said.


Anton in his blog says, "The memory of Whistlestop is like the memory of Ninoy Aquino -- only those who are 25 years old and above can remember them." That's why I don't really have distinct memories of this restaurant from back when Tina Serna was still the owner. I guess the only thing I can remember is that I have eaten at Whistlestop, maybe back when I was in grade school or high school.



For starters, I would really recommend that you try their Boneless Buffalo Wings (Php. 220). This treat instantly became my favorite because of its kick and taste. The blue cheese dip complemented the dish. But, if you're not into the spicy and saucy chicken, you might want to dig in their Spanakopitas (Php. 180), fried wrap with 3 kinds of cheese. Heaven.



For the main course, I would turn you to their bestseller and the owner's pride, Hainanese Chicken Rice (Php. 195). The chicken meat was tender and juicy. It's really something to be thrilled with.



Another dish that I enjoyed (I enjoyed everything I ate!) is their Arroz Caldo (Php.110). My dad says they used to eat this in the wee hours back in the days. Now that Christmas is fast approaching and the cold nights setting in, I would definitely order this once again.

Make room for dessert! You might want to indulge yourself with their home-made Banoffee Pie (Php. 150) or the Mango Pannacotta (Php. 95), both really yummy and not that sweet (yey!).

What's striking besides their simple yet stellar food offerings is their interior. They've painted the restaurant to depict a train station feel, which, in my opinion, is chic and cozy.

Whistlestop 24/7
28 Jupiter St., Makati City (Between Fiamma and Starbucks)
Telephone number: 8961989.
P.S. They also deliver :)

Review and Photo by Bong
Photo taken using Sony Ericsson W760i

Xtreme Cheese Pizzas for MEN

Greenwich recently launched their Xtreme Cheese Pizzas for MEN - the Philly Cheese Steak Overload, with half-pound of roast beef, double layer of mozzarella and cream cheeses, and the Monster Cheese & Pepperoni Overload, with 100% more pepperoni and double layer of mozzarella cheese.


These new additions are priced the same as their Overloaded Xtreme Cheese Pizzas (Extreme Cheese & Sausage Overload, Cheese Blockbuster Overload, and 5 Cheeses & Garlic Overload) which start at Php 307 for the Rolled-Edge Thick Crust Double and Php 263 for the Thin & Crispy Crust Double, and increase accordingly as per size of pizza (Family, 18" Blowout/Party Square)



I love the mix of the Philly Cheese Steak, a cheesier pizza with roast beef, fresh crunchy green bell-pepper, and of course, the star, the cheeses. It's quite interesting to note though that they have been advertising this on print and on the television as pizzas "for MEN". It might not exclude women from buying and trying their pizzas, but it's quite discriminating and exclusivist in my opinion.

Photos taken by Bong's Sony Ericsson W760i

Tiffy in Japan | 花茶 Cafe and Dining

Tiffy's Stay in Japan
花茶 | Ka Tja Cafe and Dining

Restaurant across the street from Nagoya City Museum

On my fifth day of my internship last term, we went to Nagoya City Museum and Nagoya Science Museum. After our trip to Nagoya City Museum, we ate at a restaurant across the street from the museum.

And their lunch set costs around ¥600. Pretty affordable.

The lunch came with stuffed meatloaf, rice, and soup. And the place is pretty quaint. It's small and cozy. It looks like a small house turned restaurant. The place can probably only serve 20 odd people at a time.