JAPAN CULINARY ADVENTURES: NAGOYA

Note: All the Culinary Adventures posts on this blog are merely reports, not reviews. These adventures serve as "research" or "areas of learning" for the author (which is me, duh).

Now people have been asking why my family and I decided to pick Nagoya as our next destination. Well, the answer is pretty simple: my dad loves cars and would like to visit the Toyota Automobile Museum, and since he's financially responsible for the trip, we can't say no (peace, dad). However, the trip to Nagoya turned out to be more pleasant than what I pictured. Nagoya turned out to be a heavily metropolitan city of skyscrapers and lights and wide roads.

Oh, and CHICKEN WINGS (which are local culinary trademarks of Nagoya).

 Above are pictures of the miso-covered chicken wings. They tasted kinda sweet, but still crispy, nonetheless.

These ones are covered in salt and pepper. Damn, you can really feel the pepper up in your throat! 

Personally, I like these ones better than the miso-covered ones.

 You might be wondering what these blobs of brown are. They're actually pork meat skewered to form a satay, which were coated in crispy crumbs and then covered by miso after frying. They're delish!

The picture explains it all - salmon sashimi salad dressed in authentic wafu dressing. OMG the ingredients were so fresh I CAN'T EVEN.

This was the place that I had the chicken wings. Yamachan is in fact the pioneer of Nagoya chicken wings!

Below are pictures of foods that I tried at the Nagoya train station. 

Warning: Ramen porn ahead.

Shio (salt-based) soup, succulent pork slices, mushroom, seaweed, menma (bamboo shoot), green onions and al dente noodles? YAS.

 Shoyu (soy sauce) soup base, green onions, fish cake, pork slice, seaweed, menma (bamboo shoot), al dente noodles and hard-boiled egg? DOUBLE YAS.

Miso (sweet fermented paste) soup base, fishcake, green onions, pork slices, al dente noodles, extra drizzle of miso paste? TRIPLE YAS.

THE SUPERSTAR (MY PERSONAL FAVE) - Tonkotsu (pork bone-based) soup, al dente noodles, green onions, seaweed, pork slices, hard-boiled egg? QUADRUPLE YAS.

These are sushi rice topped with ebi tempura. Match made from heaven.

Yes, another picture of the miso-covered pork satays, because they are amazing.

I decided to add this picture to the post. Above is the matcha lava cake I had at Toyota Automobile Museum's cafe, which tasted sooooo good! Just the right amount of sweet. 

MATCHA AND RILAKKUMA FTW!

Nagoya isn't bad at all - in fact, foodies should and take a taste on the local dishes! I swear, the chicken wings are superb and worth a try! If you plan on visiting Japan, remember to stop by and have a bite!

See you guys on my next Culinary Adventures post! There's so much more to come :)

LOCAL TASTE ID

HELLO GUYS! I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!

I seriously am VERY VERY ULTRA MEGA DUPER sorry for my super loooooongg hiatus. I placed 100% blame on my 2-months-long AS Level exams.

I really miss blogging, to be honest.

Anyways, my exams are over now, probably around a week ago. In order to celebrate the end of the dark, energy-draining and suspenseful period of assessments, my good girlfriends and I decided to join the hype of Lippo Mall Puri's POP UP PLAYGROUND - CULINARY FESTIVAL. The words "Culinary Festival" popped my ears and sparked my excitement. THERE'S GONNA BE A LOT OF FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a look at the place.

My friend Tania, a fellow foodie, joined me on the food-buying frenzy. After only 10 minutes being at the festival, we already placed 3 orders of food!

Here's all the food that we bought that day.

Geram's Ramen Burger, Rp. 35k

I'VE FINALLY FOUND A RAMEN BURGER IN JAKARTAAAAAA!!!!! However, my excitement soon washed away when I took my first bite; oil covered my whole mouth! The ramen bun and beef patty were oily. Also, the burger would've been much better if the cheese used was other than Kraft Singles, which unfortunately did not complement the burger. Plus points for the taste and moisture of the beef patty though.

OMG Meatballs, Rp. 40k

My bud and I selected original meatballs with black pepper sauce and garlic rice as our pick.

This one is a flat-square winner of all the food that we tried that day. Juicy and packed-with-flavor meatballs? Check. Mildly spicy and savory black pepper sauce that perfectly fit the meatball's taste? Check. Fragrant and not-too-overwhelming garlic rice? Check. All the components tasted great, really. Even the bread stick.

Cheese Sausage Corn Dog, Rp. 20k

This one isn't bad for its price. The corn dog batter was fluffy and lovely, although the sausage was just simply store-bought frozen processed sausage. It's a decent treat.

Mom Milk's Taro Cookie and Green Tea, Rp. 20k (each for Regular size)

For all those who are wondering what this drink is, it's actually just milk fashioned with various flavors and toppings. No peeps, not milk tea.

Taro cookie flavor was at the right level of sweetness. It was creamy and smoothie-like, with addition to what I suspect are Oreo cookie crumbs.

Green tea flavor, on the other hand, is not as sweet as I'd like it to be. It also had the texture of a latte instead of a smoothie. Also, the green tea taste was not as prominent as its color.

Jennabel's Caramel Baileys, Rp. 35k

To be honest, I loooove cakes in jars - they look super adorable. This particular one though, had too much cream cheese in it. I know that many people think that adding cream cheese to food will elevate the taste instantly, but not for this one dessert. It would be better if the amount of the actual cake to cream cheese ratio was different. Although the cake was moist, the baileys did not stand out and the cream cheese overshadowed everything.

All in all, the LOCAL TASTE experience was unforgettable, definitely entertaining and mind-refreshing. Like, what's better than chilling out with good food and good music? Oh, did I mention about the band playing at the festival? They sure had incredible talent!

And did I mention the pop-up fashion booth from LOCAL BRAND?

RAN, a group of three renowned musical prodigies performed that night, around 8 p.m. Their performance was lovely, marking the day even more. I unfortunately did not take any pictures of them that are suitable for this blog (yes, they're in very bad quality because it was dark out and people formed a crowd in front of the stage). The atmosphere was indescribably lovely - music playing, kids playing at the pop-up playground (a ping-pong table as one of the provided entertainment accommodation), and food kiosks selling carnival food. It was certainly a day and night to remember.

Lippo Mall Puri @ The St. Moritz

Jl. Puri Indah Boulevard  Blok U 1

Puri Indah CBD

Jakarta Barat