Our shinkansen pulled into Tokyo from Nagano right on schedule, and we hauled our luggage to the hotel by 1pm. Problem was, official check-in wasn’t until 3pm, and we weren’t about to fork out a surcharge for the sake of two hours. So we dumped our bags and headed out, absolutely starving. Beef had been […]

Here’s a fun little discovery from our Hakuba trip: Nabura Hakuba. My hubby stumbled upon it on Google Maps when meeting his colleague for drinks (no driving, obviously!). It’s just 600m from Il Bosco, where we were staying. He spotted people tucking into burgers and flagged it as a potential dinner spot. So back we […]

There’s an unwritten rule in the snowboarding community that no matter how freezing cold it is outside, eating ice cream or gelato after a day on the slopes is strictly mandatory. Haha! So when hubby and I finished carving down the powder at Hakuba Goryu Snow Resort, we stepped back into Escal Plaza hunting for […]

Some meals stick with you—not just because of the food, but because of the whole experience. That’s exactly how Hubby and I feel about マンガ喫茶 COM, the little manga café in Hakuba we now fondly refer to as “the place with the grumpy boss”. Spoiler: he’s not really that grumpy. But the story? Oh, it’s […]

Remember in my Cafe Cubanos Hakuba post when I said I’d rather go to Starbucks? Well, we did exactly that. We hunted down the one and only Starbucks Hakuba, tucked inside the Snow Peak Land Station complex. Turns out it’s less than a 10-minute drive from where we were staying at Il Bosco. Easy peasy. […]

If you’re skiing or snowboarding in Hakuba and craving something comforting, fresh, and easy on the wallet, Donmaru Hakuba needs to be on your list. We stayed at Il Bosco just down the road, and this little donburi shop became our go-to lunch spot after a morning on the slopes. Less than 5 minutes by […]

So here’s the story — hubby’s colleague had tried Hakuba Pizza with his family and told us it wasn’t bad, so we thought, why not, let’s give it a go while we’re in Hakuba too. We decided on takeaway for dinner and pre-ordered the day before. How We Ordered from Hakuba Pizza Ordering was pretty […]

Sometimes you just need to duck into a cafe, wrap your frozen fingers around a hot mug, and thaw out. That’s exactly how we ended up at Cafe Cubanos Hakuba. Our original pick was shut, we were peckish and freezing, so we wandered in for a warm-up. Spoiler: the warm-up was better than the food. […]

Hubby spotted Takahashi Ke 髙橋家 on social media and insisted we give it a go. So after a morning session of snowboarding in Hakuba, we trudged over for lunch, hoping a piping hot bowl of ramen would be the perfect reward. Spoiler: the queue had other plans for us. The Queue at Takahashi Ke: Come […]

Finding the right coffee supplier in Singapore is rarely about price alone. Whether you are brewing a single pour-over at home, keeping a 40-person office caffeinated, or running a café that lives or dies on its espresso, the roaster you choose shapes the cup in your hand every single day. Singapore takes its coffee seriously. […]

There’s nothing like coming back to a warm, inviting sanctuary after a full day of chasing legendary JAPOW in Hakuba. Snowboarding is no joke, it’s honestly such a tiring sport, haha! On our recent trip, we found exactly that at Il Bosco Hakuba. A charming, rustic alpine lodge tucked right into a winter wonderland. Free […]

Fluffy, jiggly souffle pancakes are my husband’s absolute weakness. He’ll sing praises for days if they’re good—and grumble endlessly if they’re bad. So whenever we hit a new city, hunting down the best souffle pancake spot becomes my mission. This time in Nagoya, Panel Cafe made the shortlist. And spoiler alert: it delivered. Getting to […]

If you’ve been hunting for the best cakes in Nagoya on RedNote (Xiaohongshu), HARBS would’ve popped up on your feed more times than you can count. That’s exactly how it landed on my Nagoya to-try list. After a heavy late lunch at Unagi Unayasu Nishiki, my tastebuds were begging for something sweet, so off we […]

Okay, I’ll be honest with you upfront — I’m not really a fan of unagi. Freshwater eel (and honestly, a lot of freshwater fish) tastes a bit earthy and muddy to me. Plus, unagi has all those tiny bones, so the texture just isn’t my thing. But hubby? He absolutely loves it. It’s like a […]

After our morning at the Toyota Commemorative Museum, we took a quick 5-minute walk over to AEON Mall Nagoya Noritake Garden. I really wanted to check out the Tsutaya Bookstore there — you know, the one with that magical optical-illusion wall of books that’s all over Instagram. Once we were done admiring the viral book […]

After our full-day tour to Shirakawa-go, Gujo Hachiman and Hida Takayama, the coach dropped us back at Nagoya Station just before 8pm. We were absolutely famished—we’d survived the day on snacky bits and sake. So we made a beeline for Ebidote Shokudo (海老どて食堂), a spot I’d bookmarked on my Nagoya to-eat list after seeing those […]