After lunch at Nihon Yakiniku Hasegawa Ginza, we strolled towards Shimbashi Station to catch the metro to Shibuya. The portion sizes of our kaiseki meal at the yakiniku restaurant were unfortunately on the smaller side, so we still had quite a bit of room left in our stomachs. Perfect timing then, when we spotted Taiyaki […]

During our recent Tokyo escapade, we had a mission: burn through Hubby’s global dining credits on his AMEX Platinum Charge card before they vanished into thin air. Much like our Tempura Shinjuku Tsunahachi Tsunohazuan outing, we turned to Pocket Concierge—the AMEX-owned booking platform that makes snagging high-end reservations across Japan ridiculously easy. Our pick? Nihon […]

Even though the wholesale tuna auctions shifted to Toyosu back in 2018, Tsukiji Outer Market (築地場外市場) is very much alive and kicking. We kicked off our Sunday morning early to make our first return trip since the relocation—curious to see how the atmosphere held up and, more importantly, what delicious bites awaited us. Spoiler: Tsukiji […]

After soaking in those jaw-dropping 360-degree skyline views at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, we hopped over to our dinner spot just a stone’s throw away — Tempura Shinjuku Tsunahachi Tsunohazuan. Hubby had prepaid the reservation via Pocket Concierge (an AMEX-owned platform for booking Japan’s finer dining spots), putting his AMEX Platinum Charge dining credits […]

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 […]