Mochi Craze

I'm not sure when these cute cold yummy balls started to roll in Ph shores, but I noticed my own girls had this "mochi craze" begun when they first saw the cute Japanese kiosk at SM and bought their first mochis. That was not too long ago, about only 2-3 months ago_ at the height of the heavy daily rain pours. Both (the heavy rain and my girls mochi fever) still ongoing til' this day. They never get to miss to buy each a mochi or two while malling no matter how cold the weather get.

Mochi ice cream is basically a rice cake filled with it seems one scoop of ice cream. It's one convenient way to eat ice cream sans the drippings out of the conventional scoop on a cone. Plus it's a Japanese origin, nothing is less.

Neither I'm sure if it's the same dish as the tempura ice cream I saw my brother indulging at Sakae Sushi one time. Somehow, related I guess. But the tempura ice cream is being served hot from the pan. The mochi is cold inside and out. Only both are covered with batter.

Mochi is a great on the go ice cream. It's round, small, solid ball that one could easily bite into while strolling.  A sit down is not necessary but if you want to enjoy a company while biting on this creamy cold dessert, go ahead, the pleasure is yours. By now I see a number of mochi ice cream parlors around the city.






Besides, these mochi kiosks and parlors are too cute to ignore. We couldn't resist the pinkness of Mochiko (at ATC, Alabang). Girls couldn't say no to pink. Can you?



These "lucky cats", don't know the proper name, on the walls are pure cuteness.

The pink full bodied, quilted seat is just so inviting to sit on to enjoy your mochi.



We actually like Mochiko quite better than the other brand at SM. it's bigger also. Although it's more expensive like P10 to P20 more than the other one. So far we only got to taste those two brands of mochi here at Ph.

Itacho Sushi

When you are in Singapore do what's the S'poreans do_ que-ue !!! It was the mall day of our recent a week visit of Sg  and we got to Ion in Orchard Road. Lunch time came-up and a long queue infront of this Japanese resto got us (already with depleting wallet)  joined the wagon.

Hmmm, let's see what caused the queue here at Itacho Sushi. . half priced off! good. Also some selected sushi-s were on promo starting price at  50cents . better!



Finally after more than 30 minutes outside we were brought to a table. The place was jam-packed. Nevertheless, the service was quick and efficient.

We had one of the sushi on promo at 50cents per piece_ salmon with soy sauce sushi. It was okey, sweet and soft. We ordered a second plate of this.

Daughter had a bowl of eel on top of rice. She didn't like it. She was irritated with the presence of fish bones. I don't know to her, but the eel looks delish in the photo, agree?



 Bestfriend had a bowl of ramen /udon (not sure if beef or pork) and didn't like it too. This too looks delicious in the photo. Well, you know how photogenic Japanese dishes are, haha.

We enjoyed the salmon lobster salad roll. .



. .and ordered two more plates of it.

Somemore sushi, salmon seemed to be the our sushi of the day.



Well, it was nice that we had tried it. Now we the following are better choice : Sushi Tei and Sakae Sushi, next time the sushi craves hit us in the mall.

Sushi Tei - Raffles City

Looking at this photo makes me salivate and wants to run to the next Japanese resto in our area, but there's none x two. 1). No near Japanese resto here and 2). no maki like this in my country or I haven't found yet? This is my forever favorite maki from Sushi Tei in Singapore. I tried to look for it at Sakae Sushi, a Japanese resto also from Singapore which luckily we have a chain here in our country but the latter is not serving my fave maki.

Lots of similarities with each other, Sushi Tei has also conveyor belt serving sushi and maki just like Sushi Sakae.

Japanese Kaiten (conveyor belt).

It prides the open kitchen concept which seems to be  a norm to Japanese restos.

I gathered that Sushi Tei chains are all over Singapore, in other neighboring Asian cities and  even some branches in New York and Sydney. In Singapore, we frequent the one in Raffles City.

Popular with reasonably priced assorted Japanese dishes, ambiance here is never a statement of price tags. It even surprised me when girlfriend told me that it was not an upscale resto (although located in a shopping mall, the interior deceived me. Cos in my third world country a restaurant with this interior design is already upscale or is it just me being naive? haha.

After a long queue, we made it to a table right beside the conveyor belt which was ok cos we planned to slurp on sushi and maki.

Apart from the ones from the conveyor, on our table was the freshest sashimi . .

beef teriyaki and some bowls of ramen.



Now I want them all for lunch!! waaah!!

Kenji Tei

Lately, I've been craving for Japanese food. I know, I've mentioned here too many times that it's not one of my favorite cuisines. It must be the fear of loss. You know, after the Japan's quake/tsunami tragedy, no one is sure about the thriving success of Japanese businesses all over the world. Husband would say- are you sure it's safe to eat Japanese? It's the radiation issue. I'm not sure. I'm just thinking they won't serve those food if they were crucial.

These days I'm loving sushi and ramen.Suddenly my eyes turned on to the Jap restos which I've never taken noticed before.

copy/paste fr my fb account :bday ni marla na puyat, ngarag cos it's her finals at walang time to celebrate. wawa:( after overload classes gusto daw nya ng ramen at maraming tulog. so nag ramen kami bago sya matulog. bawi tyo anak after this sem. one week nlang d ba. surprise for post celebration, promise.we ♥ ya.

The other night , the b-day celebrant who didn't have time to celebrate wanted a bowl of ramen. We went to Kenji Tei, Bf Paranaque. Ofcourse this ramen house wasn't built overnight. But since I was good ignoring Jap food before, I've never taken noticed of  this cozy little ramen house before this night.



Older daughter and I loved the zen-ness of the interior, specifically the bamboo back draft in this photo.



Daughters changed their mind and had pork (not sure what meat) teriyaki rice bowl each (P200). I taste a bit and sure it was tasty.

I asked for the best seller ramen and suggested to me the gomoku shio ramen ( P220). It had seafood and everything. I actually loved it so much! 



Husband had mabu tofu ramen ( P220), it was spicy and so great! I also liked it.



The noodles were so fresh and light. It was easy to throw away our radiation worries. . . for the meantime.
Love.love.love Kenji Tei. We'll surely go back soon.

With prayers for Japan.