Tag: Mentaiko

Kyushu, Day 15: Osaka Daytrip

To cut the story short – our flight from Fukuoka going back to Manila got cancelled and the only way to go home was fly from Osaka, Nagoya, or Tokyo. Osaka was the nearest so we had our rerouted flight be there.

MARCH 18, 2020

For our last breakfast during this trip, Hisako-obaasan prepared different dishes with mentaiko: pure mentaiko, grilled fish with mentaiko, and mentaiko mayonnaise. She gave us melon and her signature yogurt with honey for desserts!

Before leaving, we had a quick pictorial with them. I already miss our Japan grandparents while typing this. Whenever we would leave their home, we would say “Ittekimasu” while she would say “Itterasshai”. Then every time we went back, we would greet her with “Tadaima” and she would reply “Okaeri”. T_T

They drove us to the train station and Hisako-obaasan even went with us inside and made sure that we would be able to ride the train on time. Even in the previous days, she made sure that we would ride the bus and would always wave us goodbye once the bus left.

So from Hakata, we rode the shinkansen going to Osaka. To cut the story short – our flight from Fukuoka going back to Manila got cancelled and the only way to go home was fly from Osaka, Nagoya, or Tokyo. Osaka was the nearest so we had our rerouted flight be there.

It was C’s first time in Osaka so I brought her to Dotonbori for late lunch – Ichiran’s ramen and Creo-ru’s takoyaki. C was able to research a café selling Cremia (¥550).

We went to DEN DEN TOWN afterwards because I was not satisfied with the anime shops we visited in Fukuoka. Even here, there was not a lot of Kimetsu no Yaiba merch.

We went to KIX afterwards by boarding the airport limousine bus in Hankyu Hotel stop near Osaka Station.

We were lucky that there was a Botejyu branch in KIX so C was able to eat more food well-known in Osaka – kushikatsu and okonomiyaki.

This trip was nerve-wracking as we travelled during COVID-19 crisis (not yet super bad in Japan at that time) but definitely a memorable one with all the nice people we met and the good experiences we had. ❤

Kyushu, Day 11: Tenjin

When we returned to Tenjin, we went to PARCO to visit the Kimetsu no Yaiba Sweets Café which was open for a limited time. However, there was a long line and when we saw the mechanics to buy the Kimetsu no Yaiba-themed desserts, we just found it to be too expensive.

MARCH 14, 2020

For our first breakfast in the Airbnb, Hisako-obaasan cooked a gyudon-like meal with different veggies as side dish. She also served us fruits for dessert and prepared one of her high-quality green teas when she learned that I love drinking tea.

We spent this day just in Tenjin…

…but did a small detour to Hakata Station because C was finding a store selling Nintendo Switch. Inside the station, we passed by this bakery called Il Forno Del Mignon. Since the start of this trip, we would always get hungry because we could smell their pastries even a few hundred meters away. Unfortunately, there was always a long line. But during this day, there were no customers so we gave in and bought the plain croissant. We finally realized why there was a hype!

When we returned to Tenjin, we went to PARCO to visit the Kimetsu no Yaiba Sweets Café which was open for a limited time. However, there was a long line and when we saw the mechanics to buy the Kimetsu no Yaiba-themed desserts, we just found it to be too expensive. We went to One Piece Store instead, which was also in the same mall.

Still in PARCO, in B1F we found different restaurants for lunch. We went to KIWAMIYA, famous for Imari beef (from Saga) that you can cook on a heated stone. Even if there was a long line, it was moving quickly so we fell in line.

We ordered the hamburg steak (¥1,500) and extra garlic chips…

Best decision!!! We just had to deal with bit of pain from the oil while cooking. The place was quite cramped. So we could not stretch as much as we wanted to.

After that, we went looking for animate and Mandarake. Disappointed though because animate was under construction while Mandarake was a bit far. I wonder why there is no popular anime street or area in Fukuoka…

We ended up looking for a coffee shop to take a rest and we found MANU. The coffee was good and everyone in their staff was nice. When we paid for our orders before leaving, the guy behind the counter made a small talk with us.

For dinner, we went to one of the yatai stalls in Tenjin. Yatai literally means “shop stand” and this is a small, mobile food stall which opens up in the evening only. I saw a recommendation from Yoshke (The Poor Traveler) to go to TENJIN YATAI MUNE. Not sure if the stall changed its name because their menu says “Soh’s Tenjin Food Stall” but the food that they offered was still the same.

We ordered mentai tamagoyaki (¥800), dai-chan yaki (¥650), and yaki-ramen (¥800). The best ones here were the mentai tamagoyaki and yaki-ramen. The stall also had a policy that we have to order one drink each – not sure if this is the same for the other yatai in the area.

We wanted to return here for another dinner but with the few days left, we had other food places to try. Highly recommend this yatai though!