I've posted about Calbee, Kit Kat and Pocky in Part 1. Those are like my generic "must buy" snacks whenever I head to Japan. In Part 2, I'd focus more on Okinawan specialties that I got while visiting the attractions.

Okinawa is known for its beni imo (purple sweet potatoes), pineapples, kokuto (brown sugar), sea salt and shikuwasa (a citrus type of lemon/lime). Little wonder why my shopping revolved around those themes.

Pineapple cakes. There was a variety of pineapple foodstuff while we were in Okinawa, from pineapple wines, to mochi, soft serve, pies, etc. I was really tempted to haul back a bottle of pineapple wine but the bottle was way too huge. The easiest for us to bring back was definitely pineapple cakes instead. I liked this pineapple castella version (photo above) that I got from Nago Pineapple Park. My only gripe was that the thin paper layer used to protect the cake was a little hard to peel off.

Wow. I just realised the entire paragraph has lines starting with pineapple...

Anyway, for the attractions that I mention in this post, I'd blog about them later. So just watch out for the subsequent posts.

A different version of pineapple cake bought (if I don't recall wrong) while we were at Kouri Tower. This one comes with a pineapple paste wrapped in a thin sponge. I have been cutting down on sugar in my diet for a while, so my palette has definitely changed to one which appreciates something that isn't too sweet. This one hit the right buttons with a very soft sponge, a pineapple paste that was not too sweet and had bits of pineapples to give a bit of crunch.

Beni imo tarts, also known as purple sweet potato tarts can be seen almost everywhere on Kokusai Street. There are different brands but the most famous has to be the one offered by the main souvenir shop, Okashi Goten (see photo above). There are several Okashi Goten outlets in Okinawa with some offering tours of their beni imo tart assembly lines and even beni imo tart making workshops.

These are also good as souvenirs for the office. They're individually packed which means you can easily distribute them out. In fact, even though Japanese packaging isn't the most economical or earth-friendly, because a lot of their snacks come individually packed, it is so easy to give away many of these food items that I write about to friends, precisely because they are individually packed. Hence I do tend towards buying food stuff as souvenirs. These past few days, I have friends texting me how grateful they were that I had given them each a bag of various snacks from Okinawa. The snacks were helping them get through working and staying at home during our social distancing measures.

The extra plus with the beni imo tarts? They're halal certified! See top right corner of the box. Unfortunately, I didn't quite like the taste of it. I thought the pastry was a little dry overall.

I enjoyed Shikuwasa juice while in Okinawa. Well, generally my parents and I tend to enjoy most fruits while in Japan. Japan tends to keep the best of their produce for distribution within Japan and only exports the rest. This time round in Japan, we enjoyed really yummy mangoes, soursops, and pineapples. Shikuwasa juice was one of the more common fruit juice found and I even had a shikuwasa whiskey highball (Japanese alcoholic cocktail).

I enjoyed shikuwasa juice so much, I decided to haul a bottle of juice concentrate back home. I've been enjoying a shikuwasa drink regularly since coming back. A couple of spoonfuls of the concentrate, mixed with chilled water and ice. Completely refreshing on a hot day. It's like a lime version of apple cider vinegar. You can add a pinch of honey if it's too sour for you.

Spam is a common ingredient in Okinawan cuisine, which kind of surprised me since Okinawa is also known for its number of centenarians. I love my spam fries but I've been consistently told that spam isn't the most healthy thing to regularly have. Well, I was in spam heaven in Okinawa where there's even a famous spam onigiri store!

So I wasn't even surprised to chance upon spam curry that I could bring home.

Agu pork is a delicacy in Okinawa so when I saw that it came in spam form, obviously I had to grab a couple to try. I'm left with just that 1 pack though, since I gave away the rest to fellow spam-loving friends.

Sea salt is another Okinawa specialty, given its location as an island surrounded by sea, that's no surprise. What's ingenious is there's even sea salt ice cream! If you love dipping your MacDonald's french fries into their sundaes, then sea salt ice cream is for you. I loved it!

I came home with a few bottles of flavoured sea salt, gave some away and kept these 2 for myself. Top one is lemon and herb salt for french fries, which essentially means you can use it to flavour almost any other fried food. Bottom one is a shikuwasa flavoured cooking salt which I have been using when I cook at home during this stay home period.

Kokuto, or brown sugar is another common Okinawan specialty. We were often offered brown sugar sweets and you can often see brown sugar cakes or doughnuts being sold at various shops. My parents and I liked the kokuto sweets and we bought some home. I can't find a photo of the ones I bought which means I likely forgot about those and I've already since given most of them away.

The only picture I have left is one I took in a hotel room so that we would remember which one we liked and be able to buy it if we spotted it during our travels. Its tastes a little like gula melaka and reminded me of those coconut gula melaka sweets that I used to have as a kid. I also bought a plum version of the kokuto sweet and that was a hit with colleagues.

Rounding up the post with ramen! Haha, when in Japan, eat ramen! And it so happened that Ichiran was just a few step away from our hotel in Naha! Being fans of Ichiran, we obviously visited the restaurant and I came home with their takeaway packs.

I also came home with a packet of instant noodles. I'd have loved to get more but by then I was really running out of luggage space. I'm not 100% sure but I think I've seen this packet before in local Japanese stores. It was a yummy packet though. Mom also passed a packet to my brother who agreed that this is a "can buy" brand.

It was my dinner just a recent week ago when I was too lazy to cook anything else. Tasted really yummy with just fishballs, crab sticks and shitake mushrooms. The broth was really tasty and I kind of regret not getting the other flavours to try.

All right! That's it for the food stuff that I hauled back from Okinawa. Not bad. I actually got 2 posts out even with the bit of inertia I mentioned in the earlier post. Hopefully, this continues and I'd be able to get my Okinawa notes out onto this blog smoothly.

The Uncertain 7-day Okinawa Journey: Food that we hauled back (Part 1)

All right, I'd be honest. After doing this Work From Home (WFH) thing for a week because of the Covid-19 social distancing measures, I have some inertia going on about writing blog posts. Primarily because it feels like I'm back at work on a laptop. 

But if I don't get started, I know the inertia is just going to build and gain momentum. And it's not like in the past where I had an illness or the home renovation to blame things on. In fact, I have time. Lots of time now that we have to be socially responsible and stay home. 

So I'm going to try overcome this inertia with a post on what I like: food stuff that I always love hauling back from Japan. Going to split it into 2 parts though. Didn't realise how much I hauled back until I started taking the photos for the blog! Starting Part 1 with my all-time favourite, potato chips and Calbee!

Yeah. My one major weakness that is a bane to my diet and health. I love potato chips, especially those Calbee ones in Japan. Whenever I'm in Japan, I HAVE TO get into a Lawson or Family Mart or 7-Eleven just to check out their shelves of potato chips. It's a ritual that my parents are resigned to. And its no longer an embarrassment to them as to the number of packets that I pay for. Heh.

As with other visits to different Japanese cities and prefectures, I was looking out for the Okinawan specialties. We tried some there and brought others back (in photo below). The only packet that I didn'r really like what that blue packet one; ridge cut chips with milk chocolate. I think Royce does this version way better. 

Skikuwasa is a type of citrus lemon/lime fruit that's native to Okinawa, so no surprise that it was also incorporated into Calbee's chips. The resulting packet of chips (see photo below) tasted like a citrus version of salt and vinegar chips, very addictively yummy. In fact, my mom loved it so much, I think she hauled at least 5 packets back with her to Singapore. And that's on top of whatever number of packets she devoured while in Okinawa!

The rest of the Calbee haul I bought from the Calbee+ store at Kokusai Street, the main tourist shopping street in Okinawa's city centre, Naha. 

The Calbee+ store also sold smaller, individual packets. These were great to give away to friends, or if you really wanted to try all the flavours the store had to offer without buying them in bulky packed boxes. Yeah, it was definitely easier to pack these loose packets instead of stressing over squeezing the boxes into your limited luggage space.

Best part? I haven't tried a single flavour that I didn't like yet!

Another favourite snack to bring back: Kit Kats. Japan is known to have a ton of different flavours when it comes to Kit Kats. Some of my chocolate-loving friends would also ask me to bring some back for them whenever they know I'm headed to Japan And this time round, I actually managed to find quite the assortment of flavours!

And the entire assosrtment came from just 2 places: Don Quijote (again) in Kokusai Street and in the airport itself. I even managed to get the Sake series (photo below). Except I have to say, the sake series has been a bit disappointing. My brother and I preferred the non-alcoholic versions a lot more.

Other than Kit Kat, Pocky and Pretz are the other well-known snacks to come with the variety of flavours. I didn't get everything that I found since luggage space was limited (and we had bought quite a bit during the trip) but these were the ones that I decided were coming back with me.

I've only started on these giant Pocky sticks, haven't gotten around to the normal sized ones yet. But these giant sticks have been a fine accompaniment while I work from home during this Covid-19 times. 

Side note: Thank goodness I have all these snacks to keep me company at home! Gotta to work hard though to ensure that I don't exit the door a size up when this stay home deal ends.

Purple sweet potatoes and Kokuto (brown sugar) are Okinawan specialties. So no surprise that I chose some in those flavours to bring back home with me. Can't tell you how they taste yet since I haven't gotten around to them yet. 

Heh. Too many things to devour in the interim.

And the last item for today's post, another all-time family favourite: Potato Farm!

We actually thought we would return to Singapore without being able to get our hands on this! Throughout our trip in Okinawa, we saw a lot of Calbee, Kit Kats and other stuff, but we never saw Potato Farm. Not until the last day at the airport. I actually squealed and waved frantically at my parents when the Potato Farm display caught my eye. 

Potato Farm is a regular staple. Yup! You read that right. It is a must have in our family when coming back from Japan. Each one of us must have a box of it to ourselves. My brother and I bring ours to the office as precious tea break snacks while my mom hoards hers for her prime time TV shows. Haha, dad doesn't even get to go near it! Friends who I have introduced Potato Farm to, have also learnt to seek out this yummy snack. 

All right, that's it for Part 1 today. Hopefully, Part 2 will just be round the corner!

Nagasaki's Specialty Dishes

 

There's quite a number of food specialties to watch out for in Nagasaki and so I'm going to dedicate a post just for that today.

 

First, something that you can actually bring home as a souvenir: Nagasaki's yummy Castella cake.

 

 

 

 

The castella cake (カステラ, Kasutera) is a popular Japanese sponge cake made with flour, sugar, eggs and a bit of starch. There's debate as to whether the cake has its origins as Portuguese or Spanish with the popular version being the Portuguese merchants bringing with them a cake called Pão de Castela, or “bread from Castile”, named after a region of central Spain.

 

Castella cakes can now be easily found in Nagasaki, especially along popular tourist destinations and in souvenir shops. Most come packaged in long, rectangular boxes. Awesome as it's easier to pack them into the luggage. The cake also comes in a variety of flavours with the more common ones such as matcha, honey and chocolate.

 

 

In the short time that we were in Nagasaki, my parents and I tried so many different brands and flavours of castella cakes from various shops. Our unanimous choice: the original flavoured ones from Bunmeido (文明堂). Amazingly soft and the sweetness was just nice. My dad liked the matcha ones. Great if you're a matcha fan since it was literally a burst of matcha in the mouth with every bite taken. Unfortunately, I'm not and so dad lost out to me and mom on what to buy back. Heh.

 

There's plenty of Bunmeido outlets all over Nagasaki and you probably can also get them at the airport. We happened to get ours at the outlet that's just next to the Peace Park (pictured in photo  above). Totally convenient if you're going to drop by the Peace Park or the Atomic Bomb Museum. And the sales people were the ever gracious Japanese sort, they let us try almost everything and even worked out the expiry dates for us.

 

The castella cakes from Bunmeido come in yellow boxes. I've circled it in red in the photo below for your reference.

 

 

 

 

 

If you prefer something more savoury or if you like your meat, you may wish to try the kakuni manju (角煮).  Kakuni is a Japanese braised pork dish that is very similar to the Chinese Dong Bo Pork. Not surprising since this dish has its roots with the Chinese merchants who came to Nagasaki. The Japanese version is cooked in dashi, mirin, soy sauce, sugar and sake, and is milder in taste compared to the Chinese Dong Bo Pork.

 

Kakuni manju is then a slice of the tender, braised pork placed in-between a soft, steamed white bun (see photo below). The one I had from a stall near my hotel was absolutely delicious. I forgot to grab a picture of the stall (that was how much I fell in love with the pork bun) but I can give you the directions:

 

 

 

 

Locate the hotel Crowne Plaza ANA Nagasaki Gloverhill. This is a hotel that is right at the base of Oura Cathedral and Glover Garden. Next to the hotel is a walkway lined with shops that leads to both attractions. The shop from which I purchased the buns is located at the base of this shopping street (starting from the hotel). It's one of the first 4 stalls and the first one that you hit from the base of the shopping street.

 

Simply awesome melt-in-your-mouth goodness. My mom and I wanted to share another one but we had already grabbed the last two available before the shop's closing.

 

 

 

 

Alternatively, this dish can also be found in the many restaurants in Nagasaki Chinatown. We were so impressed with it that when we were in Chinatown, we ordered the dish again. Unfortunately, we very much preferred the one we had from the stall near our hotel.

 

Next up on my list of recommendation is something that is touted as a Nagasaki's regional cuisine. In fact, it's almost a mantra I heard from various friends and colleagues who found out that I was visiting Nagasaki: "When in Nagasaki, eat Champon".

 

 

 

 

 

Champon was first served by Shikairo (四海楼), a Chinese restaurant in Nagasaki. You probably also guessed it, it's yet another dish that's inspired by Chinese cuisine. Champon is prepared by frying pork, seafood and vegetables with lard. A broth made by boiling chicken and pig bones is then added. The last item that is added to the soup is the special champon noodles.

 

Since Shikairo was located right opposite our hotel, it became a no-brainer that we just had to try the champon at the original store! Unfortunately, I found the place a tourist trap. I didn't like the food we ordered. The sweet and sour pork was over-fried and most dishes were just bland. Portions were more than decent though and definitely filling. While my parents and I didn't mind the champon, we all agreed that an earlier meal we had at another Chinese restaurant was way better. To us, champon wasn't really worth the hype but the sunset view at Shikairo made up for it.

 

 

 

 

If you only had time for one meal in Nagasaki though, I would recommend instead that you try the lesser known sara udon (see photo above). This is another native noodle dish, and is basically fried noodles topped with stir-fried vegetables, seafood and pork.

 

We tried ours at a restaurant called Horaiken Bekkan (宝来軒別館). This was an amazing Internet find that's located near the Atomic Bomb Museum. When you see locals taking up table spaces, you can be sure that the food is great. My parents and I loved every single dish we ordered, and to this day, my mom fondly remembers the sara udon that we tried.

 

 

So, if you're visiting Nagasaki soon, don't forget to try these 4 Nagasaki specialty dishes!

 

 

Tourist Information

 

Bunmeido

Local name: 文明堂

There are many Bunmeido outlets in Nagasaki but here, I've included the address of the main store. You may wish to google to check if there are any outlets near your hotel or place-of-attraction you plan to visit.

Address: 1-1 Edomachi, Nagasaki

Local address: 江戸町1-1

DID: +81 95-824-0002

Website: http://www.bunmeido.ne.jp/

 

Shikairo

Local name: 四海樓

Address: 4-5 Matsugae-machi, Nagasaki 850-0921

Local address: 〒850-0921松が枝町4-5

DID: +81 95-822-1296

Website: http://www.shikairou.com/

 

 

Horaiken Bekkan

Local name: 宝来軒別館

Address: 5-23 Hiranomachi, Nagasaki 852-8117

Local address: 〒852-8117平野町5-23

DID: +81 95-846-2277

Website: http://www.horaiken-bekkan.jp/

 



Snacking in Japan, because Vacation Calories DON'T Count! (Now who am I kidding?)

All right. I want to quickly finish this up so that I can get started on editing those Kyushu photos.

 

In the previous post, I had written about Pocky and Kit Kat, both of which are snacks that are enjoyed by many. Today, I'm going to write about other family favourites whenever me and/or my family visits Japan. And I'm going to start with another Japanese brand that is well-known and well-loved by many: Calbee.

 

 

For those uninitiated (which I don't believe there are many), Calbee is the brand that's famous for their potato chips and prawn crackers. Again, these are easily available in our local supermarkets, convenience stores, mama-shops, etc.

However, in Japan, you'll be mesmerized not just by the array of flavours available but also by the variety. Don't believe me? Just do a Google image search. Type in Calbee and the name of any Japanese region, and check out the images that pop up. They have everything from pumpkin chips to sweet potato chips, to flavoured potato sticks, and now even granola!

 

Again, remember to watch out for those key Chinese characters that I showed you in my previous post! Yup, you've got it! There are limited edition flavours when it comes to Calbee too!

So all those 期间限定 (time limited), 地区限定 (regional specialties) or 季限定 (seasonal specialties) that I had explained to you in the previous post is applicable here too! I remembered trying sakura flavoured chips when I visited in spring, choking on a regional wasabi specialty pack and hauling back onion chips which I thought was da bomb!

 

While my parents and I were in Kyushu this round for 9 days, everytime we popped into a convenience store, we'll leave with at least a packet of Calbee potato chips or prawn crackers. I think between me and my mom, we demonlished about 4 packets of prawn crackers and 3 packets of potato chips. That's quite a bit considering I was actually sick and should have been staying away from such snacks!

 

So if you're headed to Japan soon and you're a fan of potato chips and/or prawn crackers, make sure to pop into any of their supermarkets or convenience stores (Lawsons, Family Mart or 7-11) to check out the many flavours available.

 

Personally, I think Calbee products are also great as gifts, particularly those limited edition types. In my picture above (it's cropped to just highlight the Calbee), we bought home the mentaiko flavoured potato sticks (box on top) that's a regional specialty. While I love my mentaiko, I didn't particularly enjoy this one. The potato sticks are way harder than usual! However, my family and I loved the sweet potato chips (box in the bottom of picture). If I don't remember wrongly, there were only 6 small packs in the box and they were gone pretty quick over a couple of days. Because these are often individually packed, it's also easy to just distribute them out amongst family and friends.

 

By the way, Calbee also has boutique stores in Japan! If you're headed towards Tokyo or Hokkaido, please try to visit the Calbee boutique stores! Tokyo station, Harujuku station in Tokyo and the Chitose Airport in Hokkaido. Imagine fresh potato crisps (literally out of the fryer!) drizzled with your choice of toppings such as Royce chocolate or cheese and topped with a soft serve. It really doesn't get any better (or more decadent) than that!

 

 

Right, since soft serve is now mentioned, that'd flow nicely into the next recommendation I have for those of you visiting Japan: soft-serve, ice lollies and ice-cream. Eat all that you can!

 

Yup, this is another every-time-I-visit-Japan-must-eat item. There's just something that's simply amazingly yummy about the soft-serve in Japan. Maybe because they have an abundance of fresh milk? Or perhaps it's some secret ingredient or manufacturing process? Whichever, I usually find their soft-serve nicely creamy without the over-powering taste of milk.

 

But perhaps the most awesome thing is (again) the variety of flavours that's available! The soft-serve in my photo above is a pretty standard vanilla and grape mix. Yup, that's right. Grape flavoured soft-serve is considered mild. It's also one of the more common flavours around in Japan. Others in this mild/common category include strawberry, green tea, melon (which is absolutely delicious), milk, chocolate.

 

Now, if you're one of those who's up for exotic flavours or if you don't mind a culinary adventure, soft-serve flavours in Japan also come in unique ones such as miso, squid ink, asparagus, wasabi, tofu, etc. It all depends on where you are at. Yeah, I've done all of the above that I've listed. Culinary exploration. Plus, I'm already there so why not? But let's just say I'll still prefer the safer of the exotic such as hoji-cha. Now that's a seriously awesome unique soft-serve. Try it if you ever spot one, especially if you like hoji-cha! I think I had it in Kyoto...

 

 



 

 

Soft-serves are probably the most common of the ice-cream family that you'll find in Japan. In fact, each time you step into a major tourist attraction spot, there will definitely be at least one stall selling them. I was seriously amused when even boating down a river-canal, we had the option of stopping for soft-serve at stalls set up along the canal!

 

What's less common but still equally yummy are ice-lollies or ice-sticks like the one in the picture above. I simply love the fruit-based ones. I think because Japan is an agricultural country, these lollies often use fresh fruit as their ingredients. Just pick whichever fruit is currently in season, and enjoy them the ice-cold way. Another flavour that I often enjoy are the ones that uses Calpis. What can I say, I'm just a major Calpis fan. It's a good thing that they're not as readily available in Singapore, otherwise I'm sure I'd have overdosed on them.

 

 

 

 

And if store bought ice-cream is your to-go-to, you'd be delighted to know that these are also pretty awesome. Once in a while, I'd pop into their convenience store to try their local Japanese store brands. So far, they've been decent. Still prefer my soft-serves though.

 

But if you're a Haagen Dazs fan, then it's a must to get to the convenience stores! You'd be delighted to know that Haagen Dazs comes in limited edition flavours too in Japan! What did I say before, Japan really is the land of limited edition flavours! Now can you spot the 4 Chinese characters in the picture by now?

 

The picture above features the Haagen Dazs that my dad and I tried this time round: Alphonso Mango and Cream, and Caramel Truffle. Both were pretty good. I got a photo of the Alphonso Mango and Cream one below. A wee bit melted as the hotel fridge isn't the most powerful of all fridges.

 

 





 

 

Now, the next item I'm going to write about is something I don't often read about in travel blogs or notes. Jelly cups, in particular, fruit-based jelly cups. These jelly cups are my mom's favourite and it's not difficult to understand why. Oftentimes, these cups are sweet. Not the overwhelming artificial sugar sweet kind of taste that you'd find in some. Instead, my mom likes that she can taste the fruit-like sweetness. Now, whether artificial sugar or fresh fruit sweetness, I'm not talking about the ingredients that's going into the cups here. What I'm saying instead, is that at the very least, they taste great and not like artificial sugar.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, these are my mom's favourite. Yes, she loves them even more than her beloved Pockys. Each time I bring her to a Japanese convenience store, that's the first stop she makes. It's not uncommon to see us hauling her bag of jellies (it's been a minimum of 3 cups each visit thus far) onto the car or bus.

 

 

 

 

While these are occasionally available in some of our local supermarkets like NTUC and Cold Storage, each palm-sized cup has been known to retail at anywhere between SGD$5 to $7. So while my mom loves them, it's her occasional indulgence if purchased in Singapore. In contrast, each cup we've bought in Japan is only between SGD$1 to $3. I guess that's why mom goes jelly-crazy in Japan.

 

Loquat was in season this time round when we visited Kyushu, so we bought home quite a number of loquat jelly cups for the mom (see picture above).

 

 

 

 

Since you read that I'm a major Calpis fan, it be remiss if I were to write such a post and say nothing at all about my favourite drink in Japan. Now Calpis (aka Calpico in some other countries since it apparently sounds like cow piss) is a sugary soft-drink that is reminiscent in taste of yogurt or Yakult. There's milk and lactic acid featured as ingredients so those of you who are allergic or intolerant, please be mindful.

 

Now, the common Calpis drink in Japan usually comes packaged in a plastic bottle with a blue and white label. You can google for that since I obviously didn't grab any pictures of the common one. Just be mindful that Calpis comes as Calpis soda or Calpis concentrate. Both packagings look pretty similar so please be careful that you don't buy the concentrate and start glugging it down.

 

In Japan, Calpis also comes in fruit flavours and that's often what I love looking out for. My picture above just portrays some samples from the collection of the flavours available. It's what I had this time round in Kyushu, with the lemon flavour one being a first-time trying it. That one tastes like yogurt mixed with lemonade - the refreshing sort. I quite enjoyed it.

 

These bottles of Calpis can be easily bought in supermarkets and convenience stores. Also, there are tons of vending machines around that can dispense these drinks. If you're headed to a pub or bar, you may also wish to try Calpis sour. That's a cocktail usually made from mixing shochu and Calpis concentrate. Some places will offer Calpis concentrate mixed with vodka or choya as well. Some restaurants offer this too, just check the drink menu. In some places, Calpis concentrate is also mixed with shaved ice for a refreshing dessert.

 

 

 

 

Now here's something that commonly written about. When in Japan, eat ramen!

 

Hahaha, of course you should! You're in ramen land! It's easily found everywhere, from ramen shops to stalls to the instant versions. Japan even holds ramen competitions and they're prestigious titles too! So it's really a big deal if a ramen store you patronise had won one of these competitions.

 

There are a few big-name ramen stores around in Japan. By that, I mean stores with established ramen reputation in ramen land. Some well-known ones include Ippudo, Ichiran, Santouka, etc. Picture above is a tonkatsu ramen bowl from Ichiran. We had the opportunity to visit its original store in Fukuoka this time round.

 

 

Friends of mine usually am well-aware of my instant noodle addiction. In fact, many times, my friends would travel overseas and bring me back instant noodles, particularly if its some unique flavour found in the country they've visited. Of course then, it's no surprise for me to feature instant noodles here. When in Japan with friends, we often buy back cup noodles to the hotels as snacks. (Yeah, not meals but snacks). Ok, for supper too. Basically, for those times when we suddenly feel hungry. And given how much we would have already snacked on in the day, that's quite amazing. With my parents around, I'm a lot more restrained since they've always nagged at my instant noodle intake.

 

Nissin is a favourite instant noodle brand of mine. Of course, I'll also get other brands to try but every trip, Nissin is a must. And please, likewise, don't just buy the ones you already often eat in Singapore. I love the cheese curry (in the picture above) and the chilli tomato flavour is pretty decent too. Nissin also has those awesome BIG cup noodles. Because how can 1 tiny cup fill you up? I just haven't gotten around to trying some other (in my opinion, weirder) cup noodles flavours such as milk seafood.

 

By the way, those famous big-name ramen stores that I mentioned 3 paragraphs above? Even they have decided to cash in on the instant ramen popularity. Yup, I've hauled instant bowls (well, they're nowhere near cup shapes) from Ippudo and Santouka back to Singapore before. In case you're wondering, yes, I'm one hell of a luggage-packer. I've never had an issue with crushed cups. My cup noodles have all arrived in Singapore safely in my luggage.

 

 

And I definitely do not limit myself to just the cup/bowl noodles. I go for the packet ones too! By the way, I just cooked the black-coloured packet of ramen (2 photos above, on the left) for lunch. Kagoshima pork broth ramen, that's the picture above. Kagoshima's is supposedly famous for their pork. Yummy to the max! Now I'm regretting only getting 1 pack!

 

 

Now, it's not all unhealthy snacking k. When in Japan, eat all the fruits too! Especially fruits that are in season. And yes, I hauled these clementines, apples, peaches and loquats back from Kyushu this round. I did tell you I'm an awesome luggage-packer, didn't I.

By the way, my parents and I have since learnt to pack a plastic knife along with our luggage solely for the purpose of enjoying our fruits in Japan. When in season, these fruits are seriously sweet and yummy. Plus, they're a great source of natural fibre. Best way to avoid holiday constipation. In some parts of Japan, you may even wish to visit a fruit farm/orchard for some fruit-picking fun.

 

 

Ok, I'm getting to the end of my post. But first, onto Starbucks. I have to admit, I first started popping into Starbucks in Japan because I wasn't getting my coffee fix all the time. By the way, Japan's great for teas, but it's hard to find a good cup of coffee. And Starbucks isn't exactly great with the coffee either.

 

But anyway, that's how I found out that Starbucks Japan does seasonal stuff too! Spring 2 years ago, I tried a Sakura drink. This time round, its Cantaloupe melons for summer. I didn't get around to the other brownie matcha one. They were also advertising that a strawberry option was the next offering coming up. So if you're thirsty and you spy a Starbucks nearby, no harm popping in to see what they have on offer.

 

 

 

 

Now this is something that I don't always enjoy, but always receive requests from friends for. Japanese crackers. Japanese crackers can be in the form of rice crackers (on the left in my picture above) or the biscuit-like types (on the right in the picture above). So far, I tend to prefer the latter and my favourites rice crackers are the ones from Kitakaro in Otaru, Hokkaido.

 

Usually, when purchasing crackers, most stalls would have samples out for you to try. You can then make your choice based on your favourites. Like I said, I'm not a fan but my friends seem to love them quite a bit, so it's here too on the blog.

 

 

 

 

Next on the post (which is becoming extremely lengthy), are my bakeries and pastry shops. I love to visit these in Japan. The breads are soft and the Japanese often experiment with fillings. Mentaiko bread? Give it to me. Garlic sesame buns? Yums in the tums! And their cheese breads or cheese pies or cheesecakes? Oh lord. It's melt-in-your-mouth cheese heaven.

 

Of course, likewise, there are famous ones in different areas. Just do your homework before you go to find out. But I've also learnt to rely on my sense of smell and the sight of queues.

 

 

 

 

I'm finally coming to the end. These here (ok, the ones that I'm writing about) are what I call my buy-at-the-airport goodies. Simply because, they can always be found at the airports. Let's start with the photo above:

 

Top row from the left, are 2 boxes from Potato Farm. The first box is something new that Potato Farm put out while the 2nd box is what I traditionally would always get. There's always a limit placed on the number of boxes of Potato Farm that each visitor is allowed to purchase and it varies from place to place. I been told that I can get anywhere from 2 to 5 boxes in various places and airports. Now that in itself, should give you an indication as to how popular this awesome box of potato sticks is. They're good.

 

3rd box from left, top row: Tokyo Banana.

Do I need to introduce this anymore? Its famous. Again not a personal favourite of mine, but I know of many (and I do mean MANY) who seem to love this banana-cream filled sponge cake. By the way, there are variations now when it comes to Tokyo Banana, e.g. caramel-banana cream, etc. I've been told too that there's even a sakura one for spring!

 

Box below Tokyo Banana: The Strawberry Cake from Ginza.

My mom has resorted to calling this Tokyo Strawberry (after Tokyo Banana). Firstly, the name The Strawberry Cake from Ginza is just simply too long a mouthful. Secondly, it's almost like Tokyo Banana, except it's strawberry filled. I actually prefer this to Tokyo Banana. Less sweet.

 

Ignore the others in the photo. They're just random stuff I picked up for friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of how "Tokyo Strawberry" looks like. You'll have to give the Japs points for packaging, they're really good at stuff like that.

 

 

And here's what an individual pack of Potato Farm looks like. My 2 boxes were gone in less than a week.

 

 

Now, the next thing to watch out for in the Japan airports are the wonderful Royce chocolates. Seriously yummy chocolates. They've also got liquor filled ones but my favourites are the darks. So sinfully awesome. And they even have chocolate coated potato chips and popcorn. I bought the chips this time. Love the white chocolate ones much more though.

 

And finally, the last thing that I can recall to put into this post. Hori melon jellies. Ok, I know I wrote about jellies already. But these ones can be easily found at most airports. So if you don't have the opportunity to visit supermarkets or convenience stores, you'll know that there's this option at the airports as a last resort.

 

Except I still find the others nicer. These Hori Melon jellies are good, but the ones at the supermarkets and convenience stores are sometimes nicer.

 

All right. I hope this post helps those going to Japan soon, especially if it's going to be your first time there. Enjoy yourself snacking on these Japan goodies! Just don't blame me for the weight you put on k!