24th Hokkaido Fair in Yoyogi Koen

Hokkaido known as “The Kingdom of Food” is having it’s 24th food fair in Yoyogi Park from October 5-8, 2012. We were lucky to find time to visit the event today. The park is filled with booths featuring the island’s specialties and delicacies – crabs, lamb, sushi, seafood, sweets, dessert, and sake. The park is definitely packed with a lot of people and each booth possesses very long queues. Choosing what to eat and where to buy food became quite a difficult decision because everything seemed delicious.

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Kohmen 光麺 a great satisfaction

Kohmen Roppongi

“Cold weather, hot food”! Ramen, a noodle dish with Chinese origin adapted to Japanese taste is surely one of the most popular choice during the cold weather. As we felt the first strike of the cool breeze of autumn, we found ourselves heading to a Kohmen shop in Roppongi. The shop looks small from the outside but it has 36 seats inside with 21 counter seats and 15 table seats. The interior is pleasant, clean and with stylish atmosphere. Staffs also welcome customers with a smile. English menu is also available for non-Japanese speakers so you don’t have to guess what the ramen choices are.

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Pizzeria Baggio: a hidden refuge in the busy street of Roppongi

(from top) salad, quatro formaggi, margherita

Situated behind the busy main street of Roppongi lies Pizzeria Baggio, a small restaurant which is easy to miss if you are not looking for it. The place is very cozy with its 1960s ambiance and with jazz music playing in the background. Equipped with only 10 tables, the place can get very packed during lunch time and only Lunch set is served. The set ranging from ¥1,000 – ¥1,500 comes with a choice of pizza, salad and a coffee or tea. We were lucky to come around 1pm as the crowd had subsided and several seats are available.

We ordered a quatro formaggi (¥1,200) which is one of their most popular pizza and a margherita (¥1,100) set. We immediately started eating as soon as the pizza is served as the appearance and aroma of the pizza is really mouth-watering. Continue reading Pizzeria Baggio: a hidden refuge in the busy street of Roppongi

Breathtaking Niijima 新島

Summer in Japan generally falls on the months of June, July, and August and extends up to early September. Summer months can be hot and humid with temperature ranging from 30-40 ℃. Most people take advantage of the warmer temperature spending more time outdoors and traveling to the beach is surely a top pick. And like most of them, we also took this opportunity to have a short get-away from the busy city and enjoy the white sand, clear water, and forested mountains of Niijima.

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