Japan

We had their sukiyaki and teppanyaki beef steak, chicken and of course, fried rice on both visits. No English menu, so pointing and google translate did the job (but their staff did speak a bit). They first coated the pan with beef fat, added sugar and soy sauce to simmer for a bit before adding the thin, beautifully marbled beef slices and cabbage. Here, raw eggs are usually served as a dipping sauce, giving the sweet tender beef a creamy coating.

Our teppanyaki steak was also cooked just right but the star of the show still has got to be the garlic fried rice.

Get their chuhai if you fancy a drink!

Not the best okonomiyaki I had but pretty decent and I was happy with the cheeese and abundance of ingredients. The octopus was so fresh!
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📍 お好焼 鉄板焼 ごえも/ Okonomiyaki Goemon
〒700-0903 Okayama, Kita-ku, Saiwaichō, 2−5

Gyoza was fried on the same pan as the okonomiyaki and took some time, turned out very crispy! But I’d have liked the skin to be a bit thinner🤷🏻‍♀️.
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📍 お好焼 鉄板焼 ごえも/ Okonomiyaki Goemon
〒700-0903 Okayama, Kita-ku, Saiwaichō, 2−5

Baumkuchen, “tree ring” cake, is an incredibly tedious cake as it is baked layer by layer. At La Collina, you can view the chefs in their elements at work.

Still as pricey as it is back home, this was the best I’ve had thus far! I’ve never really craved for this, but this was so good I bought it home too! Buttery, soft, moist (though I wasn’t a fan of the sugary sweet side). Also comes with a dollop of light whipped cream on the side😍

The set (982¥) comes with choice of a drink - go for their cold brew coffee. Smooth and easy, or the refreshing earl grey tea.
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📍 La Collina ラ コリーナ近江八幡
６１５−１ Kitanoshocho, Omihachiman, Shiga 523-8533, Japan

The dorayaki comes with the option of strawberry/ banana with cream which was delightfully light and sweet.
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📍 La Collina ラ コリーナ近江八幡
６１５−１ Kitanoshocho, Omihachiman, Shiga 523-8533, Japan

If you ever find yourself planning for a trip to Lake Biwa, here’s a good place to spend an hour or two! I loved how slow it was - just take a stroll around the compound, watch the flowers in the breeze, enjoy its architecture; hop from cafe to cafe (there are two confectioneries here), grab a hot dog bun at the food/ drink stall; or stop by their Club Harie souvenir store lined with vintage car plates and old rides.

The selection is small with only Baumkuchen/ cookies, dorayaki, castella cake for dine in.

The cookie (from Club Harie at the Baumkuchen section) was delicious, we had the one with a chocolate filling - it was very rich, slightly bittersweet and very chocolatey!

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📍 La Collina ラ コリーナ近江八幡
６１５−１ Kitanoshocho, Omihachiman, Shiga 523-8533, Japan

Shiok obanyaki along the shopping arcade in Kurashiki with so much azuki filling in this warm fluffy pancake, slightly crisp on the sides😍

Located on 7F of Aeon Mall Okayama, a syokudo with mainly fish dishes.

Other than my tempura prawn soba (880¥), we added on a hokke fish (okhotsk atka mackerel, 980¥) surprisingly chunky, and slightly fatty! G’s fried fish (1380¥) had a sweet and sour sauce that was very appetizing.
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📍 五穀 / Gokoku
Japan, 〒700-0907 Okayama, Kita-ku, Shimoishii, 1-chōme−2−1, イオンモール岡山

Meat overload here!

Quite a splurge at 8400¥ for 2 pax but it was so damn good, just look at the beautiful marbling! They were quite even and well-seasoned with their homemade sauce that was a nice balanced sweet/savoury, so we didn’t really need the salt or wasabi.

Charcoal grill is used here. Sirloin, prime rib, skirt and rib, with vegetables; the meats were incredibly juicy and melt in the mouth tender, I was so pleasantly surprised by my first bite I didn’t want it to end. But alas it had to (also G was beginning to be a bit sick of the richness of it😂). The cabbage provided did help to cut through the richness; the vegetables were very soft and sweet after grilling!

The friendly hostess spoke a bit of English and they also had an English menu, so ordering was easy. Very good meal here!
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📍太郎助・tarosuke
14-1 Surugamachi, Nara, 630-8357, Japan

When in Uji, get anything tea-related.

Granted, this cremia only had the dusting of hojicha and slightly bittersweet matcha powder, but it was still good. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Cremia and it’s smooth milky ice cream nor its buttery Langue de chat!

The drinks here come in what looks like an ink bottle (cute!!).

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📍 抹茶共和国/ Matcha Republic
Myoraku-26-2 Uji, Kyoto 611-0021, Japan

We had both a Japanese style and a more.. Indian style curry (heavier on spices) but both were pretty decent and it was quite affordable at about sgd10 on average. My omu rice was fluffy, curry was flavorful and not overly sweet! You can also choose to add on any ingredients available (cheese, which of course I did; spinach, corn etc).
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📍 カレーハウス神戸屋/ Curry House Kobe-ya
2-chōme-7-1 Achi, Kurashiki, Okayama 710-0055, Japan

Unplanned and still quite enjoyable! Tempura was very lightly battered and the prawns were super fresh (so was the other ingredients) and the unagi was soft, smoky, good balance of sweetness/ saltiness and somehow with not as much bones😂 The broth was a bit too salty for me to finish them all though.
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📍鰻せいろう 多幸う
Aeon Mall (Okayama), 7F
1 Chome-2-1 Shimoishii, Kita Ward, Okayama, 700-0907, Japan