On the way to Universal Studios, we stopped at Yoshinoya to check out the difference between Japan's and Singapore's version.
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| Gyu -Don |
And the conclusion is... things are just better in Japan. From the moment we stepped in, the cheerful greeting of "irashaimase" rang out, and menus and green tea were placed in front of us. We felt that we were really in Japan.
The moment we got out of the train at the Universal Town Station. We thought," Oh oh! This doesn't look right."
As it turns out, there was a week long school holiday in Japan. This queue is just for the entry, the queue for tickets is just as long. Oh well, time to ticker with our schedule.
We went to Shirahama in the Wakayama prefecture instead. Hurray for the JR pass! Just a 40min ride by express train to a beach town with lots of onsens. First stop is at the local fish market for lunch.
This is one of the best Ika i have ever had. Sweet and juicy.
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| Chu-Toro |
Couldn't resist the temptation and bought some Chu-Toro. As usual, melt-in-the-mouth soft. Not too much marbling. I heard that the japanese prefer chu-toro as o-toro has too much fat and too little meat.
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| Sandanbeki |
These are the Sandanbeki clifts. I read about the elevator going down into the pirate caves at sea level and just had to go visit.
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| In the Pirate caves |
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| Onsen with a full beach view |
After sight-seeing, the next on our to-do list was to visit one of the famous onsens in the area. Apparently the Sakinoyu Onsen has been around for hundreds of years and Emperors used to bathe there. Open from 8am to 5pm. Too bad we arrived at 505pm...
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| Kimchi Yaki-Soba |
Back to Osaka and we have an hour before the train leaves. What do we do? Sample the local cuisine of course! No Wakayama ramen stalls around so we head for a family run Yaki soba / Takoyaki stand instead.
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| The famous dragon statue |
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| Kinryu Ramen |
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| Kyushu-style tonkotsu Ramen |
Our now customary 4th meal of the day is of course at Dotonbori, within walking distance to our hotel. This time round we tried one of Osaka's famous ramen. The Kinryu (Golden Dragon) Ramen which sells Kyushu-style tonkotsu ramen. However, it was a disappointment. The broth wasn't as thick and flavorful as the ones we had in Hokkaido and Tokyo. The Chashu wasn't melt-in-the-mouth either. There was unlimited sevings of kimchi which i found kinda weird as it clashed with the tonkotsu taste. Then again, the ones we had in Hokkaido and Tokyo were really oily so it may depend on the preference of the individual.
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