Things come and go.

L'effervesence

No. 12 on Asia's best restaurants is L'effervesence in Tokyo.
Lunch Menu: Through the pathway

Horse mackerel, cucumber, sugar pea, gazpacho

Mountain breeze-
Deep fried firefly squid and mountain vegetable, hamaguri clam and leek jus, sour cream, and micro tomato

A fixed point -
4 hours cooked Tokyo turnip, parsley, basque ham and brioche

From an idea of apple pie #19-
Conger eel, hamaguri clam, new burdock, langoustine and apple, seaside flavoured sauce with seasonal salad.

A little tipsy -
Sake lees mousse and sake lees chocolate ice cream, sake baba, blood orange

Matcha & World Peace

The lunch was not bad. There were a lot of vegetables and the ingredients were very fresh. One of the dishes my friend had was beef with spring onions, but the star of the dish was the spring onion, which they claim is the best in Japan because the farmer took 3 years to come out with a produce that he's really satisfied with. All courses were very well executed and balanced although the preparation time was too long and I had no patience to eat for 2-3 hours for a meal, especially when you are overseas and you have much things to shop/buy rather than wait for your food to come. Haha. 

The overall experience was really good. They allowed you to choose your own knife which was made up of different woods. Their sake + french wine drink was a nice touch, in addition to the freshly baked bread and their tofu cream cheese dip. As a takeaway gift, we were given freshly baked turnip cookies. 

Tokyo May 2016

I've been to Tokyo so many times but every time there's something new to explore. The endless small little bars or restaurants that serves food that can beat any Japanese restaurants in Singapore, the endless shopping and quirky products to buy and the seasonal food that are only available at certain times of the year, what's not to like about Tokyo?

Anyway I'll just let the pictures do the talking. The weather was super nice though. I could do with a tee and jacket.

One of the random finds while walking along the streets. Cold noodles with dipping soup. It's so so damn good.


Outside the store

Award winning pudding from Family Mart. It is truly out of this world. I cannot believe such pudding exists in the world. 
First BBQ Wagyu beef for lunch

It was Sanja Matsuri, one of the biggest festivals in Tokyo.

We took a side trip to Hakone for Onsen and Mt Fuji view but the foggy weather blocked the view.

What's a trip to Japan without ryokan, onsen and some outlet shopping?

We went to Kichijoji to get my watch which I have been searching for for a year... and some food hunting.

Dessert hunting at Harajuku

Zaku Zaku at Harajuku

A random standing BBQ beef bar near our hotel.

Ok so I bought:

A lot of tidbits and snacks as usual

Lots of green tea

1 cherry beer, 1 yuzu alcohol and 1 umeshu

2 pair of Japanese demin and made in Japan jeans

1 Paul Smith made in Japan tee

1 Knot watch

1 lotion, 2 facial washes, some eye drops

A lot of food in my stomach

Gen Yamamoto

I googled best cocktail bar in Tokyo and Gen Yamamoto came up in almost every single list. I made a reservation immediately and went to check out the place. Like every fine Japanese restaurant, his ingredients are based on seasonal produce from the best areas.

From the official website:
Gen Yamamoto offers a cocktail tasting menu which is created from carefully selected and seasonal local fresh produce and fine liquors. The cocktail tasting menu reflects “shiki”, Japanese seasonality.
Natural flavors come together in harmony for each cocktail. The cocktail tasting menu is a progression of flavors.

The place is at a super dark corner, you won't be able to find it unless you specifically look for it. It's a 8-seater barand he has only 3-4 seatings each day and I was lucky to have a seat on that day. No music, no crowd, just 8 seats and Gen himself. The way he makes his drinks is a performance itself.

1. Konatsu from Kochi and Sugar Cane Shochu

2. Pineapple from Okinawa, Sparkling Sake and Peppercorn Leaves

3. Passion Fruit from Okinawa, Single Malt Whisky and soda

4. Tomato from Kumamoto, Gin from Finland and soda

5. Cotswold Wheat-based Gin, Lemon from Shizuoka, Ginger and soda

6. Watermelon from Kumamoto, Konatsu zest and pulp, Sweet-potato Shochu slushie

The drinks are light, well balanced and simply delicious. There were no overwhelming taste of alcohol, just the freshness of the ingredients. I have never tasted tomato or pineapple with that kind of flavour. If you haven't noticed, the drinks are progressive in light to dark colours.

I asked him if he names his cocktails, he said he doesn't because he could come out with a different cocktail depending on the ingredients that he has. I could come in tomorrow to a totally different set of cocktails.

I left the bar with 7500yen less from my pocket but the satisfaction of having the best bar experience and drinks in the world is priceless. 

Clearing leave and IPPT

After training for more than 2 months I still had a silver for IPPT. Although my sit-up improved, my running didn't match up to my last 11.30 timing so 2 more point to gold. I blame it on the super anal irritating PT who deducted my sit-ups. I'm definitely going to try again for gold.

My leave officially starts today and it came at the right time. I needed a break very much, away from work and everything to have some me-time, travelling time and rabbit time. I'm beginning to dislike my job now because I don't enjoy using arguments or defending oneself as a way of working. I dunno. Maybe it's the department. Anyway flying in 1 day's time. I can't wait.