Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a "Merry Christmas" day today ;)
Anyhow, here's a separate entry of some of the food and people snaps I took during my Osaka trip and also the hotel where we stayed at.
Hope you'll like this!
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Let's start off with our hotel, Hotel Hanshin.
Hotel Hanshin is located in Fukushima which is one station away from Umeda/Central Osaka.
I like it since it's just 5 minutes away from Fukushima station which makes it pretty easy to go out and about and ride the train ;)
The travel agency was the one who arranged our stay here so when we got here, everything was a surprise (a good one,i must say! :] )
hallway
our room
I'm no interior expert but I always appreciate the style/design they put in hotel rooms hehe
IMHO, I think our hotel room's considered above average when it comes to Japanese hotels.
Usually, a "good" room would be plain, simple, small and expensive lol. Very minimalist.
***FYI, our Osaka trip is a "packaged tour" hence, we paid a lesser rate :)
So I was quite shocked that we got this kind of room. Yay, thanks to our T.A! ;)
Moving on, here's our toilet
I really want this for my own bathroom!!! haha
I've always been amazed with this
I'm not familiar with this brand but it sounds expensive nyahaha
I adore the almond shower gel!
And le bathtub ;)
Verdict:
Location: Accessible and convenient. Perfect for tourists on vacay!
Ambience/Room: I'm completely satisfied <3
Service/Staff: The staff had acceptable English skills so I guess it's ok.
The hotel also offers currency exchange which is higher than banks (plus point!)
Overall, I highly recommend Hotel Hanshin if ever you decide on going to Osaka.
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FOOD
I wasn't able to document all the food that I ate during my trip but here's some of the yummy goodness I was able to :))
For my first meal upon arriving. We ate in a ramen resto near our hotel.
I got attracted to this resto coz of THIS haha ;)
As you can see, their menu had no English translation so we just asked the server what's their specialty (good thing she could speak a bit English)
So we had their "Pork Ramen" ¥ 650
And omg, it's the best ramen ever! Although I've had authentic ramen before when I went to Tokyo 8 years ago, I can't remember exactly the feeling/taste of it so I'm gonna declare this one is the best I've ever had haha
The pork was seriously melt-in-your-mouth (I kid not!)
Noodles were perfect. Broth was excellent.
Overall, it's divine <3
Gosh, I wish I could eat it again haha it's that good!
Mom and our uber friendly server
After finishing our noodles, we took some pictures outside and she followed us and gave us this gift!
Ain't she the sweetest??!! We just arrived and we're already receiving gifts LOL
For dessert, we decided to drop by 7 eleven and bought some sweets.
Got this ice cream for 190 yen
Chocolate + Mint is one of my fave flavors so I enjoyed this one :)
We also got this custard creamy thing for 150 yen
It's like Leche Flan with caramel sauce on the bottom!
As I mentioned in my previous post, Okonomiyaki is one of the food that you shouldn't miss when in Osaka.
So I scoured the internet reading reviews and comments on the best Okonomiyaki resto there is lol.
Mizuno was my top choice.
Based on some blog reviews, the line gets really long in the evening so we decided to go here at lunch time haha. We waited for about 15 minutes before we were able to finally eat :)
since 1945 yo!
years of experience is important hehe
I ordered the Mizuno-yaki and Yoshoku-Modan yaki.
Basically, mixed pork + seafood and noodle variants.
Mom, happily waiting for our food and other tourists
Our orders cooked right in front of us!
Topped with seaweed powder, jap mayo and mixed "okonomiyaki" sauce
WARNING: you should eat it really fast or turn it from time to time or else it'll get burned like this. They don't turn the heat off after cooking so yea it got sabotaged =/
It's still tasty though hehe ;)
Gyudon!
I forgot how much this is but I believe it's less than 500 yen.
Here in manila, Gyudon is just always served with just the beef slices + rice + half cooked sunny side ups but this one had some onion leeks + other green leafy things + scrambled eggs.
No complaints though, it was flavorful! YUM
Ofcourse, I had to try authentic Jap Green tea ice cream!
Sorry forgot to take note of its price but I'm pretty sure it's less than 300 yen hehe
They don't skimp on the green tea flavor folks, it was perfect!
and look how creamy it is <3
This one seemed like "Kakigori" style so I bought it haha
It has some red beans, motchi balls, green tea cream and...
a surprise sweet red bean-ish taste sauce at the center!
It was sooooooo good!
We also had the experience of eating in an Izakaya.
Regular menu VS touch screen menu (!)
Appetizer
This is the first time I've seen chips added to a salad.
Quite interesting.
Yea it's not Japanese, but they didn't have uni and ikura sushi so I just ordered Foie Gras to relieve my disappointment lulz
Chankonabe! (Stew mixed with fish, veggies, seafood and tofu)
My kareshi told me that this dish is what sumo wrestlers usually eat to bulk their body up.
They could eat around 5-10 bowls of this. WOW
To cap off, we had this lovely assortment of desserts! NOM
Of course, a visit to Japan is not complete without purchasing their unique flavors of Kitkat!
Wow, I didn't know these were so hard to find. I thought they were easily available at 711 but no, only the chocolate variants were there =/
I was able to buy the Green tea (840 yen) , Cinnamon Cookie (840 yen) and Strawberry (150 yen) variants at a "convenience store" near Namba station. Sorry forgot to take a pic.
But the store's name is really just "Convenience store" lol and it's just a few steps once you exit the station.
For the Strawberry Cheesecake (600 yen) and Sakura Matcha (250 yen), I found them at Kansai Airport. The Greentea and Cinnamon cookie were cheaper there too!
You could also buy these Kitkat flavors at Kyoto station and some food stores around Kyoto.
Goodluck and happy hunting!
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PEOPLE
One of the things I like to do when I travel is take pics of random people. Originally, it started out with taking pics of interesting outfits. Yea I'm a stalker, deal with it! LOL
Here are some of the snaps I took....
LOVE her studded boots.
At Midosuji blvd.
Students taking pics of the billboards at Dotonbori
Waiting for her boyfriend perhaps?
"Princessy" outfits at Kyoto
That's all!
Next up, Kyoto! ;)
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