Ocean Seafood Restaurant (海王城)

Our 2nd and last meal was at Ocean Seafood Restaurant (海王城). There are a lot of these types of seafood restaurants in the city where you choose your fish and how you want it prepared.

Entrance.

HUGE! This is probably only a tenth of the entire place.

Huge variety of seafood.

Sauteed Scallops with Baby Chinese Broccoli.

Black Pepper Crab.

Steamed Grouper Hong Kong style.

This dish was my favorite!

Aftermath.

*This is most likely where we both got food poisoning. Oh well, it was worth it!

Fatt Kee (Ang's Hotel Restaurant)

Our first dinner was at Fatt Kee in downtown KK. We walked around for a bit because we wanted a local place to try. We decided to come here because all the customers seemed local and it was constantly packed, always people standing around eyeing the next opening. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the place but here's a link.

Wintermelon Soup.

Prawns in Chili Sauce.

Oyster Sauce Chicken Wings.

(That seriously EVERYONE seemed to order)

Chinese Greens.

Local drinks.

The food was really good and I especially enjoyed the Wintermelon Soup & Wings!

Kedai Kopi Melanian 3

Our first meal in KK was breakfast at Kedai Kopi Melanian 3.

Our Malaysian tour guide took us here for a local dining experience before taking us to the zoo.

They are located in downtown KK and specialize in mixed pork noodles, popularly known to Chinese people as "Sang Nyuk Man".

Open kitchen.

People flowed in non-stop and the place was constantly full!

Pork Noodle Soup with Kon-Lou noodles (dry noodles).

This set was 5.5 RM, about $1.70 or 130 yen!

We also tried the Kui Teoy noodles which were kind of like thick Pho noodles. Personally, I liked this noodle more. The flavor isn't as strong as it looks and has a sweet, soy-sauce taste. Both the soup and noodles were actually very tasty!

Lohotoi (ロウホウトイ)

Lohotoi is a Hong Kong Cantonese-style cuisine located inconveniently in the middle of Ebisu, Hiroo and Shirogane. I forgot to take a picture of the exterior/interior, but it seems like its been here for a while.

Considering that Chinese food (especially in the Shirogane/Hiroo area) is quite expensive, this place was very reasonable. We ordered a lot of what we saw on the Tabelog page and all of them exceeded my expecations. All of the flavors were elegant and refined. It was nice that they offered a small and large size. Everything pictured is a small size. 

Crispy Skin Pork (Small) appetizer

皮付き豚カリカリ焼き

Vegetable Steamed Dumplings

野菜の蒸し餃子

This was so delicious! It mainly had mushrooms and bamboo and there were some other chopped veggies in there as well.

Shrimp & Chive Dumplings

エビとニラの焼き餃子

My fave! The shrimp here was really plump and sweet.

Shrimp Steamed Dumplings

エビの蒸し餃子

After having the veggie and shrimp/chive dumplings, we wanted more. Each piece is super small, probably about half the size of American dim sum. But the homemade skin was incredibly chewy and the ideal thinness, just perfect.

Eggplant with Ground Pork and Miso

魚香茄子

Similar to Mabo Eggplant, without the spice. A little salty, which was probably intentional to eat together with rice (although we didn't order any).

Yellow Chive & Bean Sprout Noodles

黄ニラともやしの麺

Everyone seemed to be ordering this noodle, and we understood why. Its very understated, especially the ingredients, but it just came together and had such a delicate flavor.

We finished off the meal with a refreshing homemade mango pudding and almond jelly.

Tenryu (天龍)

Dinner at Tenryu in Ginza.

We wanted to go somewhere famous for Gyoza and stumbled upon this restaurant that has been around since 1949.

Entrance.

Gyoza

The size is huge (almost double compared to a normal Gyoza), the skin is quite thick and chewy and the inside is super juicy. Yum.

Sauteed Chinese Spinach (空芯菜)

Kushinsai is my favorite!

Beef with Oyster Sauce

It's a really casual restraunt (especially in Ginza) but the food was good and by the time we finished eating a little past 7pm, there was already a line.

Kirin Restaurant

My mom and sister were raving about the dimsum at Kirin Restaurant when they went to Vancouver last year. I actually had been there before on my last visit 7 years ago when the guy working at the hotel I was staying at had recommended this place.

We went to the Richmond location and it was so good that we went to the downtown location the next day. Wish we had this in OC!

Richmond location.

Downtown location.

I came to this location on my last trip and since then, it had been completely renovated. We didn't have a reservation so we got there right after they opened.

I liked that the downtown location had these to keep your tea warm.

Collage of the stuff we had...

Everything was incredibly tasty and so fresh, highly recommended when in Vancouver! The bottom right dessert, a soft mochi with black sesame filling (served hot) is my favorite.

Bao Bei

One of the waitresses at an amazing Indian restaurant (blogged here) had recommended Bao Bei to us. After looking at the website, it was a cute and girly brasserie and was the perfect setting for Mother's day dinner.

Exterior. Located in Chinatown.

We got there a little befored they opened so I got some great pictures of the super cute interior.

Loved all the details and the color tones. They open at 5:30PM and fill up quick! It was completely full within 15 minutes after opening.

The small portioned plates are perfect for sharing and getting to taste a little bit of everything.

We started with a cocktail, none of which I was impressed with. It seemed creative on the menu, but it didn't taste great. Shared this bottle of Syrah (from their limited wine list). We really enjoyed this wine, although it was a Napa wine. Ha.

Dessert: Assorted Ice Cream

This was so delicious and the flavors were unique: 5 Spices, Jasmine Tea with Caramel Brittle and Coconut. My favorite was the Jasmine Tea (in the front), simply divine. 

Overall, I really liked this brasserie. It's so feminine and is ideal for a girl's night out or a date.

石頭楼 (Sutourou)

Last night, we went to 石頭楼 (Sutourou) in Roppongi. It was so hard to find, hidden in a residential area inside of an apartment complex. Supposedly, they used to be a members-only restaurant and you needed an invitation to eat here. The only thing they serve is the Sutou Hot Pot course, which is a Taiwanese-style stone hot pot.

Vegetable & Seafood platter for 5. (Plus a platter of pork and beef that's not pictured)

They first heat up Sesame oil. Then they lightly cook the pork and beef before adding all the vegetables and seafood. The servers will do all the cooking for you.

Then the veggies, seafood and the meat are added.

Ready to eat! They give you two dipping sauces.

This was my first Sutou-Pot experience and I really enjoyed it. It was unlike any other nabe I've had but it was super tasty and very fragrant.

You can choose Ramen or Ojiya at the end. My friends chose the Ramen. The noodle was alright, but the soup needed a little more flavor and it was a bit oily for me. (Didn't finish this)

Comes with homemade Almond Jelly (杏仁豆腐) at the end. The texture of this Almond Jelly was really to my liking but it could have had a little more Almond flavor.

Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐)

Din Tai Fung in Arcadia probably has the best steamed pork dumplings (小籠包) in this area. I wish they would open a store closer to home.

Exterior.

There's two Din Tai Fungs back to back, this one is the new store.

(Just noticed the girl in the middle... what is she doing?!)

Steamed Pork Dumplings

Shrimp Fried Rice

Steamed Vegetable & Pork Bun

Steamed Red Bean Buns

Inside of the Red Bean dumpling... love this.

Steamed Black Sesame Paste Bun