GINZA

2014 is definitely the year of travel.  In January we spent a few days in Bali with family rediscovering the island.  In March, a much-awaited return to Moscow (last time I was there was 17 years ago) to show A the new and improved MOCKBA.  This was followed by two weeks in Manila with the kids and a trip to Tokyo in the spring.  As it was my first time to Tokyo, I was lucky that my good friend Rumi had just returned home to Japan after several years abroad which gave me the best food tour guide for my initiation to the amazing gourmet offerings of Tokyo. 

We stayed at the Imperial Hotel, a classic Japanese hotel, located close to the famous luxury  shopping area of Ginza.  On our first evening, we decided to see what the area had to offer.  Close by was a small street parallel to the train tracks lined with restaurants on either side.  A & I meandered along until we found a packed sushi bar towards the end of the road.  I won't even be able to tell you the name as all the signs and menus were in Japanese so we did what tourists usually do and just pointed out something on the menu.  It was a 12-piece sushi platter with  amaebi (sweet shrimp), maguro (tuna), hotate (scallop), ikura gukan (salmon roe), uni (sea urchin), negi toro (chopped tuna with chives), tamago (cooked egg), aji (mackerel), chutoro (fatty tuna belly), hirame (flounder), unagi (grilled eel) and the very strange kazunoko (herring roe) which neither of us ate.  All that plus a side dish of fried egg with mushrooms set us back around US$25 each - a bargain after all those stories about overpriced Tokyo.  We walked around the block a bit to digest our dinner and as we neared the hotel, we witnessed aTokyo phenomenon - hundreds of ladies queued up in several orderly single file rows waiting to greet a stage performer about to exit the theater across the street.  No pushing and shoving, each one waiting patiently with a piece of paper (greetings?) or a bouquet of flowers to offer the star.  The sense of order and respect - that was what my first impression of Tokyo.

The next morning, A set off for work while I had a leisurely breakfast and did my first day exploring Ginza which was several blocks away.  I started off at Hakuhinkan Toy Park, Tokyo's version of Toys R Us, and walked slowly up the street, window shopping and people watching.  By the time I reached  the middle, it was time for lunch so I followed Rumi's advice and went to Mitsukoshi where there are five floors devoted to food - the 11th and 12th for restaurants, the 9th for smaller self-serve counters with a large terrace, B2 for the food court and B3 for grocery items.  I went up to the the 11th floor and walked into the first one that caught my eye - a tonkatsu restaurant which has almost full with mostly Japanese and two solo diners, just like me, who looked like tourists.  I sat at a corner table and chose the tonkatsu and ebikatsu (prawn) set which came with soup, rice and pickles.  The food came quickly with the crunchy but not oily panko-crusted pork cutlet and the equally crispy deep-fried prawn set on a wire rack over a plate with some lemon and tartare sauce served with the brown rice I asked for.   On the table were the two containers of homemade tonkatsu sauce - one sweet and the other spicy along with some implements that I had never seen nor used before. It was basically a shallow corrugated ceramic  bowl and a piece of wood.  I looked around and saw what my neighbors were doing and realized that this was like a mortar and pestle and was being used to hand grind sesame seeds to be added onto the tonkatsu sauce to thicken and flavor it.  The tricky part out of the way, I finally began to eat my delicious lunch and finished it off with the tangy crunchy pickles.  One of the things I enjoy when I'm discovering a city is eating on my own - it gives me chance to concentrate on my food and at the same time observe the locals and their rituals.

After lunch, I walked to Ito-ya - Tokyo's premier stationery shop to have a look and ended up spending hours and lots of yen, ordering embossed leather luggage tags and purchasing cards and stationery.  It was late afternoon by then and my energy was flagging so I went to the nearest coffee shop I saw - Le Cafe Doutor - which was filled with locals sitting alone having mostly iced coffee.  I ordered a black coffee and enjoyed my caffeine for half an hour before walking the roundabout way back to the Imperial. 

The following day while walking around Ginza again, Rumi and I stumbled upon a months-old coffee boutique - Toriba - where they roast their own beans on site and have a small coffee bar where we sampled two types of their funky-named music-influenced blends - Jamaican Dub Mix and the Deep House Mix.   Later on, she also took me to the Bulgari's Il Bar where she made me the typical cold coffee served with sugar syrup and lots of ice.  This being the Bulgari, a tiny bowl of chocolate covered almonds also came with our coffees.  On our last day, after a morning spent at mega-store Muji, A and I had lunch and coffee at the nearby Dean and Deluca in Yurakucho.  For a coffee lover like me, the amazing  selection of coffee and different cafes from the self-serve Doutor to the high-end coffee with a view at the Bulgari, was a pleasure.

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Tokyo Cafes

Le Cafe Doutor

Toriba

Bulgari's Il Bar

Dean and Deluca

RONI

The Moscow restaurant scene has certainly evolved since the deep, dark, post-perestroika nineties with two main restaurant groups (Novikov and Ginza) filling the city with all sorts of restaurant concepts.  Roni is part of the pioneer Novikov Restaurant Group (from Arkady Novikov) who started it all with Sirena (which already existed when I lived in Moscow) and now has an empire with almost 50 restaurants, food and beverage concepts (including the franchise for Krispy Kreme) and even Novikov TV which runs a never-ending loop of images and events on television screens which seems to be a typical Moscow restaurant accessory.

Roni is located on Petrovka street (where the only club on that street in the early nineties was Marika).  Interiors are dark and modern with a large black and red chandelier serving as a focal point in the center of a square room with lanterns and black and white photographs.  The open kitchen is on one side of the room alongside the bar where open shelves showcase Asian ingredients - bottles of chili sauce, oyster sauce, noodles - while open crates line the counter filled with dried chills and different spices.

I ate there twice in a week  - once for lunch with girlfriends on a snowy day and again for dinner with A after an evening at the Bolshoi.  Both times, the food was good, the atmosphere fun and the crowd interesting.  Malaysian chef Mamu heads the kitchen and although the food is a melange of Asian cuisines catering mostly to what Russians like, it surprisingly works. For lunch, we shared several appetizers - a tuna tartar, some sashimi, seared scallops,  fried gyoza and a wonderful salad mixed with crunchy duck in with a sesame-based dressing.   For dinner, we had some miso soup, sweet and spicy fried chicken, tuna tataki and fried rice.  It worked and gave us a much-needed Asian fix in Moscow.

Roni
Ulitsa Petrovka 20/1
Moscow
Telephone: +7495 625 2606

ARARAT PARK HYATT

In mid-March, after almost 16 years, I finally returned to Moscow with A (who was on a business trip).  When I left Russia in 1997, after living there for three years, I didn't know it would take me that long to go back.  In the last decade and a half, Moscow has certainly gone through many changes - most of them good.  We arrived on a beautiful sunny spring day at the luxurious Ararat Park Hyatt right smack in the middle of town - a few blocks away from the Kremlin, GUM and Red square, walking distance to the pedestrian streets of the center now filled with restaurants and shops, half a block away from the recently renovated Bolshoi and across the street from the Maly theater which is still under renovation.  In the week we were there, we walked to nearby restaurants and also to explore.  In my opinion, the Park Hyatt probably has the best location in the city for sightseeing and exploring on foot.

The renovated rooms, redone by Tony Chi at the Park Hyatt Moscow, are modern and luxurious with illy espresso machines, Blaise Mautin amenities, separate rain shower and bath and a spotlit Murano glass bear sculpture by local artist Andrey Frangulyan.  Our room had a large picture window overlooking the renovated TSUM, the Central Department Store (and what used to be the little sister to GUM, the State Department Store, on Red square).  We also had a view into the dance studios of theater school next door where we watched dancers going through their routine nightly.  My only gripe about the room was that with all the dramatic lighting, it was quite dark and difficult to read but I suppose that with dim moody lighting, everyone and everything looks good.

Breakfast was a wonderful spread at the very quiet The Park restaurant on the second floor.  I also had the chance to enjoy a solo sushi lunch at the top floor Conservatory Lounge on one of the snowy days, of which we had several during the week.  Room service was impeccable and the set-up was impressive - from the heavy silver tray to the crisp white linen, eating at the Park Hyatt was a pleasure and a great way to re-experience Moscow, my old home.

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ARARAT PARK HYATT MOSCOW

4 Neglinnaya Street

Moscow,  Russia, 109012

Tel: +7 495 783 1234

Fax: +7 495 783 1235

Email: moscow.park@hyatt.com

KUSHI

After a week spent in hot and humid Orlando, we headed to historic Washington DC where we spent another week sightseeing and getting to know the nation's capital and its' numerous monuments and museums.  We stayed a across the Potomac at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City which was convenient for getting into town as the metro was just in front of the hotel.  It was also a novelty as our older son had only been to on the NY subway once and our daughter had never been on the metro so for the first few days, riding the clean trains was part of the fun.

Kushi is essentially a Japanese grill restaurant with a large counter right near the entrance overlooking the open kitchen where Japanese style skewered meat, fish and vegetables are cooked on a traditional Japanese charcoal (binchotan) grill.  There are also small plates, tataki and some sushi and sashimi on the menu but the main event are the grilled items.  We arrived early for the first seating and settled into a corner of the bar where we immediately ordered some edamame with sea salt to snack on while we studied the menu.

We started out with a spicy tuna roll and a shrimp tempura roll which was followed by tofu agedashi (fried soft tofu with broth) then three each of several skewers (priced by stick) to share:  chicken thigh, pork belly, beef short rib and corn with soy sauce butter.  We also had some grilled Japanese eggplant with miso and tonkatsu which came with a spicy mayonnaise instead of the usual tonkatsu sauce.  The food came quickly and was very good - perfect for sharing and also for solo dining of which there were several at the counter.  The few tables near the bar started to fill just as we were leaving the restaurant and as it was still light outside, we walked around the block and enjoyed the warm evening - our first in Washington DC.

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Kushi

465 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
Email: info@eatkushi.com
Telephone: +1 202 682 3123 or +1 202 682 3124
*Open daily for lunch from 11:30 and dinner from 5:30.  Brunch on Sundays.

ZUMA

The last time I ate in Zuma was in London, the first one of many Zumas that have since opened all over the world so when I heard that they had opened a Miami outpost, I had to go back and see if Zuma had changed.

First was trying to get a reservation.  Although Zuma is listed in Open Table, it was impossible to get a booking as all the times I chose for dinner (7:00, 7:30, or 8:00) were showing up as booked already.  In the end, I had to call their dedicated reservations number and after several minutes on hold, I was finally able to book a table for dinner on a Thursday evening.

We arrived in Zuma slightly late for our booking as we missed the entrance to the Epic Hotel and ended up parking further down the road at the Epic Residences then just walking over.  As soon as we got to the entrance, we were told that we would have to vacate our table at 9:00 sharp.  So far, nothing had changed.

The restaurant was packed as usual with loud music and lots of groups squeezed into tables with hardly any room to get through.  Interiors are similar to the one in London but instead of a large open space, it was an oddly-shaped room with a smaller bar near the entrance and tables cramped close together.  (We should have indicated that we'd rather sit at the sushi bar which was empty).

Our server coming forward immediately with the menus and the drink list and asking if we'd like some edamame to start.  While we munched on the edamame, we studied the menu and decided on sharing several dishes along with a glass each of Sancerre and Sauvignon Blanc.  We started on some miso soup then a small sashimi plate of three types of fish: salmon, tuna and hamachi.  This was followed by some spicy tuna roll - crispy, spicy sesame seed studded rice rolls filled with tuna and avocado.

We then had four dishes from the robatayaki (grill): beef skewers with shishito pepper and chili soy, yakitori boneless chicken thighs and leeks, grilled spiced sweet potato and miso-flavored eggplant along with the five-piece tiger prawn tempura.  For dessert, we shared a sorbet selection: three scoops of homemade fruit sorbet: yuzu, mango and lychee.

As in London, dinner was delicious and service was seamless but the feeling of being rushed through the meal is always present along with the surprising add-on 18% service charge.  So far, so typical.  Diner at Zuma is good Japanese food mixed with people watching and a club-like atmosphere.  Next time, it might be better to persevere with booking a table at Naoe where I hear the food is even better and one is never rushed through dinner.
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ZUMA
at the Epic Hotel
270 Biscayne Blvd. Way
Miami FL 33131
Telephone: +1 305 577 0277
*Open daily for dinner.  Lunch Mondays to Saturdays. Brunch on Sundays.

THE BEST OF 2012

It's taken a few weeks to get this blog post together but it's finally here - my annual best of 2012.  The first two were unique and fantastic in every way.  The next three are the best of Puerto Rico followed by the three best in Las Vegas and finally, the two best casual eats, one from a food truck here in Dorado and another from a beach shack in Anguilla.  All in all, 10 of my most memorable meals of the year.  Enjoy and I look forward to more new restaurant discoveries in 2013!

BEST OF THE BEST

Pubbelly (Miami)

A mid-year find on a long weekend mini-break to Miami.  Pubbelly is a gastronomic casual restaurant created by three partners - two Puerto Ricans and one Spanish, which has taken Miami by storm.  After this first foray, they have created four other successful casual eateries - Pubbelly Sushi for modern sushi, Barceloneta for Spanish tapas, Macchialina, an Italian salumeria and trattoria and about a week ago, PB Steak.  These boys have got their concepts down and manage to create a casual atmosphere loved by locals and still serve amazing food.  The menu at Pubbelly is mostly Asian-inspired but there were a few Spanish-influenced tapas as well.  Here's what we had in July.

ABC Kitchen (New York)

Another memorable summer meal was at ABC Kitchen located in the fantastic ABC Carpet & Home. Just over a year old and promoting local and organic ingredients, this was pared down comfort food that was all about the ingredients - assorted lukewarm roasted beets tossed in yoghurt, slices of heirloom tomato with just a sprinkling of salt on crusty bread, just-picked tiny radishes with cold sweet butter and bread - everything was delicious!  The service was friendly, the place casual and the menu so enticing that I can't wait to go back. 

BEST IN PUERTO RICO

Santaella

This was our first dinner out in San Juan, right after we moved to Puerto Rico in March and has remained a favorite since.  Santaella manages to serve a modern take on Puerto Rican cuisine in an unfussy location near the Plaza del Mercado.  Food is good, service is friendly and the place is always packed with locals - what more can one ask for?

Blonda

A recent addition to the Condado scene, Blonda is another casual restaurant that knows what it's doing - simple food in great location with probably, the best brunch in San Juan.  There's valet parking, bookings taken on Open Table and good food in a light-filled space.

Compostela

For classic Spanish fare, there is no place better than Compostela - the interiors are modern but nothing special, come here for the food and the excellent selection of wines.  Every meal we've had here has been exceptional - the menu authentic, the ingredients fresh, the presentation simple, the service efficient and the experience always delicious.   

BEST IN LAS VEGAS

Sambalatte

The best coffee in Las Vegas.  Ever since they opened in 2011, they have been the only place in Las Vegas for proper coffee in all forms and shapes, from espresso to flat white, from cappuccino to mocha, from pour over brewed coffee to Aero Pres,  from granita to affogato - they have proper coffee making and presentation figured out.  I never skip my Sambalatte morning cappuccino when I'm in Vegas and always stop by to say hello to the friendly owner, Luis.

Kabuto

Located in the same nondescript mall as other cult Japanese restaurants, Raku and Monta, Kabuto is a tiny restaurant with just three tables and an adequate sushi counter where the edomae sushi (Tokyo style super fresh sushi) is presented nightly using only the freshest fish and seafood and served slowly, one by one to be enjoyed.  This is the way sushi and sashimi should always be - no tricks, no mayonnaise, no fancy rolls - just fresh fish, perfectly seasoned vinegar rice, crisp seaweed, a tiny dot of wasabi and a dash of premium soy sauce.

Honey Salt

In the same area as Sambalatte, Honey Salt is so new that I haven't even blogged about my lunch there yet (post coming soon) but, believe me, this is the restaurant future for Las Vegas - trained chefs and experienced food and beverage operators band together to create their own restaurant concept.  Honey Salt is homey and the farm to table food is very good, but best of all, the minute one walks in, one can sense that the people behind the scenes know what they're doing from the logos, table settings, decor, menus and seamless service that there really is no longer a need to dine well just in a fancy Vegas hotel. Here's to a burgeoning trendy off-strip restaurant scene in Las Vegas!

BEST STREET/BEACH FOOD

Blanchards Beach Shack
If ever I open another restaurant, this is what I want it to be - simple food, a great outdoor setting and casual atmosphere.  Blanchards on the beautiful Mead's Bay beach in Anguilla is probably the best beach shack restaurant concept I've ever eaten in and for someone who's lived on several islands, that's the highest compliment ever.  Food is simple, containers are recycled, service is quick, prices and reasonable.  Blanchards Beach Shack gives fast food a great reputation.

NanoBox
Last but not least, is this Dorado food truck run by two brothers passionate about food and serving their modern version of Puerto Rican street food.  It's a great way to taste what the island has to offer and although their menu is limited, what they serve is pretty good so it's worth it to stop by for a snack on the weekend when this shiny white brand new food truck is parked just behind the Walgreen's in Dorado.
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Listed by location, in alphabetical order:

Anguilla - Blanchards Beach Shack

Las Vegas -
Honey Salt
Kabuto
Sambalatte

Miami - Pubbelly

New York - ABC Kitchen

Puerto Rico -
Blonda
Compostela
NanoBox
Santaella

KABUTO

Every year I visit Las Vegas, a new tiny off-the-strip Japanese restaurant opens in the same nondescript Chinatown mall.  First was Raku - robatayaki (grilled skewers) and classic Japanese cuisine, then came Monta - classic ramen (noodles) and now, Kabuto - omakase (Japanese for "I'll leave it to you") which basically means it's a surprise meal created by the chef right then and there.  It's a Japanese culinary adventure and one that I highly recommend to lovers of Japanese food.

Kabuto is small with just ten seats at the bar, two tables of four and only two set menus to choose from: the $48 nigiri menu (10 pieces of sushi) or the $80 omakase menu (sashimi, miso soup, six pieces of nigiri and a grilled item).  It is Japanese minimalism at its' best.  Interiors are blond wood with the only color coming from the numerous chunks of fresh fish displayed in a glass-topped box ready to be sliced and served. There is no sushi refrigerator case on top of the bar to destroy the aesthetic and further proof that this meal is all about fresh fish, straight from the box, placed on top of warm vinegared rice and set in front of you like a piece of jewelry meant to be admired for a second then eaten immediately.

The three of us (my brother-in-law C, my ten-year old son J and myself) settled into our highly-coveted bar seats and chose - omakase for C & I and the nigiri for J, his first all-sushi surprise meal.  All they asked was if we were allergic to anything and just like that one of the best meals I have ever eaten began .  First up was a tiny shot glass of cold mango-flavored sake served with a tiny salad of sliced cucumbers, seaweed, shiitake mushrooms and clams.  This was followed by the sashimi course, two types of expertly-sliced fresh fish and slice giant clams with a tiny bit of fresh wasabi and some of their aged artisan shoyu on the side.  Next came the grilled course: vegetables wrapped in a thin-slice of beef tataki (raw beef seared on the edges), miso-topped white fish and salmon.  Assorted nigiri came next, individually prepared and set on a granite plate one by one: masaba (Japanese mackerel), katsuo (bonito) and suzuki (sea bass).  Then came a tiny portion of rice topped with ikura (salmon roe), a freshly-made warm rectangle of branded tamago (a Japanese puffy omelet traditionally served plain or over rice) and a freshly-grilled anago (sea eel).  Before our next course of a hand-roll was served, we were asked by the chef if we wanted some more nigiri a la carte.  How could we refuse?  We each had the uni (sea urchin), freshly-flown in from Hokkaido and coming in a lined wooden box like chocolate truffles - four petals of orange sea urchin over a dollop of rice and a tiny dot of wasabi - heaven!  We also each had the suzuki (sea bass), the kamashita toro (fatty tuna), the harasu (trout belly) and my favorite, the o-toro (premium fatty tuna).  (No guilt as it was all good cholesterol)  The hand-roll came next - chu-toro (medium fatty tuna) rolled with rice in a crisp square of nori (dried paper-thin seaweed) just like a cigar and not in the usual cone-shape.  Fresh miso soup was offered next, either with fish bones or with tofu and seaweed and finally dessert: house-made mango sorbet topped with gold leaf for me, the multi-layered strawberry crepe cake for J and the mochi trio for C along with some piping hot green tea and it was all over.  It was one of those dinners that leaves one both sated and craving for more, the way gastronomic meals are meant to be.  Kabuto definitely goes straight onto my list of Las Vegas musts.

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Kabuto, Edomae Sushi

5040 W. Spring Mountain Road, #4

Las Vegas, Nevada

Tel: +1 702 676 1044

*Open Mondays to Saturdays for dinner from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m.

KATSUYA

I had just seen the Katsuya South Beach at the SLS Miami, their most recent opening. and was intrigued with the restaurant's modern take on Japanese cuisine so we went to their Laguna Beach outpost which is right on the pacific Coast highway with an outdoor terrace overlooking the ocean.   We made a booking via Open Table  and got a table for 5:30 As it was such an early booking, we arrived to an empty restaurant and were led to one of the large banquette tables (there were 5 of us) on the outdoor terrace which was thankfully, covered with an awning, to protect us from the strong California afternoon sun.

Cocktails were ordered while we studied the extensive menu of starters and signature starters, salads, sushi, sashimi, meat and seafood and even a robatayaki selection.  We decided to order several sushi rolls and several items from their signature starters to share: edamame to munch on first followed by the sushi sampler.  Then the rolls started to appear.  First up was the signature crispy rice topped with spicy tuna and jalapeno and three other daily special rolls that were off the menu: the spicy salmon roll with crispy garlic, tuna roll with crispy corn kernels, and a double salmon roll with thinly-sliced lemon and salmon roe.  We also had the fried soft shell crab starter.  All the starters were delicious, the raw fish was fresh and the rolls were one-of-a-kind.  The hot dishes were less interesting - Stripped Baze which was a specialty of Szechuan-style bass fillets was over-sauced fish fillets that were neither sweet nor spicy, the Kobe rib-eye with truffle butter was a just sliced meat with mushrooms.  Even the stuffed eggplant starter filled with albacore and almonds in a sweet miso glaze was just too sweet and didn't have enough eggplant or fish.  All three cooked dishes were a letdown.  We finished our meal with two desserts: the chocolate lover cake, supposedly hot chocolate cake but was just three brownie chunks covered in crispy wonton wrapper strips and the classic creme brulee which was nothing special as well.  If you do go to Katsuya, stick to the sushi, sashimi, rolls or raw food and skip the rest or just have a cool cocktail, enjoy the loud music and admire the crowd.

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Katsuya

858 S. Coast Hwy
Laguna Beach, CA 92651Tel: +1 949 793 4030

email: katsuyalaguna@sbe.com

*Open daily for dinner. Sundays to Thursdays 5:00 to 9:30 p.m. and till 10:30 Fridays and Saturdays

MINAMI

When a new restaurant opens in quiet Sanur, there's always a buzz as this sleepy part of Bali is filled with restaurants yet very few are worth going to.  Minami in Ubud is where people go for refined Japanese cuisine.  I had never had a chance to visit the Ubud outpost so when I heard that a tiny branch had opened at the newly-renovated Segara village hotel in Sanur, I knew I had to try it.

Minami is an all-white open-air restaurant right on Sanur beach just by the souvenir market.  The menu is limited and not traditionally Japanese but the options are quite creative.  We started off with a few sushi rolls - ebi (prawn) sushi, salmon roll and California roll.  I chose the set lunch which gave me a choice of three items from the selection of Japanese tapas.  I had the fried tofu, tori karaage (fried chicken) and stewed pork belly which came with fried rice and miso soup.  My son had the prawn tempura which was hot and crispy and came with the more Japanese-style salt dip instead of the usual tempura sauce.  The food was good and well-presented but the service was dismal.  We were the only ones there when we arrived around 12:30 and later, two more groups arrived but for some reason, the food came out from the kitchen in spurts and in a haphazard order.  We got the set lunch first, then one sushi roll followed by another and finally the tempura which was almost an hour later then our first course.  Minami has quite a way to go to improve their service before I'll go back there for another meal.

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Minami

Segara Village Hotel

Jalan Segara Ayu

Sanur

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

*Main Minami at Jalan Sangginan, Ubud (Telephone: +62361 970013)

SUSHI ROKU

Sushi Roku at the top floor of the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace, is a good place to go for untraditional sushi.  Part of a southern California restaurant group that has several dining concepts in Hollywood and Santa Monica, Suhi Roku is a modern Californian take on Japanese food.  It's a copy of Nobu but not as well-executed.  having said that, the food is okay - stick to the raw and the rolls as the cooked dishes don't really impress.

We had some interesting appetizers - the edamame hummus with wonton chips and the Kumamoto oyster with three sauces.  There was also a perfectly executed sashimi platter - maguro (tuna), sake (salmon), toro (tuna belly) and uni (sea urchin).  The shrimp-wrapped spicy tuna roll was fine and the toro temaki (hand-rolled tuna belly sushi) was as good as it gets.  The cooked dishes were not as interesting - a Jidori free-range chicken teriyaki was a grilled chicken breast (not Japanese at all as the breast meat is often dry) which should have been made with chicken thighs, the baked cod in sweet miso was just that nothing more, nothing less, and the John Dory was just sauteed fish on roasted vegetables.  On the other hand, the Jidori chicken kara-age was delicious - crispy battered chicken thigh chunks which would have been perfect had they served it with the traditional soy dip instead of the wasabi mayonnaise.  We were all done with dinner when the management offered us a couple of desserts which was an unexpected surprise.  If you're at the Forum shops, then by all means drop by Sushi Roku but remember to stick to the raw fish menu and you won't go wrong.

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Sushi Roku

at the Forum Shops, Caesars

3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas NV

Telephone: +1 702 733 7373

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

SERYNA

On a rainy Friday evening, my first weekend back, I met good friend (and my wedding dress designer), K, for dinner with her husband C.  I asked her to pick the restaurant and she had narrowed down the choices to two places:  Masseto, a fine dining restaurant which I had heard about, and Seryna, a popular restaurant in the burgeoning area of specialty Japanese restaurants in Makati called "Little Tokyo".  We finally opted for Seryna as it was a more casual place and better for catching up on each other's news without all the fuss of fancy food.

We arrived in Makati Cinema Square where Seryna is located right by the archway labeled Little Tokyo.  There were already several people waiting for tables gathered right outside the entrance and the place was packed, as it usually is.  We settled into our reserved table at the front and watched the hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant where most of the diners were Japanese (a good sign).

I left the ordering up to them and was surprised first at the quantity of food that was set on the table and later at the fact that we did a pretty good job of polishing off most of it.  There was a super fresh sashimi platter with at least four types of fish and squid, an excellent salmon skin roll plus never-before-tasted-dishes like monkfish roe made into a foie-gras like pate and the thinly-sliced octopus over a rice vinegar cucumber salad made sinus-clearingly spicy with a dab of wasabi.  We also shared a spinach, bacon and hard-boiled egg salad, some vegetable tempura and a delicious sukiyaki cooked table side and served with the traditional raw egg.  Slowly but surely, we ate our way through all the food aided by the green tea and ended our meal with some hot sake.  It was great to discover that Manila finally had some quaint and authentic Japanese restaurants bundled up together in one area and especially good to be able to share a delicious meal with friends  I hardly see.  (Next on my list if and when I get back home is the oft-mentioned cult noodle place Ukokkei Ramen Ron.)

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Seryna

Little Tokyo

2277 Chino Roces Avenue

Makati, Manila

Telephone: +63 2 894 3855

*Open daily for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,  Up to 1:30 p.m. only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

*Open daily for dinner from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

*Reservations essential.  Arrive on time or they give your table away to the many waiting outside.

KABUKI at ABAMA

On our second to last evening in Tenerife, we had dinner at Kabuki. We had been to the original Kabuki in Madrid in the summer of 2007 and still haven't forgotten the wonderful meal we had then that we were so looking forward to trying the one at Abama.

The restaurant is located within the Citadel (main building of the hotel) and has modern interiors with black mosaic tiles and touches of red. Staff uniforms are in muted greys and on the table are a simple grey and white rectangular plate with a silver chopstick rest. We had a quick look at the menu just to see what interesting dishes they had - there was a chef's tasting menu, sushi, sashimi, tataki and fish tartars, main courses and even a kid's bento box menu.

We started with an amuse-bouche (palate teaser) of steamed sea snail with a sesame oil dressing - an interesting flavor that one either loves or hates (I loved it but J and A wouldn't have any of it). Our first courses were served: salmon sashimi (slices of raw salmon), negi-toro roll (fatty tuna, spring onions and rice wrapped in seaweed) and soft-shell crab roll (fried soft-shell crab with rice). The sashimi was excellent - not-too-thin slices raw salmon eaten just with a tiny bit of soy sauce and wasabi (Japanese green mustard) and the soft-shell crab was hot and crispy while the rice was cold - a very good flavor combination but it was the negi-toro roll that stole the show - half a dozen delicious mouthfuls of buttery fatty tuna and finely chopped spring onions. (Toro is expensive but every bite is worth the price.)

Our son happily coloured his paper place mat until the main courses arrived - from the kid's menu, a bento box of tori karaage (deep-fried chicken pieces) served with rice and spinach - just the right size, it's the yummier Japanese version of chicken nuggets. A had the unadon (grilled eel served over rice), I had the prawn tempura (deep-fried prawns) and we both shared a salad of cold cooked spinach with a soy sauce and sesame oil dressing. After our delicious dinner, A brought our son back to the room to get ready for bed.

We ended our dinner shared one of the desserts especially created for Kabuki by famed Catalan chocolatier and patissier Oriol Balaguer - three quenelles of dark chocolate, over white chocolate jelly and caramel sauce topped by crunchy dark chocolate crumbs - a delicious end to a fantastic meal.

ROKA

One of my favorite London restaurants is trendy Zuma in Knightsbridge with it's sleek interiors, good looking crowd and fantastic food. On this trip though, I wanted to try Zuma's little sister, Roka in an up and coming area where many other hip, new restaurants line the streets.

We arrived for our table booking on time but since I requested to be seated at the bar where no reservations are taken, we decided to wait and have a drink downstairs at the dimly-lit Shochu Lounge. We had just chosen something to drink - some cold sake for me and a champagne cocktail with rose petals for T. After just one sip, we were led upstairs to the best seats at the bar on the corner so we could still talk to each other face to face and at the same time not miss any of the action from chefs hard at work on the robata (grill).

As the menu is quite large, we had a difficult time narrowing down our choices to a few dishes since we wanted to try so many things. While we were looking through the menu, we had some edamame (baby soybeans) with our drinks then ordered quite a feast.

We started with some raw fish: salmon and toro (fatty tuna) sashimi and two rolls: Age Watari Gani (soft-shell crab, cucumber, kimchi and chili mayonnaise) and Ebi No Tempura maki (crispy prawn, avocado, chili, chrysanthemums and dark sweet soy). We also had a salad of spinach leaves in a sesame dressing. The toro was fantastic, the soft-shell crab roll delicious and the spinach salad was presented in new way with the leaves piled one on top of another instead of the usual squashed in a box-shape way.

The next few dishes arrived one after another hot off the robata (grill): juicy chicken wings heightened in flavor with a spritz of lime juice and dipped in a bit of sea salt, sweet smoky ko nasu (eggplant in Mirin, ginger and soy) and simply-grilled tofu with chives. We also ordered the ubiquitous gin tara (black cod) marinated in yuzu miso (citrus and soybean paste) just to see how it compares with the one made famous at Nobu - quite similar but not one of my favorites. Other diners were looking at the many dishes crowding our very full corner and we did try our best but couldn't finish it all in the end. We were so full we had to skip dessert although we did see some wonderful ice cream and fruit presentations in hollowed-out bamboos shared by most other diners.

When we finally left close to midnight, the restaurant was still more than half-full with a younger, more casual crowd than Zuma's. We wandered up to the corner of Charlotte street and back, peeking into the very busy bar of the Charlotte Street Hotel and at other restaurants still filled with diners on that weekday evening. After a quick walk, we hopped into a cab and headed back to our hotel in Mayfair.

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Roka

37 Charlotte Street

London W1

Telephone: +44 020 7580 6464

Open daily for lunch and dinner

KATSURA

One of the things we miss the most about living here in Marbella is sushi. For the amount of fresh fish that seems to be available, good sushi restaurants are scarce. There are a few restaurants that are good, Sushi des Artistes and Taro, but their exorbitant prices make eating there both a pleasure and pain.

Katsura, on the other hand, is a Marbella institution that has been in the same spot since 1994. It isn't stylish or fancy but the sushi is consistently fresh and good. We had been to Katsura several times but not recently (or at least not since the Japanese owner/sushi chef passed away a couple of years ago). They were closed for a bit then re-opened under new Russian owners who have retained the assistant sushi chefs and servers (all Filipino). Although it now lacks the special atmosphere it used to have because of the grumpy Japanese chef/owner, it has been spruced up with a minor renovation and more importantly, the quality of the sushi is the same as before, the service efficient and courteous and the price, amazingly reasonable.

Having already had dinner there last week, we went again yesterday evening after a fun day at Purobeach for a simple and delicious meal of sushi, sashimi and our favorite tofu agedashi. The place was packed with a mixed crowd of diners and several others waiting for their sushi takeaway at the bar. The food was very good, as usual, and after our quick dinner, we finished with two scoops of ice cream: green tea and red bean and left the restaurant feeling sated and not cheated.

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Katsura

Avenida Ramon Gomez de la Serna, 4

Edificio Granada 29602 Marbella

Tel: +34 952 863 193

* Parking building alongside

* Takeaway

* New location: Katsura Sushi bar takeaway

Centro Plaza, Local 42

Nueva Andalucia

Tel: +34 952 818 583

OSAKA

Our craving for sushi and all things Japanese had to be sated so we went to Osaka, one of our Las Vegas Japanese favourites for lunch twice since we arrived. It's an unassuming restaurant with dark interiors, a sushi bar, teppanyaki tables and some tatami tables.

We always end up sitting either at the sushi bar or near it so we can watch the sushi chefs slice and dice the fish and make the different rolls on the menu. The other day, we had lunch specials - beef teriyaki bowl, a nigiri sushi set and a bento box set of tempura and teriyaki.

The second time we had lunch there, we sat at the sushi bar and ordered sushi rolls including the spider roll of soft-shell crab and their 2009 sushi inventions of Japanese sandwich - spicy tuna and salmon sandwiched on two pieces of rice, covered in breadcrumbs and deep-fried then sliced down the middle like two sandwich triangles. Along with that, we also had salmon sashimi, a negi-toro temaki (fatty tuna and chives in a hand-rolled seaweed cone), tofu-agedashi (deep-fried bean curd), skewers of grilled chicken yakitori and grilled eggplant with miso.

Osaka is another of those off-strip places that are consistently good and priced right. The quality of the raw fish is very good and the service is friendly. Here's another tip - if you go on their website and fill in a very short survey (3 questions) plus your email address, then they send you a 10% coupon for your next meal at the restaurant. I'm saving my coupon for my next visit.

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Osaka

4205 West Sahara Avenue

Las Vegas, NV 89102

Tel: +1702 876 4988

*Open till late. Happy Hour at the sushi bar from 5-7 p.m. with free sake for all sushi orders.

GINZA

We met up with T, her two daughters and our son, who was sleeping over at her place in La Moraleja for the weekend. From the Ritz, we crossed over to Plaza de las Cortes and walked to this sushi bar across the street from the Westin Palace Hotel and behind the Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Ginza is a simple Japanese restaurant with a large conveyor-built sushi bar downstairs and some tables upstairs. We opted to sit at the bar so the children could have their fun picking out their dinner from the contantly moving array of sushi, sashimi and rolls plus a few other small cooked Japanese dishes. There are 6 types of plates and each different coloured plate is priced accordingly from 3.90 for a simple tamago (egg on rice) to 7.90 for a negi-toro (fatty tuna and chive sushi). My son, who loves Japanese food, ordered a plate of salmon sashimi immediately while the rest of us watched and waited for what goodies would come up on the moving display.

We picked up these dishes from the conveyor - tuna and salmon sashimi, negi-toro, ebi tempura maki, spicy tuna maki, toro temaki (cone-shaped sushi), crab roll and ebiko roll (shrimp roe). From the menu, we ordered miso soup, yakitori and tofu agedashi.

The fish was fresh, the rolls were reasonably-priced and the portions were substantial. This place is a perfect lunch spot after a visit to either the Prado or the Thyssen. We spent about 30 euros per person for great sushi - a bargain comapred to what we spend in Marbella. After our terrific dinner, we walked back to the Ritz and said goodnight to T and the kids and agreed to meet for lunch the following day before we headed back to Malaga.

SUSHI DES ARTISTES

All throughout this pregnancy, the one thing I missed the most was sushi. There are still a few weeks to go but I couldn't resist to try one of Marbella's newest restaurants - Sushi des Artistes. We all went for dinner yesterday evening and our son was so excited to have some sashimi which we never eat here because of the lack of decent Japanese restaurants in town. Several people had mentioned Sushi des Artistes as having good sushi and sashimi so we had high expectations for our dinner. We used to go to Katsura, also in downtown Marbella, which had excellent sushi and sashimi but they closed when the owner/sushi chef passed away last year so we were looking forward to finding a new Japanese favorite.

The restaurant is located across the street from the Marbella Club hotel and on a strip of restaurants that include an Indian (Taj Mahal), a Mexican (Tex Mex) , a traditional Spanish (Venta Los Pacos) and the venue of our mediocre dinner last week - B.Ayres.

The interiors are red, white and black with a sushi counter at the far end and a back room with several more tables. We sat near the sushi counter and were greeted by the cheerful Japanese proprietor who took our order as well. Our son was all set to have salmon sashimi and chicken yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) while we shared an agedashi tofu starter. We also ordered three sushi rolls - Hollywood roll (spicy raw tuna with miso and sliced cucumbers) for my husband and the Las Vegas roll (fried prawns with a sweet sauce) for myself plus the Manhattan roll (deep-fried soft-shell crab) to share. We also split the mixed seafood tempura for our main course.

The sashimi was very good according to my husband and son (unfortunately I couldn't have any) and the rolls were very good as well. The tofu was delicious although it wasn't the typical agedashi tofu in broth that one normally gets at a typical Japanese restaurant. The chicken yakitori were not grilled although the accompanying sauce was tasty. The only letdown was the mixed seafood and vegetable tempura as the prawns were covered in the typical batter but instead of peeled prawns, they were cooked with the heads on and some of the skin still left (highly unusual presentation). The scallops that were included didn't really work well with the crispy batter as well and there were a few pieces of vegetables (asparagus, zucchini and red pepper) and not much else.

All in all a very good meal and probably the best Japanese restaurant in town. The prices are steep but the quality was excellent which is a relief as many restaurants here in Marbella get away with uninteresting and unauthentic cuisine while charging inflated prices. Next time, I'll make sure that I can try more of the sushi and sashimi platters or maybe have lunch where they have a six different set menus which include rice and miso soup from 13.50 to 17.50 euros - a bargain for food this good.

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Sushi des Artistes

Blvd. Alfonso de Hohenlohe, CN 340, Km 178.5

(Opposite the marbella Club Hotel)

Tel: +34 952 857 403

Open for lunch and dinner daily (except on Monday lunch)

MATSURI

On our last day in London, we decided to return to The Wolseley for another fantastic breakfast. After a hearty breakfast, we window-shopped at Fortnum & Mason and Waterstones down the road as we had already packed our luggage and were ready to go. We then returned to the hotel around noon to make sure everything was ready before checking out. Since we still had a few hours before we had to be at Victoria station for the Gatwick Express train to the airport, we decided to eat somewhere within walking distance to the hotel.

Matsuri is a well-known Japanese restaurant which I had been to ages ago in St. James. Now, there is a more modern branch on High Holborn right across the street from the hotel and so we went there for lunch. Luckily for us, there was a special summer promotion of half-price all lunch menu items every Saturday for the whole month of July and August.

The restaurant is bright and modern and has four separate areas - a bar area, the sushi counter, the main dining room and teppanyaki tables in the basement. We had booked a table for 1:00 p.m. and were surprised upon arriving at how full the restaurant was for a Saturday lunch. As soon as we were seated, we were given menus and offered a drink. As we were going to go on a flight shortly, we just ordered a large bottle of still water to accompany our meal.

The menu is quite large and is also divided in several sections - sushi, a la carte, set menus or Bento boxes and teppanyaki items. We stuck to the Bento box set lunch and sushi/sashimi section. J was all set and knew exactly what he was going to have - a large portion of sake sashimi (slices of raw salmon) and some kappamaki (cucumber sushi rolls). A and I both had the Bento box lunch. He had the assorted sashimi to start and the tofu teriyaki as his main course. As usual, I couldn't have any raw food so I chose assorted tempura (prawns and vegetables) and the rib-eye teriyaki. Both Bento box lunches came with miso soup, a bowl of steamed rice and some traditional Japanese pickles. We also ordered a spicy California roll (sushi of crab meat and avocado with flying fish roe) on the side.

The food came quickly and was of excellent quality - fresh fish, extra crispy tempura and properly grilled teriyaki. J finished his sushi and sashimi quickly while A and I took our time with our Bento boxes. I finished off my meal with s refreshing scoop of green tea ice cream and then we walked back to the hotel and got in a cab to take us to the station.

YAKI JAPO

Set lunch menus at Yaki Japo

Our lunch place on our last day in Paris was chosen by our son. Surprisingly, he had enough of fries and wanted to have sushi instead. Luckily, there is a reasonably-priced Japanese restaurant, Yaki Japo, just off the Rue de Rennes on the tiny Rue du Sabot. We arrived in the middle of the lunchtime rush but were seated in a booth after just a short wait. There is an a la carte menu of yakitoris, sushi and sashimi but most everyone has the set lunch menus priced between 16€ and 18€ (a more complete dinner set menu is 35€). There are three yakitori set menus - 4 sticks, 5 sticks or 7 sticks, a sushi set menu and a sashimi a set menu. All menus come with a bean sprout and cabbage salad, miso soup, a bowl of steamed rice and two scoops of ice cream for dessert - a bargain in Paris.

We each had a set menu and were soon served with 2 plates of yakitori, a plate of sashimi and another of sushi which we all shared. The fish was fresh and the sushi rolls were very good. The yakitoris were fine although they could have been cooked a bit longer on the grill to have a smokier flavour. Portions are large and they don't scrimp on either the sushi or the sashimi plates. Our bill came up to a reasonable 78.50€ for four set menus and two bottles of Evian (about 19.60€ per person). We polished everything off and headed off to the Flore for some coffee and dessert.

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Yaki Japo Mitsuko
8 Rue du Sabot, 75006 Paris
+33 (01) 4222 1774