We tried chankonabe, a popular dish for the sumos as part of their weight gain diet. Protein rich dish with pork, lots of vege and a rich broth. 🍲

This is not unique to Shinjuku but I had to try the Sakura season donuts at Krispy Kreme. Released for spring only, the Sakura donut is filled with strawberry (not Sakura) flavour which tasted so good. The creme brulee donut at Kyoto is still the best tho. The Japanese staff was also super kind to tell us that it's not Sakura, but strawberry flavour in case we misunderstood. 🌸🍓🍩

This stall at the super crowded Nakamise street serves super cute dangos. I got a Sakura flavoured Dango since it was spring and it was limited to this period only. To me it looked better than it tasted. Good for photos. 🌸🍡

One of my favourite stays in Japan: Hotel Shoho. It has the best room and onsen view (the Japanese Alps) and the breakfast was incredible. It was not as unique as the Kyoto style breakfast but I enjoyed the Japanese curry with the sides like the miso soup. 🍛

We had kaiseki 怀石料理 at the ryokan. The meal was representative of the Nagano cuisine (mountainous area).

The dish consists of Japanese wild vege and canola flowers, Shinshu salmon and Shinshu pork. The dessert was soft red bean jelly with strawberry and brown syrup.

It was definitely a unique experience, having a kaiseki dressed in a yukata at the ryokan. 👘🌸

This is one of most unique Puri I had in Japan. It has 3 distinct layers: 1. Crystal clear jelly 2. Custard and 3. Caramel. It tasted as good as it looked! I tried the original flavour, which was also one of the top winners of the Japanese purin contest (yes this is a thing). 🍮🌨️

One of the must try when you're at Takayama/Shirakawa: Hida Beef! So much better than the Wagyu beef at Nishiki (imo). This tasted so good especially in the cold~ 🍖❄️

Shirakawa's signature dish is hoba Miso which is a dish served on top of a dried hoba leaf. The use of the leaf is to prevent food from being burnt by the strong flames used during winter. We also tried the grilled fish which can be eaten as a whole (including the head and tail). Unique meal. 🌿🥩

The best dinner we had. Yakiniku! The meat. The seafood. 🥩🦐🍺

Kanazawa's popular seafood is its sweet shrimp.

It's my first time trying raw shrimps and I was instantly drawn to it. It was sweet and incredibly fresh.

The seafood stew had a generous portion, with crab meat, scallops and of course, prawns. One of our favourite meals in Japan. 🦐

The hotel we stayed serves a breakfast buffet unique to Kyoto. It's a relatively new hotel called Lagent Kyoto Nijo. The menu includes Yuzu rice porridge (a must try!), kyo-banchan smoked bacon and braised duck Jap style. There are also other sides such as the Sakura mochi because it's Spring! 🍋🌸

This was one of the better Japanese set lunch we tried in Japan. It had Kurobuta pork and a really crispy croquette (the Omi Gyu one was better tho). I also liked the presentation: the sides were placed in a sake cup. Looked almost too good to be eaten. 🥩