The ancient city of Nara is often overlooked in favour of its bigger, and better known, sister Kyoto. But it really is worth making some time to visit Nara – the best of its sights (which have UNESCO World Heritage status) can be visited in a day and what’s more you aren’t as hampered by the crowds .
There’s been a lack of blog love as February proved to be an unexpectedly busy month but I’m back with a big juicy post for you to feast your eyes on…featuring the simple and impeccable tasting menu served up at one Michelin star restaurant Asador Extebarri.
Japan is famous for lots of different types of alcohol – whisky, sake, umeshu, beer but what is perhaps lesser known is the quality of the cocktails that you can find in the most unassuming of places. Making cocktails is taken seriously in Japan – it is considered an art and it really shows in the perfectly balanced finished products. One point to note is that location is not the key when it comes to finding the best cocktails bars – the bars where the bar-tenders focus on a smaller number of covers (thereby preserving the quality of their drinks) are often hidden on random floors at not particularly fancy addresses. From perfected classics to new and inventive drinks, there is a bar for you in Tokyo – in no particular order, my top five are…
Last year the boy and I had a really inventive and delicious meal at Lima Fitzrova so when they opened their second, more casual, outpost Lima Floral I was really excited to try it. Last week I finally managed to sample Lima Floral and so thought it would be a good opportunity to cover both at once and compare the two – apologies in advance for the poor quality photographs (the lighting wasn’t so phone camera photo friendly) .
There’s so much to see in Japan that choosing where to go if you only have a limited amount of time can be a bit overwhelming, but in my humble opinion it is definitely worth spending a bit of time (and stomach space) in Japan’s second city, Osaka.
On escape eat explore so far I’ve generally concentrated on the more gourmet end of the food available in Japan, and given that Tokyo has more Michelin stars than any other city that is easy to do. But to do so exclusively would miss out on a trick. Japan’s more casual food scene is also not to be missed…
While we were in Tokyo last autumn we were lucky enough to eat not only at Quintessence but also at Tirpse – a restaurant set up by an ex sous chef of Quintessence, Terada-san, and occupying its old location in Shirokanadei. And somewhat controversially, I think I actually preferred my meal at the latter…
I haven’t got any trips planned for a while so I’ll fall back on the usual routine of raving about my favourite country I’ve visited to date…Japan. Not strictly a Tokyo based post this week, but I’ll try to justify it by saying that if you are visiting or living in Tokyo over the winter months it really is worth getting out and seeing a bit more of Japan as it has so much to offer over the colder, snowy months…
If, like me, you crave sunshine in the winter then Dubai is the perfect spot…only a seven hour flight from London and you arrive in the shiny, perpetually sunny metropolis that is Dubai. And, as well as soaking up that vitamin D, there are loads of ways to while away your time – my top ten (in no particular order) are…
The Dubai Aquarium, set right in the middle of the mind-blowingly big Dubai Mall, is a must-see if visiting Dubai. We went a step further and not only visited the aquarium but went scuba diving within it!