HerBage, Hotel Epinard Nasu, Nasu Kogen, Tochigi, Japan

This year seems a year of domestic travel for me.  While I am now waiting for my routine trip to South-east Asia in the coming month of October, I travelled to other sides of Japan for relaxing.

In my younger days, I rather travelled without reservation of hotels but driving car down towards our destinations so we stayed different hotels or Japanese ryokans every night.  But nowadays, I am getting easier to stay at a single hotel, with various facilities, as if that hotel is my one and only destination, but to be honest, it is indeed easy and relaxed!

This time, we stayed in Nasu Kogen, a highland in Tochigi prefecture near Nikko, for summer break but just over weekend.  It has various attraction, including tennis court that I love to play at, swimming pools, etc., so despite of gorgeous set-up, it is welcoming more family visitors, hence your dinner might be so noisy around, if you come just two of you to enjoy some romantic night with your partner.  This is where it is for family, not for lovers.

But, their main dining has one principal, use neighbour farmers productions.  Very fresh,  but no need to say anything else to explain.  Fresh vegis from farms picked in the morning, live stocks too, and our favourite eggs too!

And, chiefs are young but well trained.  So dishes are not as cheap as ones you might underestimate from nightly rates and customers you see around.  They fully utilise potentiality inside stuff so, even buffet style, while you should see some live cook performance here and there, I can predict you should be surprised its quality of cuisine, even at your choice of taste and style from western to Japanese, Chinese etc. (as far as available on your day), so you can also be satisfied with quantity.

And, breakfast omelet is no exception.  Well-shaped, i.e., with seamless rugby football shaped omelet is cooked lively in front of you.  With fresh eggs picked up in that morning, taste is so nice, no wonder.  Sometimes you may be told to have fresher dishes to go there for local production, this is it.  Enjoy!

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Garden Restaurant "PRINTEMPS", ANA Crown Plaza Hotel Okinawa Harbor View, Okinawa, Japan

Nowadays, I could not find any good excuse to travel abroad, so my post to Omelet blog has been slowing down, so sorry about that.

But, I realise even Japanese trip information can be of your help, when you come to Japan, so I pull some omelet shots out of my stock in my online photo album to share.  No worry this was taken in July 2016, not that old story.

Okinawa is one of best destinations for summer vacation for beach resort.  And, as former ANA Hotel chain, and current international franchise, IHG, ANA Crown Plaza Hotel group is well-maintained portfolio of hotels with crown of ANA, a half of national carrier of Japan, so this hotel, despite of name of this hotel as "harbor view" but it only means the location as mid-level of hill close to local capital, Naha-City (note that even Google Map will lead you to wrong direction, say opposite side of hotel with no entrance), gives you relaxed atmosphere of southern islands summer time.

In typical hotels like this franchise, you can enjoy all-day buffet at main dining, and here is no exception.  In fact, I really enjoyed being served a lot (indeed, a lot) of beef stake from grill as only eye contact with a chief in charge of the grill talked me again and again that you can have more :-)

And that grill serves a very hot and fresh omelet as above.  Very simple (as I ordered a plain one as always for comparison purpose), seamless rugby football shaped omelet with juicy egg yolk inside.  But no wonder in Japan.  This is typical one you can have almost everywhere.

Enjoy!

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Satsuma, Kanda, Tokyo, Japan

Omelette and Curry-and-rice at Satsuma, Kanda, Tokyo, Japan

It was, simply fabulous and I did not expect that much brilliant omelette to be served at the lunch of a small bar, located at one of back streets of Kanda crowded with small bars and local cuisine, one station north by Yamanote Line from Tokyo terminal.

And, you, as one of the keenest omelette lovers in the world, might feel strange that omelette is served with curry-and-rice.  Yes, Japanese chiefs made innovation and fusion on every imported dish from overseas; this curry-and-rice was originally introduced from England, not India, after Brits invented curry powder to cook Indian curry at their home country, so Japanese firstly got to know curry as "western cuisine".  And over the centuries, Japanese keep innovated this curry-and-rice into more Japanese style, and in fact this Kanda area is very famous for curry; more than 150 restaurants, from Indian and south-east Asian restaurant to western style ones, and bars and even ramen shops, serves their own receipt of curry every day.

So... who ever combined curry-and-rice and our holy omelette; what a combo!  Next time you come to Tokyo, all you have to visit for omelette is, not a breakfast buffet at Imperial Hotel, though it is of course worth to have, but this Satsuma.  After enjoying Japanese sake, then you should try this :-)

Happy Omelette!

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Cafe Un Deux Trois. Mandarin Oriental Taipei, Taiwan

It was indeed my first travel to Taipei, Republic of China.  Landed at relatively small Songshan Airport, bought a local prepaid SIM as usual routine when travelling abroad, and headed to a hotel where was my stay this time by walk along a broadway immediately connected to the airport down to south for 10 minutes.  Then I found a relatively new but classic style building with a shopping mall;  this is Mandarin Oriental Taipei, opened in early 2014.

Interior is new but classic, functional but gorgeous; very "Mandarin Oriental" style which you can find everywhere you stay at Mandarin Oriental.  Indeed, a concept of bath in each room is very next to bed so that you can see outside, especially sunset even in the bath tub (with a glass of sparkling wine, if you feel something special), and this is quite resemble to MO Tokyo.

Unless you are granted for executive lounge access, your breakfast is at their cafe; Cafe Un Deux Trois, MO Taipei.  Like others, they serve in buffet style, from western continental ones to Chinese local cuisine, and omelette is to be asked for order to staff, not chief at the grill, with your preference.  So unfortunately I had to miss omelette on the day 2, my first breakfast in Taipei, as it seems staff might have forgotten my order to convey due to miscommunication between staff and me (or staffs, I do not know)... But, I at last got my breakfast as my preference as above on the day 3;  with smooth surface and no seam...  You may also enjoy another dishes from grill like french toast, Bergen waffles.  Enjoy!

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Saigon Kitchen, Hotel Des Arts, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

After my last trip to HCM City two years ago, I completely missed to find my good excuse to come back here, but this city has been kept changing a lot here and there, to have this new boutique hotel under Accor hotel franchise.  I was lucky to be one of the first guests during their 90 days of soft opening period so that all the hotel staff really and literally took care of me well as if an old friend, but to check their operations work as on their plan.

Their breakfast at 2nd floor, Saigon Kitchen, appears same format found around the world, as breakfast buffet, however, you may be stunned for the lineup of cuisine, from typical western / continental breakfast stuff to local pho, with two hot grills.  One is for sweet crapes, to top with caramel, chocolate or berry sources, and the other is, no wonder, our favourite omelettes.

As you see above, the cook carefully prepared and brought to my table for me, a seamless rugby-football-shaped omelette nicely and softly.  If, as Japanese I am can say one more, it might be nicer to cook as half-cooked so that we could have enjoyed egg juice leaking out when you put your fork into it.

Now I got a new home in HCM City, with reasonable nightly rate, so all I have to do next is to work hard to find another good excuse to bring myself back here.

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