Yakiniku Ran: For a Very Satisfying and Affordable Steak Lunch

Not all yakiniku, or Korean BBQ restaurants are open for lunch so it's interesting to see what's on the menu for lunches. At Yakiniku Ran there's only one option for menu, teppan grilled steak. You can choose the weight though, 100g (1000 yen), 150g (1500 yen) or 200g (about 2000 yen). For lunch the chef grills it for you and it is brought to your table in a hot skillet along with sides of potato salad, napolitan (Japanese ketchup pasta), and veggies. Being Nagoya, where napolitan is often served in a hot skillet with egg poured underneath, here too, egg was added into the hot cast iron skillet. Lastly, rice and a clear broth soup with wakame seaweed was also included. 

The meat definitely was wagyu (a Japanese breed of cow), and was so soft you wouldn't need a knife. You can use chopsticks and bite into the large thick pieces of meat. Once you sink your teeth in, the juice just succulently bursts out into the mouth. 

Area: West side of Nagoya Station, 3-min walk southeast of Kamejima Station 亀島駅
Restaurant: Yakiniku Ran 焼肉欄
Map and Info: https://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23002384/

Gari-Gari Kun: Rich Salt Chinsuko Cookie Popsicle

 Gari-Gari Kun has come out with another interesting flavour. This ice cream popsicle actually a cross between ice cream and kakigori (shaved ice dessert). Chinsuko is a cookie coming from Okinawa, made from just flour, sugar and lard. Sometimes salt is added for accent and is called Shio Chinsuko. This Gari-Gari Kun uses chunks of shio chinsuko and there is a hint of caramel in the ice cream. It might seem a bit similar to cookie dough ice cream, but less creamy since it is more like kakigori.

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #23: Shiro Noir (2020 Version)

 23. Shiro Noir (2020 Version)

Shiro Noir is the signature dessert found at the Nagoya-based chain cafe, Komeda Kissaten. It's a danish pastry topped with soft ice cream and served with a sweet syrup that you can pour over whenever and however much you like. Tirol collaborated with them a while ago but this is the 2020 version, bigger and sold individually.

Flavours: White chocolate, butterscotch, flakey cookie

Although it's supposed to be a maple syrup, I thought the overall flavour was of butterscotch! This one had bits of those cigar or roll cookies in it so there's also a crunch and strong flavour from that as well. The white chocolate bottom gives the essence of soft ice cream. I honestly can't remember if this was any different from last year's version, but it was bigger for sure, allowing for a bigger flavour burst!

Oden, a Japanese Homecooking Favourite

 Oden is a favourite dish in Japan when winter comes along. It can be found in restaurants, convenience stores and in home kitchens when the weather starts to cool after Fall sets in. Items such as fish cakes, beef tendon, thick slices of daikon, konnyaku, fried tofu bags filled with mochi and hard boiled eggs are simmered for hours in a flavourful broth. The long cooking process makes the contents absorb all the flavours right down to the centre, makes the fish cakes burst with juicy broth, and the beef tendon so soft you don't need teeth to eat it. 

Tirol Chocolate Flavour #22: Milk 30th Anniversary Limited Edition

 22. Milk 30th Anniversary Limited Edition (2020)

The regular Milk flavour was first sold in 1990, so to honor that Tirol Chocolates has come up with a limited edition version.

Flavours: milk chocolate, cream

The original Milk has an outer layer completely made of milk chocolate, while the inside is a rich milk flavour. This limited edition version has a white chocolate layer on the bottom so it has an overall even creamier feel in addition to being possibly slightly sweeter.

Canules: The Latest Patisserie Trend in Japan

One of the pastries that I've found has made a quiet appearance but is quite trendy now in Japan is the canule. It's a French pastry made with lots of egg yolks, so it's almost like a bread pudding.

Canules always seem to have the same shape, like a tall mini bundt cake.

Here's a canule I recently bought from a patisserie called Amanda Sweets Gallery near Honjin Station in Nagoya. 

The outside layer was quite thick with a nice chewy texture and even a little crispy. It tasted almost like pudding, I guess due to all the eggs used in the batter, and it had a very prominent rum flavour...yum!

Some of the other pastries:

Roll Cake

Apple rare cheesecake

Area: Honjin Station (Higashiyama line) 本陣駅（東山線）
Shop: Amanda Sweets Gallery
Website: https://www.amandasweets.com
Hours: 10am-7pm, closed Wed and every 1st and 3rd Thurs of the month