- September 26, 2011, Monday.
- A few days ago, my friend Cristina asked me if I knew a place that sold Japanese groceries. Popping into my mind the "most Japanese" are in the Philippines, I asked her if she were willing to go to to Little Tokyo with me today. Bursting with excitement, she told me that she'd be bringing her video cam, so she could take a video of me and the place.
- I woke up today with the cloud shedding its tears again, like it did exactly 2 years ago - the day Onday came. This time, Pedring was moderately showering Manila, although I had a feeling that the storm wasn't as heavy as Ondoy. Tina and I still decided to push through with our trip, and were headed towards Little Tokyo at around 10:30.
- After getting off at Magallanes station, and not knowing where the jeep terminal was, I just hailed a taxi. It was raining anyway. I also thought that hailing a taxi would be a faster way to get to Little Tokyo.
- We arrived in rainy Little Tokyo soon, and Tina was amazed at how it really seemed like we were both transported to a small Japanese square. Most of the restaurants were closed, except for Hana, Oishinbo, and Nodasho. Too bad the okonomiyaki place was closed.
- Tina and I first tried Hana, where we ordered takoyaki, fish cakes (err, fish-yaki-like dish,) and an unagidon (eel rice.) Hana is famous for their takoyaki, and their snow-cone like desserts. After eating, I greeted the owner and told her that we ate well ("gochisoosama (deshita)") and went to our second base.
- It was my first time to eat at Oishinbo, and I was informed that their specialty was yakitori (Japanese kebabs.) Tina and I tried to order a reasonable amount of grilled stuff, which included a stick of chicken balls, a stick of grilled potato, a stick of bacon-wrapped quail eggs, a stick of chicken skin, and a platter of deep-fried chicken and pork. I guess I need to be with a Japanese enthusiast the next time I go there, since I wanted to try other things in the menu that didn't seem familiar to me. I didn't want to order a lot because the food was a bit pricey (like all Japanese food,) and because we were headed to out last stop for the early afternoon: Nodasho.
- Upong entering Nodasho, I greeted the kind owner who looked like a typical neighbor grandfather who liked to talk and walk around. I greeted him in Japanese, and he thought I was fluent, so he spoke to me in pure Japanese. Not knowing what to say, I stared at him. He laughed, and understood that I was just being a "pretend" Japanese. He then asked me if I was going to "KAIN????" and I said yes. He smiled, and went back to entertaining his two Japanese guests/customers.
- I've eaten at Nodasho before with my family. Nodasho is famous for their (expensive) sushi platters as well as their big curry hotpots. Since Tina and I were a bit full from all that eating, I decided to order an ika (squid) fry platter, and a puri puri salad. The puri puri salad is just like a typical kani salad, wrapped with rice paper ala fresh lumpia, and served with a fried-sesame-mayo dip. Tina and I were fortunate enough to see our puri puri salad being prepared right in front of us. I also noticed that the sushi counter had a lot of fresh seafood being stored, aside from the usual shrimp/kani/tamago/tako which can be seen in other Japanese restaurants.
- Since it was chilly outside, Tina and I also ordered two cups of Japanese service tea. Their tea was less strong than what we'd have in Chinese restaurants, probably because the tea leaves were also semi-powdered.
- After we paid the bill and greeted the owner once more, we went around the groceries to look for stuff on Cristina's shopping list. In the end, I was the one who was able to find something. HAHA.
- Later on, we quickly hailed another cab to Greenbelt, so we could walk around before coming home.A lot has changed in Greenbelt and Glorietta since I went there last May. I am also glad that there's already a Muji branch in Greenbelt. TEEHEE. (Expensive things. I usually enjoy looking at the things there rather than buying them. Haha.)
- On the way back to Manila, I texted Jane if she wanted to hang out with Tina and me at the new restaurant inside Metropolitan Hospital. Yes, it's one of the hospitals that people go to "to hang out," because of some of the foodie places at the ground floor. Jane agreed to meet us at 5:30, which coincidentally was around the time that we reached Manila.
- The restaurant that we tried was named "Cafe France." The restaurant had the same format as DeliFrance or Le Coeur de France: bakery/restaurant. The food sold there, I think, was a more or less reasonable, although they could add a bit more to their pasta servings. Oh, I also saw some friends who worked there part time. They knew it was my birthday yesterday, and I asked if they wanted to treat me. HAHA.
- Jane arrived a few minutes after Tina and I did. we talked a bit before starting to eat. We had carbonara, fruit tarts, quattro formaggi (4 cheese) pizza slices, and supposedly we'd have a cream puff each. I bought a box of three from Greenbelt. Haha. (In the end I just took the box home since everyone was too full to eat the cream puffs.)
- We talked and talked, and stayed there longer than we expected. My supposedly super mild headache I got early that afternoon continued to pound my skull, which meant that I had exceeded my body's adventure limit. Well, come to think of it I had been going out with several people since my fat Friday night. Haha. I came home, took a bath, skipped dinner (well my meal in Cafe France was sort of an early dinner anyway,) and slept for two hours. HAHA. Well, it's back to slowing down a bit tomorrow. Oh life, you play with me in both the funniest and the most irritating ways.
** BY THE WAY.... I didn't feel like my myself today because I attempted to pull off the beanie hat I got from the exchange gift with my HS friends a year ago. I thought it's be perfect for today because of the weather, and it somehow fit in with my music shirt, my white hoodie vest, my neon orange belt, and my famous/infamous bright yellow boots (that I only wear during rainy days like today.) TEEHEE.
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