[Japan] Lunch at Micasadeco & Cafe, Kyoto

Japanese Pancake with Match flavor at Micasadeco & Cafe

As a food lover, I love to try new food - especially when it's unique and has a lot of good reviews. From many countries that I've visited, I'd said that Japan is a country with the most unique yet delicious food I ever had. Therefore, I never get bored to visit Japan. My visit to Japan is not just because of their beautiful culture, but also for their amazing food. For me, travel to Japan is a culinary trip, and it's a mandatory to try new dishes in every single day.

Last year, I just found a delicious yet unique dish in Tokyo. It was a Japanese souffle pancake. What makes it different with the other pancake is the texture. It really soft and fluffy, and even it can jiggling when you move the plate. Besides the texture, it also has a good taste. I could taste the "eggs" and "milk" flavor in every bites. Ever since then, I never found any better pancake beside this Japanese pancake.

Since Japanese pancake is my favorite dish, I didn't want to missed this food when I was visiting Japan last spring. However, we just visited Osaka and Kyoto (Kansai area), so we need to find other restaurant who serves this kind of pancake. At the end of searching, luckily we found a cafe which really famous in Osaka, and the serve this fluffy pancake. It is Micasadeco & Cafe. However we have many food lists that need to be visited in Osaka, and we were gladful knowing that they just opened a new outlet in Kyoto. Read about this information we decided to go to this cafe at a lunch time.

Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto located at Kawaramachi area, not far from Nishiki market. This cafe not located at the crowd place. You need to walk around 1 block from the market, at the local neighbourhood. Since the door was always closed and its building also looks like a local house, it's quite hard for us to found this place. Since this cafe really popular, I thought it will be crowded and has a long queue like the one I had in Tokyo. But it's not! From the outside I just saw a quite traditional restaurant, with a picture of pancake.

After make sure it was the right place, we stepped inside and I thought it was the most beautiful cafe I ever visited. Like the outside part of the building which designed like a Japanese traditional house, the interior also has the same design. We're talking to the staff who was standing behind the door, and he told me to wait at the waiting room. The waiting room itself also looks amazing. It has a unique furniture and made me feels like at the museum - not a waiting room.

It was 1.30 PM so we already passed the lunch peak hours. There was only 2 peoples in front of us and we just wait for around 30 minutes to get a table. After being told the table was ready, we were walking through the small corridor, and once again I was being surprised with their interior. From the traditional style at the outside and the unique stuff at the waiting room, now I faced a very cute and colorful dining place. What I mean with colorful is not a bright color, but it's dominated with pink amd other pastel color. This pink ambience makes me in love with this cafe.

That's the first impression from me about the dining place of Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto. About the food, it also didn't taste bad. Here are the reviews of dishes that we ordered:

Pork Kakuni Omelette ¥900
Since it's a lunch time, we ordered a savory menu first before eat their sweet dishes. We ordered a pork fried rice with omelette on top. It taste very delicious. However, the rice was too soft and it's not suitable to be cooked as a fried rice.

"Matcha" Fluffy Pancake ¥1450
This fluffy pancake was the main purpose of our visit to Micasadeco. There are 2 flavors for this type of pancake : matcha and ricotta cheese. Since we're in Kyoto and Kyoto was famous for its matcha, we decided to order this pancake with matcha flavour. Well, the texture of the pancake was really amazing. It was very soft and buttery. The texture is even better than the one I had in Tokyo. However, the taste of matcha sauce "destroyed" the delicacy of the pancake itself. The sauce was bland and I couldn't taste anything. It felt like I ate plain pancake, without any topping or sauce.

Cherry Blossom Pancake ¥1550
I saw this pancake on the menu, and noticed it might be a seasonal dish. We ordered this pancake as well because Ivan and Aurelia don't like matcha flavor. This menu doesn't come with fluffy pancake. Instead, it comes with springy - thin pancake. Even though their fluffy pancake taste much better than springy pancake, but this cherry blossoms pancake has amazing toppings. Cherry salted pickles, seasonal fresh strawberry, and crispy pie, those are the toppings for this pancake. To complete the delicacy, they also serve the pancake with a thick custard (which come along with fresh strawberry), homemade strawberry butter, fresh strawberry sauce, and cherry ice cream. The best parts of this pancake was the fresh strawberry sauce and cherry ice cream. The sweetness level was perfect and its so perfect to be eaten together with the pancake.

Yoghurt Smoothie ¥700
To complete our lunch, we also ordered a glass of smoothie which looks really fresh. There are several options for smoothie, but I chose yoghurt smoothie. Unfortunately, the smoothie was tasteless and it was too freeze. I thought they put too much ice cubes in it until it couldn't be drunk. At the end, we need to used spoon to "eat" all the smoothies. Well, it such a disappointment to get this "quality" of smoothie from a fancy cafe.






Micasadeco & Cafe Kyoto
Address : 480 Umeyachō, Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, 604-8057, Japan
Phone : +81 75-606-5307
Opening hours : Mon - Sun 9AM - 7PM
Website : http://micasadecoandcafe.com/kyoto/

Celsius Coffee Co - The Best Place for Having Breakfast in Sydney

Hey all!
If you're looking at my Instagram feed lately, you'd see it's full with my pictures (with my family) while we were on vacation in Sydney. Yup, it was last month, and I still remember our happiness at that moment. I really miss their summer weather at night and I also miss our culinary journey. Just liked a starving peoples, we never stopped eating and drinking because everything so delicious. We stopped in almost every coffee shops, bakery, and even at the bubble tea shops. To be honest, the reason why I love food in Sydney is not just because of the good taste, but also because of their ingredients are very healthy. You can see how Australian serve tasty yet healthy food from their breakfast dishes. Australian peoples always serve a plate full of healthy ingredients with a good taste for breakfast. Sorry to say this, but it was totally different with our daily breakfast which mostly Indonesian food that full of unhealthy carbs (read : rice).

A healthy breakfast

Since I know Australia very well known for their breakfast (or usually called brekkie) menu, I was looking for the best place for having breakfast in Sydney. I found several answers and I was trying to visit them every morning. However, there's one place that I think it's the best place for having breakfast in Sydney. It's Celsius Coffee Co.

Kirribilli Wharf, Sydney

Celsius Coffee Co is a very popular place for having breakfast in Sydney. It's located at Kirribilli Commuter Terminal Wharf, which could be reached easily by taking ferry from Circular Quay. Looking at the picture above you must be think this place was overrated because of its location. "A beautiful harbour view, with ordinary taste yet expensive food" - it must be something that you think about this place. Well, I'd confessed that I also thought like that at the first time. But it's all changed after I had a breakfast there.

The crowd at Celsius Coffee Co

At the weekdays, Celsius Coffee Co open at 7.30AM, while at the weekend they open at 8AM. We arrived at 8.30AM at the weekend, and we waited for around 30 minutes to get a table. Actually at that time it's not too crowded. However, since their place was just on the ferry wharf, so they have a limited tables and we needed to take turn with other customers. FYI, reservation is not accepted here. So you need to come earlier if you don't want to wait too long.

Delicious pastry at Celsius Coffee Co

While waiting for the table, we bought some croissants that they sell. The price was slightly cheaper than other pastry shops in Sydney. But it taste so delicious. Not just croissants, they also sell doughnuts which looks yumm.

Callebaut Hot Chocolate - $5,5 & Chai Latte - $5,5

I looked at the menu and realized they don't have a lot of variant for their food. They only serve some simple breakfast dishes, but all of them sounds tasty. We ordered a plate of savory food and a plate of sweet dishes to share, not forgetting a cup of chai latte and a cup of hot chocolate because the temparature was getting lower at that time.

Celsius Breakfast - $19
Let's talk about the savory dish that we ordered. Celsius Breakfast is the most complete breakfast dishes at this cafe. This menu comes with a toast, sauteed mushrooms, avocado, jamon, and eggs. You can choose whether the eggs want to be fried or poached. But I prefer the poached eggs for breakfast. This simple yet healthy dish taste very good. It's not blend and seasoned perfectly. I love the mushroom & jamon very much.

Celsius Waffle at Celsius Coffee Co

Celsius Waffle - $19
Next is the sweet dish. As you can see, the presentation of this food was really outstanding. A round shaped waffle with colorful berries on top, makes it looks beautiful. But not just the presentation, it also has a very delicious taste - especially the peanut butter cream. It has a very unique taste which I never found anywhere.

I love all of their dishes, and no wonder Celsius Coffee Co always has a place in every lists that talked about the best place for having breakfast in Sydney. Anyway, if you want a simple breakfast, you can create your own like Ivan did.

A simple breakfast at Celsius Coffee Co : sourdough toast, poached egg, and jamon

Celsius Coffee Co
Address : Commuter Wharf, Holbrook Ave, Kirribilli NSW 2061, Australia
Phone : +61 2 9922 2245
Opening Hours : Mon - Fri : 07.30AM - 02.30PM & Sat - Sun : 8AM - 3PM
Website : http://www.celsiuscoffeeco.com.au

[Hokkaido] Day 3 : Part 2 - Shiroi Koibito Park and The Chocolate Factory

If you ever did a research about the best snack for souvenir from Japan, there are several results shown up. Tokyo Banana, Tokyo Milk Cheese, Kit Kat, Pocky, those are the most popular snacks with many variant that you can get in every city in Japan. Among all those popular snacks, there is one snack which nominated as the best snack to bring home in Japan, Shiroi Koibito cookies. This cookies very popular for its delicacy. Thin yet buttery cookies, with white chocolate or milk chocolate in between, Shiroi Koibito have a perfect taste and sweetness level for its cookies.

Shiroi Koibito cookies is a popular souvenir from Hokkaido, precisely in Sapporo. Therefore, when we were visiting Sapporo, we didn't want to missed any chance to visit the factory of this cookies. Besides, they also have a park which looks magical on winter. We were going to the park after had a great lunch at Nijo Market. The nearest station to the park is Miyanosawa station which can be reached easily by a train ride - Tozai Line (¥290) from Odori station. From Miyanosawa station, we need to walk for around 700 metres (10 minutes) to go to the park. Actually, 10 minutes walk is not too far. However since the weather was really cold and windy, it felt quite far for us.

After run a little bit (because we couldn't stay last long to be outside), finaly we spotted the park and it's totally wonderful. With many Christmas decorations, and covered by snow, it's a paradise - especially for kids. Aurelia was asking permission to join with other kids at the park, but I didn't think it's a good idea because the weather was really really cold. So I told her to get inside first to warmed our bodies, and played later.

To get inside to the factory, we need to buy the tickets which costs ¥600 for adults and ¥200 for children. After bought the tickets, we were given a cookie for each person before start our walking tour. It's the first time I tried the cookies, and I understood why it's so popular. I got the white chocolate flavor and it's soooo tasty. No wonder people said that their white chocolate is the bomb.

The factory is not as big as I thought. However, it was designed beautifully with many antique stuffs. We were finishing this walking tour in less than 30 minutes before finally arrived at the famous Chocolate Lounge. The Chocolate Lounge is a cafe which located at the 4th floor. With wide window glass, you can enjoy a beautiful view outside from this height. This cafe was beautifully decorated with antique furniture from England. To be honest we were not too hungry at that time. We just wanted to try their dessert and hot white chocolate drink as it's their specialty. Since it was on a peak season, this place was really crowded. We were asked to wait for about an hour to get a table.

Queueing at The Chocolate Lounge

While waiting for the table, Aurelia joined "Shiroi Koibito Cookie-Making Lesson" which located right next to The Chocolate Lounge. There are 2 type of lesson that we could choose, bake cookies or just decorate the cookie. Since bake cookies would take a long time, so she just chose to decorate the cookie.

Kitchen Situation

Always wash your hand before touch food

Finished with the cookie making lesson, finally it's time for us to enjoy their desserts. We ordered their recommended menu, not forgetting the famous hot white chocolate drink. Well, I would said that Japanese desserts never failed me. It has a perfect sweetness level, and I also could smell the Hokkaido milk which makes all dessert taste better. We really enjoyed our time at this chocolate lounge.

If you hate waiting, some desserts also could be take away at The Chocolate Lounge

View from the window at The Chocolate Lounge

Before we're leaving this place, we took a time for play at the park. It was already night but it still crowded and full of children playing around. At night, Shiroi Koibito park looks more magical, especially with colourful lights from the winter illumination. Not just kids, but I also liked to be in this paradise. Even though the weather was really cold, but the laugh from happy children made us feel warm.

Shiroi Koibito Park at night seen from the 4th floor - The Chocolate Lounge 

Winter illumination at Shiroi Koibito Park 

P.S : If you want to take good photos of you, I would recommend to take pictures at the daylight. Even though the lights of winter illumination make the park looks more charming, but it's hard to get a good quality pictures with you in it. Unless you have a good skill in photography.