Just posting a bit of this and that.

Culinary Class Wars beef bulgogi gimbap

Super Pan is a place I remember eating well at before. This wasn’t bad either.. but it comes out of a factory anyway, so I’m not sure how much the actual chef has to do with it.

The view on the way to Nagoya

Gorgeous.

Highway scenery

Gorgeous. A typical Nagoya scene.

Yakitori from Nihonichi

Stay in Korea too long and your yakitori gauge runs low..

Kanosuke Highball

Maybe because it’s 9% ABV, the malt flavour really came through and it was tasty. But at 650 yen, it isn’t cheap.

Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato

Famous snacks, and these are collaborations with Club Harie and Chez Shibata. Neither tasted bad. But they weren’t amazing either.. so I did wonder, why bother?

Spring/summer Rummy and Bacchus

They’re normally winter-only, but a spring/summer edition came out with a slightly less sticky feel. And honestly, it’s good enough to hold its own against the winter version. If anything it might even be better as a snack with drinks.

They were selling Hakushu..

Honestly I’m not that interested in the NAS since there’s no guarantee on taste, but if stock keeps loosening up like this, the 10 and 12 year will show up eventually too.

Puré Gummy Premium Sato Nishiki

This one was just so-so. I guess there are flavours that simply suit gummies better.

miino black soybeans

These were decent with drinks too, but not really better than the standard version.

Sapporo Ichiban shoyu “one-of-a-kind explosive garlic” cup ramen

This was decent enough. Loaded with garlic, so there’s no way it wouldn’t suit a Korean palate..

U.F.O. x Donbei dashi-sauce yaki-udon

It came out for the 50th anniversary, and it was surprisingly good. The noodles are Donbei noodles, it’s a yakisoba, and yet there’s some Donbei flavour in it too.. Collabs like this are welcome..

Donbei Hakata motsunabe-style shime udon

This one was just a bit spicy, but I enjoyed it.

Omori budae jjigae ramyeon

I brought this from Korea.. bought it in case I got a craving, but the craving never really came. I did finally eat it, and I think you’d need to add some more ham to get a proper budae jjigae flavour.

Haizhilan (Ocean Blue) 52% 480ml

Haizhilan is the youngest of Yanghe Daqu’s premium line (Mengzhilan, Tianzhilan, Haizhilan), and you can get it at duty-free in Korea for around 25,000 won. Baijiu fans rate it as unbeatable value for money, so I gave it a try.. And once I tasted it, it was so good that to my palate it might even beat Mengzhilan.. It’s a taste that shows the fundamentals of strong-aroma baijiu really well.. Given the price there is less of a premium feel and a few off-notes, but with food it was practically not bothersome at all. On top of that, at this price point it simply has no rival.. The only thing is, after drinking a little and coming back to it later, the off-notes felt a bit stronger, so with a bottle like this it’s probably best to finish it as quickly as you can.

Junpin Xijiu 100ml

Xijiu is a sauce-aroma baijiu; it gets good reviews and the 100ml bottle was cheap, so I was curious and bought one. Chinese liquor marketing seems pretty aggressive these days.. Xijiu is a baijiu produced in the Moutai region, positioned as a budget rival to Moutai. Tasting it myself this time, it’s a very well-made sauce-aroma baijiu.. (Koreans tend to prefer strong-aroma, but with Chinese food I think you need a sauce aroma that comes up at you like this for it to taste right..) And above all, the bottle is gorgeous.. The finish outdoes a cosmetics bottle, to the point where you wonder whether it really needs to go this far.. It’s 26,000 won for 100ml, and 100ml is a nice amount for a drink when eating alone, so cheap, tasty and pretty: I was very satisfied.

Mengzhilan M6+ 65ml mini bottle

Mengzhilan M6+ has also come out in a mini bottle, and it came with a glass set, so I bought it.. I assumed a decanter was included too, but it was only the glasses, so I do feel a bit cheated.. The taste is a typical strong-aroma: strong pineapple notes with a hint of sauce aroma.. That sauce aroma is nice when drinking with food, but calling something strong-aroma when it clearly has a sauce aroma feels a bit ambiguous. At that rate, Tianzhilan is probably better value. M9 is apparently completely different from M6, so I’m curious what it tastes like.

Rye bread

Amazon was selling a slightly pricey rye bread so I tried it, but I can’t tell the difference..

Breads from Mel

These are from a bakery in Karuizawa called Mel, and they’re good.

Pasta and so on from Tsuruya..

It’s a supermarket in Karuizawa, apparently famous for its wide range of private-label products.

Gâteau Rusk (Gouter de Roi)

Turned out to be not bad.. I got it from somewhere, but I can’t remember where.

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