Japan Trip #3 // Sashimi and Pufferfish

Hey guys! I’m back with day 3 of my Japan trip! You can read my Day 1-2 trip HERE and HERE.

Look at my cute pink elephant winter hat! Which do you like better? This or the previous one? 😀

Shirahama’s beauty and attractions have a lot to offer for tourists. Filled with a traditional rural feel, this place takes you to a relaxing stay at one of their hot spring hotels where you can truly enjoy life!

After 2 days of hot spring, we continued our journey to Osaka! But of course, before leaving, we got to take some photos around the hotel! And we realized that there was a Misaki-rose garden nearby. But most of the roses are not fully bloomed yet. The place was quite barren.

Engetsu Island (円月島)

A few more photos of this place before we leave. Because of the full moon shaped sea cave in the center, it is known as the “Full moon island”. Such beautiful scenery especially with the perfect clear sky and clear blue sea. It is totally worth the time to drop by and snap a few photos!

Tore Tore Ichiba (とれとれ市場)

And we had a little change of plans, and decided to head back to Tore Tore for lunch as the sashimi was so cheap! The whole set you see in the picture above only costs us 5000 yen (S$63).

No doubt the sashimi feels fresh enough, but there is still something that bothers me a little after stuffing so much raw food into my mouth. I felt that the sashimi smelled and tasted a little “fishy”. My family thought that they were fine, so maybe my expectations were too high? And it feels quite sick to put in too much raw fishy food into your stomach after awhile. But with such a good deal, I shouldn’t really complain much!

My advice: Don’t have a FULL course of sashimi for a meal.

Here are some photos to make you drool!

Before arriving at our destination (Osaka), we dropped by at Rinku Premium Store for some shopping. And I’ve already picked my birthday present which is few months away! But we were a little disappointed with the outlets since the sales were very minimal (Maybe 10-30%?) And the prices dropped were very limited, we had to search almost every inch to find a few great deals.

鮮河豚專家てっちり黒門浜藤

Guess what? We had pufferfish for dinner! I know it sounds quite dangerous.. But my dad chose a restaurant that is quite well known so it should be safe! After all, I’m safe and alive here typing away! Hahahah. To be honest, out of all the meals I had in Japan, my least favourite would be this place. Read on and I’ll tell you why.

The dining concept of Shabu-shabu was pretty alright, until I walked in and smelled cigarette smoke everywhere. The place was very small and crammed, and I didn’t like the dining ambience at all. But I guess that it was still acceptable in a way because many places allow customers to smoke in the restaurant anyway.

But I didn’t really appreciate the taste and texture of Pufferfish, except that the sauce complements the Pufferfish sashimi very well. Apart from that dish, the shabu shabu was mostly tasting very plain. If you ask me, I would say I still didn’t regret dining at this place since it was my virgin attempt of knowing how pufferfish tastes like. I would say it’s an unique and different taste experience but I wouldn’t want to go back for it again since I felt that it did not taste very fantastic.

More food photos!