The Roppongi Hills spider

Yikes! An eight legged freak. 

 

Super exclusive Roppongi Hills with its extravagant boutiques and high-roller apartments has been a major contributing factor to the recent years’ improvement of Roppongi’s otherwise rather tarnished reputation. From a central position, Mori Tower is overlooking it all. With its 238m distributed on 54 floors, this concrete and glass wonder belongs to one of Tokyo’s tallest buildings. Roppongi Hills’ domestic animal no. 1 is the gigantic spider sculpture Maman, which is scary enough to cause a minor attack of arachnophobia or at least a couple of chills down your spine.

La Parilla: Fine dining at Jumeirah Beach Hotel

Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

 

Last night we had dinner at La Parilla located on the 25th floor of the stunning Jumeirah Beach Hotel. La Parilla is also participating in Jumeirah Restaurant Week, and for only 180AED we could therefore dig into a “signature dining” 3-course menu.

 

Looking down..

 

The good experience started already at the restaurant entrance, where we were cordially greeted by several staff members and offered a wet towel to wipe our hands with. We were shown to a table with magnificent views of the beautiful Burj Al Arab luxury hotel, which is located right next to Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

 

My ceviche (unfortunately iPhone camera and dim lit restaurants do not really get along).

 

For a starter, I had a really good ceviche and Poul had beef empanadas, which was a kind beef pierogis, which were served with avocado aioli. Since La Parilla is famous for its great steaks, we both chose an Angus sirloin steak for our main course. The steaks were perfectly grilled and came with creamy truffle mashed potatoes, pepper sauce for Poul and sauce béarnaise for me. When we saw that chocolate crepes were among the dessert alternatives, we did not hesitate long before making our choice.

 

The steak.

 

The crepes were served with sweet fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream and provided a perfect finale for an evening, which was perfect down to the tiniest detail.

 

Crepes!

 

One of the things that raised the experience an extra notch was the small amuse-bouches, which were served between the different courses. As the staff also managed the noble art of providing good service, which seemed really genuine without being intrusive, there is no doubt that our dinner at La Parilla yesterday is among one of the best meals I have had in Dubai.

 

After the dinner.

 

After we had finished eating, we decided to take a walk in the area and take some pictures and we got some really nice photos of Burj Al Arab, which you can see below. Unfortunately, we also severely underestimated the distance to the nearest taxi stand at Madinat Jumeirah, so I ended up with some serious blisters under my feet.

 

Burj Al Arab from Madinat Jumeirah.

 

Burj Al Arab

Don’t miss Hachikō at Shibuya station.

Me and bronze-Hachikō.

 

On the west side of Shibuya station, there’s a bronze statue of the dog Hachikō. For many years, Hachikō used to run to the station to meet his owner, Professor Ueno, as he came back from work. Even after the professor passed away, Hachikō went to the station every day, and became famous for his loyalty and faithfulness. I think it’s such sweet story, so even though I usually avoid anything too sightseeing-ish, I always pay a visit to the Hachikō statue when I’m in Tokyo.

 

PS: In 2009, a movie about the story of Hachikō was actually made, with Richard Gere in the leading part (not as Hachiko but as the professor in case you wonderJ). The title is “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story”. Has anyone seen it? I Is it good?

Al Hambra: A Spanish restaurant in Madinat Jumeirah

Beautiful Madinat Jumeirah.

 

Yesterday we went on our first Jumeirah Restaurant Week dinner. We had booked a table at the Spanish restaurant Al Hambra, where you got a Casual Dining 3-course menu for 120AED. Al Hambra is located in Madinat Jumeirah in the impressive Al Qasr building right next to the beautiful canals. Our table was outside, which was a very hot and humid experience during the first hour, but around nine o’clock the temperature had dropped to a pleasant level.

 

Tapas starters.

 

For starters you could choose 2 tapas per person, so we tried a little of everything including a delicious gazpacho served in small shot glasses and the tapas classic of them all; patatas bravas, which is fried potato cubes served with aioli and a spicy red sauce.

 

Al fresco dining.

 

Poul had a tasty red mullet with vegetables as a main course, and I had a rice dish with seafood, which also tasted excellent. Up to this point, the service had been flawless, but after the main course, our small table in the corner on the terrace was apparently forgotten, and we were left to stare down our main course leftovers for almost an hour.

 

Poul’s red mullet.

 

However, the dessert was so good that I am almost willing to forgive Al Hambra the long waiting time. Sweet, crispy churros with coffee ice cream and a Crema Catalana, which easily outshone most Crème Brûlées, made sure that we could leave Al Hambra happy and satisfied.

 

Churros, a forgiving dessert.

Imaiya: A chicken restaurant in Tokyo

Imaiya’s extensive chicken menu.

 

On our last evening in Tokyo, we had arranged to meet for dinner with a friend of mine from high school and her husband, who also happened to be in Tokyo. Due to Golden Week the restaurant where we had planned to eat was closed, so with the rain streaming down our necks, we had to try to find somewhere else.

 

Delicious starters.

 

After randomly walking around Shinjuku’s streets for a while, we found a restaurant called Imaya, which was located one stair down and looked nice and very Japanese.

We were shown to a private booth where we sat down directly on the floor. Though, there was a hole for our legs under the table, so we did not have to go through any strenuous leg maneuvers during the meal.

 

We also ordered sake.

 

As we glanced through the menus, we discovered to our great surprise that the restaurant almost exclusively served Hinai-chicken, which is a special kind of chicken that is considered among the best in Japan. Apparently, all parts of the chicken that could be put on a skewer had also made it to the menu, which included both chicken cartilage, chicken feet and other “delicacies”.

 

A glance of Poul’s favorite in the middle of the picture.

 

We ordered a selection of side dishes, including raw cabbage that was served with a really tasty salty dip. To Poul’s great joy, there was also a greasy looking dish with battered egg on the top, which tasted a lot better than it looked. I am not exactly a big fan of chicken and we almost never eat chicken at home.

 

The cabbage.

 

In case you don’t like chicken…cod intestines, anyone?

 

During my years in the aviation industry, I’ve had one too many dry and iron-tasting chicken crew meals, which haven’t been conducive to any chicken cravings I might have had. However, the chicken we got at Imaiya was in an entirely different league and cannot be compared to anything I have previously eaten. The delicious yakitoris tasted great and the meat was juicy and perfectly seasoned. Thanks to Imaiya, I am therefore seriously reconsidering including chicken in my food pyramid again.

 

Tina and me.

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