Sushi Story - Choushimaru

A little different approach here in the blog, regular readers or those who know me personally would know that I love food a lot. Ever since I came to Japan my appetite and appreciation for sushi is growing stronger the more I have it lol.

The shop of interest this time is a sushi chain shop reachable by food from my place, called "Choushimaru" (すし銚子丸) [link].  I believe the name is taken from the city of Choshi at Chiba prefecture. This isn't the first time I feature the shop on this blog, as you can read here from the previous post.

The most recent trip to the shop was on Wednesday evening, after I've decided to sacrifice the lovely weather staying in the library to sort out some notes. Besides I didn't had proper lunch so heck, why not hit a better meal at the end of the day? One of the motivation is to try out the new monthly menu they just launched on that day.

Service in the shop is as usual, top notch from what you can expect from a Japanese restaurant. Am lucky that the one who's behind the sushi bar is the head chef, Mr Maeda. Kinda spoilt to be served by the top man heh.

蛍イカ (Hotaru Ika) Firefly squid
A seasonal dish as an appetizer while waiting for the main course.
Am a fan of squid and they managed to make it very nice. Only noticed this nifty squid this year though. It's said that this squid is bioluminescence as it glows in the dark in nice neon blue colour.


Let me introduce, the set of the day!

A long list of seafood here:
いくら (Ikura) Salmon roe
たい (Tai) Snapper
まぐろ赤身 (Maguro Akami) Tuna's lean meat
サーモンSalmon
赤えび (Aka Ebi) Red shrimp
あじ (Aji) Jack mackerel
はまち (Hamachi) Yellowtail
かつお (Katsuo) Skipjack tuna

To gather some of the best stuffs in the shop into a feast like this, heavenly!! Price wise luckily it still maintain under 1000 yen mark, which is quite awesome.

Surely you might thought that'll be the end eh? No!! When hunger struck, there's no stopping until the stomach is satisfied with the quantity and quality of the food.

うに (Uni) Sea urchin
Normally I wouldn't order this but since they're having promotion so decided to have it a try.
It was a winning gamble as the sea urchin is fresh and taste very good. Japanese love this.
Take note that unfresh uni can be a horrible experience though.


特選穴子 (Tokusen Anago) Special seawater eel.
This is how Anago is normally prepared, grilled and topped with the distinctive sweet sauce, just like it's freshwater sibling, Unagi.


穴子白焼き (Anago Shirayaki) White grill seawater eel.
First time seeing this on the menu, decided to order it.
Instead of topping with the usual sweet sauce, grilling the eel this way does help to maintain the fish's original taste.


ホタテ (Hotate) Scallop.
My all-time-favourite scallop sushi!
I requested one to be left alone as usual and another one pan-seared with salt. Highly recommend to try scallop as the it doesn't have the taste that might drive first-timers away.


えんがわ西京炙り (Engawa Saikyo Aburi)
Halibut/Flounder's muscle or something, considered one of the delicacies of sushi. This is prepared slightly pan-seared with cheese(?). Absolutely love it!


ねぎとろ納豆 (Negitoro Natto) Diced tuna and fermented soybean.
I love both ingredients but this time is my first time eating both at the same time lol. Due to natto's distinctive characteristics best to have it as the final plate before signing off.


Overall, a very satisfying meal, but due to my wallet's limit I have to stop before the stomach is fully filled. Well, a good start in this new sushi entry I believe. Rest can be assured, that this will not be the last sushi-related post!! :D

Spring Holiday in Malaysia [Part I]

A little review on things that I've done so far, a week since I landed home sweet home Malaysia~

Great timing that I've managed to came back to Kuala Lumpur just a few days before the cold stream struck Tokyo, it was snowing crazily there. Am glad that I don't need to suffer the close-to-zero degree 'C temperature while sipping a chilled can drink to cool off the heat in KL heh.

So far the biggest agenda is EAT, literally. Had been eating almost non-stop for the whole week as my sis' back in town so would love to be more adventurous when it comes to food.

Lunch at home. Chicken marinated with Coke! 可乐鸡.


Roast pork at a Chinese New Year open house. Yummy~~



First time trying Pappa John's pizza. Surprisingly it's good! Love the pickled Jalapeno pepper!


Dinner at Pappa Rich. Was a great round of dinner as every dishes turn out to be quite good.
This Hainanese Chicken Rice aren't that shabby too.


Bento lunch at FGS Dong Zen Temple. Looks similar to Japanese cuisine but it's cooked ala Malaysian style. Best vegetarian food!


Then, some places that I've visited so far....

Chinese New Year open house where I had the roast pork above. Rich man's house huh...


As usual, yearly visit to FGS Dong Zen Temple (东禅寺) at Jenjarom, Selangor. This year's theme is Rabbit!



While on the way to Putrajaya via Dengkil route we managed to stumbled upon Paya Indah Wetlands. It's huge and would love to spend some time here one day!



It's been some time since I last visit Putrajaya.
The Prime Minister's office complex.


Putrajaya mosque.


Haven't been to too many places yet, but more to come I guess. And yes, this mean I'll be eating even more too muahahahah!!

Random takes on life....

Home Sweet Home~ <3

Angpow for Chinese New Year! :D :D :D


Currently re-reading Harry Potter 7 again. Haven't watch the movie though.


Who is this uncle?


Peaceful neighbourhood.


New ride at home! Nissan Sylphy. Kinda nice to drive, sort of "lighter" than previous Proton Perdana and much quieter.


Hand-made chocolate received from someone. Simply meltz into the heart~ ^^


Last pic, this is where I'm writing this post. :)

Final Sushi

One of the thing I enjoyed the most while my stay in Japan would be SUSHI.
Yea yea.... no need to explain what's the WOW factor about raw seafood slap on top of vinegared rice....
Today's meal was probably the last sushi meal I had before heading back to Malaysia this Sunday.

Shop of the choice would be Choushimaru (銚子丸) located less than 500m from my place, heaven.
I'm very lucky that I can enjoy good sushi without traveling far away heh.

Last month's sushi set. They call it 劇団セット (troupe set).


Service in the restaurant is great, since I've almost become a regular there lol. Decided to get there earlier around 5pm to avoid the crowd.
Since I was the only one just now, I dare to ask for specific request on how my sushi is to be prepared.

3 ways to enhance the sushi-experience.


Exhibit #1. This is Madai (真鯛, red seabream snapper), one of the top class fishes in sushi ranking.
One is coated with "snapper soy sauce" (鯛醤油) and another one was left coated with nothing.
Verdict, the one with the special sauce tasted better than the one dip in normal soy sauce.


New discovery!

After the initial start off, I'm pretty convinced with the new eating style so next plate, I ordered my favourite Hotate (帆立, scallop)

Exhibit #2. I requested it to be torched and apply some salt seasoning (炙りと昆布塩).
Turns out that it's enjoyable even without soy sauce. Still juicy despite being grilled for awhile.


To make sure my stomach won't complain hours later the meal, ordered this month's set.


Exhibit #3 is something I kinda enjoy casually, though this is the first time I eat it in this way.
This is Salmon torched ala Saikyo style (サーモンの西京炙り).
Instead of being grilled with cheese, it's grilled with some creamy sauce resembles miso paste. I like the rich flavour of it overall.


Was very happy experimenting different eating combinations and eventually ordered Exhibit #4 and #5.

This is Engawa (えんがわ, chewy part of flatfish). Usually I'll had it Saikyo style but this time I requested one being dip with the "special sauce" mentioned above and another one with pinch of seasoning salt.
I'd say.... both are enjoyable with the different tastes accompanying the fish since itself is kinda bland.


Next one was Mongo Ika (紋甲イカ, squid).
Perhaps it's the characteristic of this particular species of squid, it's much rubbery to chew thus the "special sauce" may not work that well this time. However the salted one was good though.


I thought I'm done for it, so decided to order this pudding (pronounced as "purin" in Japan).
It's very normal to finish a meal with dessert, no?
Friends of mine may noticed I seldom take stuffs like his but occasionally I do.


Just when I wanna flag down the waitress for the bill, this Shimasoi (しまそい, Striped Bass) was being served. Haven't tried it before so decide to make it my last plate of the night.
Texture-wise, abit firm but it was chewy.


So there goes my last sushi meal in Japan. I might not miss it though, because back in Malaysia there'll be lots of delicious food waiting to be devoured!

'til then. それじゃ！

Foreign Students Party

Well at last a proper event worth to be updated, though this time didn't really take alot of pics.

Before this I was sort of baffled that the university is solely academic-based as we do not have any sort of events or gatherings for the students to mix together. The twice a week Japanese language class doesn't really help much and the number of foreign students in Kamifukuoka campus much fewer compared to the other campus.



Anyway, the party was held in Tuesday evening, right after our last paper for the mid-term test thankfully. I had to go through a really boring class (I rarely complain bout boring class but when I do, you'll know how bad it is) til 6pm.
Sort of messed up my plan but still in time to grab my camera at my hostel and cycle all the way to the university's Kawagoe campus.

It was my first time going to the Kawagoe campus in the evening and boy it feels so different as the area is pretty much wider than the Kamifukuoka campus. Here's a peek of the Kawagoe campus during the day.

Event started around 630pm with not much delay as per normal Japanese standard.

Here we had one of the top officials of the university giving a speech, as per any other similar events in Japan hah. Btw, not quite sure whether he's the head of university huh...


Testing a quick panoramic.


Here comes my favourite part of the party, THE FOOD!!











I was surprised to see the amount of top notch food to boot!! Well no need to guess, my main target is the fish dish, sashimi hah.

Cheerleaders performing. Was at the side so not really a good angle to take pic.


Anis and Irene (the shadowy figure). Both of them are my coursemates.


Jo, a Japanese whom we're staying in the same hostel. He's a student of the Kawagoe campus and major in football. Gatecrashed the party but well, no harm having another company eh?


During the event was being introduced with a Malaysian lecturer who're teaching at the Kawagoe campus. He goes by the name Zhuang (庄) and is teaching Economics. Was a bubbly character and the material to attend social events like this.

Somehow I'm more concentrated on the food on that day so didn't really take much pics though.... and perhaps I've drank a little bit of beer so yeah, been engaging in conversations more often than usual heh.

Anyway, overall the party was great.
Great food, fine drink and good company, what can I ask for more?
Good thing the day ended in a good way. :)

P/S: Heard there'll be a university field trip somewhere in November. Still long time to go before the details surface but kinda look forward to it.
Being in Japan, is all about traveling as many places as possible to see and learn more things!