TOKYO: Inside Ghibli Museum

TOKYO: Inside Ghibli Museum

Photos and videos are not allowed inside the Ghibli Museum. So this is the most I can share with you just to give you an idea what to expect when visiting the Ghibli Museum.

This is the brochure that was given to us to guide us on how to navigate the museum. We entered basement 1 and navigated our way up.

My tips:

1. How to get tickets online

Ghibli Museum tickets are very hard to get. When ticket sales open, all slots for the month are usually sold out within the hour. 

So check out my post on MY TIPS ON HOW TO GET GHIBLI MUSEUM TICKETS ONLINE. I was able to get all 6 tickets that I applied for and on the time slot I wanted.

2. How much time to give explore the museum.

We spent 3 hours leisurely exploring the whole museum. So I think the 2:00 pm time slot should be the latest time slot you should get. There is no time limit to your visit. You can stay until the 6:00 pm closing time.

3. How to get there

It's actually very easy to get to Ghibli Museum. You just alight from Mitaka Station, then ride the Ghibli bus. You can get the ticket from a vending machine in front of the bus stop. The bus arrives every 20 minutes. There's a sign in the bus that announces the stop in both English and Japanese so you won't get lost.

4. Where to eat

We arrived at the museum lunchtime but we couldn't enter since our slot is at 2:00 pm. We found a Lawson store across the museum and bought our lunch there. The museum is within Inokashira park so we found benches to sit on where we can have lunch while waiting for our time to enter the museum.

5. Suggested itinerary

I chose the 2:00 pm slot so we can make a quick stop in the morning at the Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum to view the places and structures that inspired Miyazaki's Spirited Away, especially the bath house. We visited only the central and eastern portion and skipped the western portion.

Suggested itinerary: 

9:00 am-12:00 pm Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Ghibli Museum

BECAUSE OF THE COVID 19 LOCKDOWN, GHIBLI RELEASED A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE GHIBLI Museum at https://mymodernmet.com/ghibli-museum-virtual-tour/

TOKYO: My Review of SUSHI-ZANMAI HIGASHI SHINJUKU

Photo taken from the website 

TOKYO: My Review of SUSHI-ZANMAI HIGASHI SHINJUKU

CNN listed Sushi Zanmai as one of 4 best sushi restaurants in a recent article: Tokyo swims in sushi restaurants; 4 of the best.

Since one of the branches of Sushi Zanmai is near our hotel, we decided to check it out. It didn't disappoint.

Sushi Zanmai Shinjuku gets all its ingredients from Tsukiji market every day so you don't have have to encounter the crowds in Tsukiji market to be able to taste great sushi.

WHY I LOVE SUSHI-ZANMAI

1. The sushi is fresh and delicious.

I highly recommend you order this:

Sushizanmai Deluxe with Miso Soup (13 pieces)
(3000 yen)

Composed of the ff:

Top: Egg sushi (98 yen), Boiled prawn (128 yen), Ark shell (398 yen), Sea urchin roe (498 yen),  Salmon roe (298 yen),  Top quality sea eel (500 yen)

Bottom: Albacore tuna (98 yen), Bonito, (148 yen) Red snapper (198 yen), Sardine (148 yen), Squid (98 yen), Herring roe (198 yen), Chive buds (128 yen)

The best miso soup I ever tasted 

Salmon Roll
(580 yen) 

We ordered these but you can skip it if you don't have the budget for it:

California Roll
(580 yen) 

Tempura

TAKEOUT OPTION

These are the only items you can take out.
Miso soup is not included unlike when you dine in. 

We paired the sushi we brought to the hotel with sake. 

2. Prices are reasonable considering the good quality. 

3. The restaurant is open 24 hours.

First floor of the restaurant

4. They have an English menu.

Instructions on how to eat sushi

Location

Sushi-Zanmai Higashi Shinjuku
Japan, 〒169-0072 Tōkyō-to, Shinjuku-ku, 新宿区Ōkubo, 1 Chome−1−13 ベルバウム
+81 3-5155-6655

Map: https://goo.gl/maps/E5WxbWvFXv72

This is us enjoying our sushi. 😊

HONG KONG: Exploring Michelin Guide Restaurants in Mongkok

HONG KONG: Exploring Michelin Guide Restaurants in Mongkok

If you are booked in a hotel in Mongkok, it will be worth visiting these three dining places to find out why they are listed in the Michelin guide. They are listed in the Michelin street food section which evolved into a new category in 2018 called plate Michelin, which doesn't earn them a star or a title as bib gourmand, but are considered by Michelin inspectors to serve quality food.

The three dining places I chose is just 250 meters to 1.5 kilómeters from each other. So it will be easy to do food tasting in these restaurants. As you can see in the map below, they are just near each other

My suggestion is for you to visit Soupreme first for the Matsusake soup, then eat pan fried shrimp, truffle and signature buns at Cheung Hing Kee. Then eat the famous Michelin desserts of green tea lava cake with green tea ice cream and Mango Napoleon.

SOUPREME

Unfortunately, when I visited Soupreme, it was closed. So all I did was take a photo of the front. It would have been a wonderful experience since they have consistently been in the Michelin list in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

WHAT TO ORDER:

Matsusake soup (45 HKD)

You can get discounted vouchers at klook.com.

CHEUNG HING KEE

The branch I visited and shown in the photos is the branch in Tsimshatsui. This is just to give you an idea of the price and what to order. They also have a branch at Mongkok, about a kilometer from Soupreme and a few meters from the third Michelin restaurant I'm recommending. 

WHAT TO ORDER:

Signature Pan-fried buns + Pan-fried buns with shrimp
(2 pieces each) (35 HKD)
Pan-fried buns with black truffle (2 pieces) (16 HKD) 

They were listed in the 2016 Michelin guide.
In the photo are other items in the menu. 

The buns are pan-fried. 

They taste like large crispy xiao long bao.

It's bigger than the ordinary xiao long bao. 

It's like xiao long bao coz there's soup when you bite into it. 

The bottom is crisp because it's pan-fried. 

JOYFUL DESSERT HOUSE 

I will rave about the Joyful Dessert House because they make the most fantastic desserts. They truly deserve being in the Michelin list for 3 consecutive years: 2016, 2017, 2018. If there is one thing I would say, this is worth going all the way to visit even if it's out of your way. 

WHAT TO ORDER

Green tea lava cake with green tea ice cream (64 HKD) 

If you are a matcha lover, you will love the full-bodied matcha flavor of the cake and the oozing matcha lava. Heavenly! 

Mango Napoleon (64 HKD) 

You can see the lightness and crispness of the pastry

Even the drinks are really good. If you happen to visit in the mid-afternoon, one drink is free when you order the Mango Napoleon or the Green tea lava cake. 

Matcha milk
(36 HKD) 

Honey Peach Slush
(40 HKD)

For discounted vouchers like the one below, you can purchase those at klook.com 

THE 2018 MICHELIN GUIDE STREET FOOD LIST

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES: Meals on Manila to Hong Kong Roundtrip Flights

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES: Meals on Manila to Hong Kong Roundtrip Flights

Sharing with you photos of our meals for the Manila to Hong Kong flights. Meals are included in the fare, aside from 30kg checked baggage. So I'm posting photos of the meals to help you decide if it's worth purchasing the Philippine airlines flight with meals included.

MANILA TO HONG KONG, PR 306, HOT MEAL

 Aristocrat chicken with Java Rice

Dessert is coffee mouse

Pork with Pasta
Dessert is coffee mouse

HONG KONG TO MANILA, PR 319, LUNCH (It became dinner because we were delayed by 4 hours)

Pork with rice
Dessert is Ube jelly with beans in coconut milk

Chicken with mashed potatoes
Dessert is Ube jelly with beans in coconut milk

Included with the meals are unlimited drinks such as softdrinks, beer, red wine, white wine, juice, tea, coffee. 

MANILA: Dining at NAIA 2

MANILA: Dining at NAIA 2

(Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 or the PAL Terminal):
Food Choices and Price List 

I needed to write this post because of the very limited dining options at the NAIA 2 so you can  prepare yourself by bringing your own food or simply to not expect too much in terms of food choices. 

The best of the lot in terms of variety and taste is CAFE  FRANCE. 

Below are the dining options and food stores:

CAFE FRANCE

BRING CASH IF YOU WANT TO EAT AT CAFE FRANCE 

DELI KIOSK

DELI CORNER 

GOLDILOCKS

RED RIBBON 

The menu you see is Deli corner.
The small stand on the right is the Red Ribbon stall. 

BY THE WAY, no matter what the airport website says, THERE IS NO JOLLIBEE INSIDE NAIA 2.