Inggo Noms...

I had been contemplating whether or not to write about this, since this is Inggo Noms… and not Inggo Zzzs…. While Chalet GEM had been primarily my home away from home in the Netherlands, I did find an excuse on why I should feature this place in my blog… after the cut.

As I explained in my latest Life Update, I needed to go to Wageningen, Netherlands to attend the International Conference ‘Water Science for Impact’ for work. As I wasn’t able to bring my Beloved photographer with me in this odyssey, I’ll use this post to preemptively apologize on the low quality of the images for the upcoming few posts.

Anyway, I stayed at Chalet GEM located at TopParken, a holiday wilderness park. The closest restaurant was De Kantine, or literally, “the cafeteria” located at said park just a very close walking distance from the chalet. My host recommended I eat there as soon as I settled down as the place closes at 8pm. Famished, I opted to take her recommendation rather than venturing to the nearest town centers, which was at least 2km away.

Beloved and I celebrated my birthday at The Alley about a month ago. It has been tradition for us to eat at a buffet restaurant each year that offers a free seat on one’s birthday with one paying adult, just like we did at Four Seasons on Beloved’s birthday this year. The Alley is from the same Vikings group of restaurants that basically allows you to “eat like a viking”. The twist on this place after the cut.

A couple of days before my birthday a couple of weeks ago, Beloved and I had dinner at Shuin. This Chinese/Taiwanese restaurant is located near the most Chinese-centric street of Quezon City, Banawe. We never ate here before becuse Beloved cannot find it, but she has heard of it and wanted to go. Since she now has that information, she convinced me to try it out. While not in Banawe itself, it’s just a very short walk when you reach its intersection with Maria Clara Street.

Me, Beloved, and a couple of her friends ate at Cow Wow more than a month ago. Yes, it’s that long ago because my past couple of weeks were taken up by my Sendai/Japan Food Odyssey. Since it’s rare for them to pass by their alma mater, they wanted to go to Santorini—perhaps their favorite place during their college days. Unfortunately, it’s full with a queue, so we opted for this place instead, which, according to them, was also a place they used to eat at.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

Although I was not in Japan anymore, the cheapest flight to and from Sendai goes through Incheon Airport in Korea. On my way to Sendai, I had a three-hour layover and managed to explore the Airport, at least a small part of it. Incheon Airport is huge! It’s also the most amazing airport I’ve been to, with free resting areas with beds, free fast wifi, and even free shower. However, I noticed it’s quite expensive also, in both its souvenirs and food. On my way back, though, I was provided emergency funds to ensure I was well-fed and can safely reach home, so I had enough to try out one of the food places there. I opted to try one of the two Korean-specialty food places in its food court (at least the one closest to my gate), Sonsoo Bansang.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

Since I got stranded for one night due to the typhoon in Japan, I needed to stay at Route Inn Hotel in Natori, the city where Sendai International Airport was located. It was only accessible by taxi if you have a lot of luggage with you, which, unfortunately, costs quite a lot, over 2000 Jpy one way. The hotel stay itself cost over 8,600 Jpy, including the booking fee by the tourist information concierge.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

While waiting for my flight back to Manila, I opted to have a late lunch/early dinner at Jushoan. Since it’s located at Sendai International Airport, it had a translated menu on the outside and I already know what I was getting even before I stepped in. The place, while a cafe, served quite a lot of different dishes, most of them using the local specialty gyu-tan as their protein, including ramen, donburi or rice toppings, and curry rice. I’ll let you guess which one I ordered.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

During the “last” day of my trip to Sendai, before saying farewells to a couple of new friends I met in the Summer School, our party had brunch at Bonna Luna. This café is located at the basement of Sendai Station among many other food places there. This place was the only place that served pancakes as far as our searching goes, and since this was lenient towards dietary restrictions and didn’t have a queue, compared to the sushi and gyu(-tan) places that was commonplace, we settled here.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

Based on my research, one of Sendai’s specialties is their gyu-tan or beef tongue. While exploring alone in the busy Friday night streets of Sendai, looking for a place that serves its specialty, I perchanced Higashiyama which featured an English menu on the outside that serves what I was looking for. Although the prices were quite steep, since I was still within budget, and because I didn’t know yet the problems that will arise the following day, I decided to splurge here.