Japan 2014 - Day 8: Osaka - Tsutenkaku Tower, Den Den Town & Umeda Floating Garden Observatory

Our eighth day in Japan was one of the more...laid back days of the entire trip. Our plans for the day included the Tsutenkaku Tower, a slow walkthrough Den Den Town and then to Umeda Floating Garden Observatory for sunset.

We set out at 10:30am from our guesthouse and walked to Tsutenkaku Tower, Shinsekai It was a good 15 minutes walk though a very quiet Den Den Town (that would be blasting with life and otakus later) and found ourselves in the downtown neighbourhood of Shinsekai.

This area would be the equivalent of Malaysia's own Chow Kit district where bars and restaurants offering the Osaka delicacy, Fugu fish dish can be found in abundance. Shinsekai has a reputation for being the 'Yakuza' neighbourhood where it was said that visitors might find tattooed thugs entering a bar, demanding for protection money or where anyone with a visible tattoo would be looked upon warily. That was what I heard and read when researching the place.

Lucy movie review

So my previous movie review on Step Up: All In came with an unexpected surprise. I was selected as the winner of Nuffnang's Step Up: All In review contest! Yay!

And my prize was VIP seating to any Nuffnang movie premiere screening of my choice as well as a Guardians of the Galaxy notebook and a Groot toy that had Senri and Elie squabbling over it.

Animangaki 2014 - Day 1 Highlights

Animangaki made its return this year with a bang and what a bang it was with the total number of guests topping last year's attendance. Yay!

Since its humble beginnings in 2009, Animangaki has grown leaps and bounds in terms of size, organization and of course, fans. Held once again at Sunway Pyramid, the weekend of 9-10 August 2014 saw flocks and hordes of anime fans, otakus and cosplayers arrive at the convention center of the shopping mall for the fifth Animangaki (abbreviated from the words Anime, Manga and Gaki. Gaki being the Japanese word for 'brat') that was themed Sengoku also known as Feudal Japan.

Epicuro, Damansara Uptown review

Just at the end of 2013, a new restaurant joined the busy busy neighbourhood of the infamous Damansara Uptown (and no, it's not A Pie Thing) and within the next few months, garnered the attention of food bloggers and pork lovers around. Why? Because the pork, pastas and desserts there are delicious!

Enter a cosy atmosphere of black and yellow with natural lighting and a cute chalk drawing on one whole wall.  Much like its name sake, Epicuro invites its customers to relish the indulgence of dining on good food without breaking the bank. Because given its food quality and portions, I would say Epicuro's prices are rather affordable.

Three Little Birds Coffee, D7 @ Sentul

Adding to the number of coffee hideouts popping up around Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya is the gorgeous Three Little Birds Coffee Cafe located in the secret garden building D7 in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.

Isabel, Senri, Elie and I headed to the cafe early in the morning over the weekend and found a quiet green hideout with no crowd, no haze, no noise...just serene peacefulness. 

Sushi King Street Food Promotion

In Japan, it would now be in the middle of summer for them and with the rainy and humid days comes festivals and summer fairs. The best of Japan's street food are bountiful around this time as tourists will find stalls and stalls of food at these festivals. And believe me....they are delicious.

But for a taste of Japanese street food closer to home, Sushi King's Street Food promotion offers just that. Running until the end of August 2014, Japanese cuisine fans will find fusion mouth-watering delicacies inspired from the streets of Japan.

The Spicy Salmon Nigiri immediately caught my attention with the local taste of chilli flakes atop each fresh raw salmon slices for that additional kick. You can opt to skip the wasabi on this one or just pile it on, it is up to you. Priced at RM5 per plate, the Spicy Salmon Nigiri was a good start to any meal.

Stanzo Collection store launch, Mont Kiara Mall Kuala Lumpur

Just a few weeks ago, Stanzo Collection launched its first ever retail concept store of exquisite residential and office furnishing in Mont Kiara Mall KL. 

“Stanzo” or “Stanza” is an Italian term, which literally means “rooms”. The Stanzo Collection concept store currently houses two tasteful brands, elegantly names “Songdream” and “Prostoria” that offer the best of East and West.

Step Up: All In movie review

The dance scene is undoubtedly a hard industry to break into, perhaps one of the hardest. It is either you have it or you don't. And like most dancers, I too dreamed of making dancing my career before realising I did not have either the skill or the discipline to make it big. Just passion alone wasn't going to cut it. *wallows in a corner* 

It's okay, I will express my creativity through my writing. 

Anyway, ready to highlight the grueling cutthroat world of professional dancing this time, the fifth installment of the Step Up series reunited stars from its past four movies, mainly Sean Asa (Ryan Guzman) from Step Up Revolution, Andie West (Briana Evigan) and Moose (Adam G. Sevani) from Step Up: The Streets and of course, Vladd (Madd Chadd) from Step Up 3D. As a fan of dance and of the movies, I just had to catch the movie premiere of Step Up: All In.

INDULGE Yourself at TGV 1Utama

You know how sometimes your most highly anticipated movie screening is right smack in the middle of your usual eating time (ie dinner time) or at odd hour that leaves you with hardly enough time to grab a proper meal?

 I do and usually I find that these are my options to curbing the grumbles in my tummy at the movies:

a) Change the movie timing or movie title altogether. (oh, the headache of reschueduling)

b) Indulge and enjoy the movie while dining on grilled salmon (ah, this is the life)

c) Popcorn to curb the hunger pangs (oh, the calories....)

d) Eat earlier or later (thereby throwing your eating routine off course)

e) Tapau and sneak your meal in. (not advisable) 

Now out of these options, you must be thinking 'walio, which cinema will let us watch movie while eating something as luxurious as salmon?' Well, TGV 1Utama will, in the form of their luxurious cinema-and-restaurant concept, Indulge.

The Flavours of Haagen Dazs Japan

Much like their manhole covers and Kit Kats, Japan shows no signs of limiting their creativity when it comes to ice-cream flavours, especially when it comes to major premium brand, Haagen Dazs.

As I discovered on my recent Japan trip, their flavours are exotic as they are unique to the country.

First up were the floral duo, Sakura and Rose flavours that was released to celebrate Haagen Dazs Japan's 30th anniversary. Earlier feedback over social media had reported the rose flavour coming off as 'like eating rose-flavoured shampoo' while the Sakura edition bore no resemblance to the subtle scent of cherry blossoms at all.

I disagree.