Car-ried away at Toyota Automobile Museum

Day 2 (Wed, 19 December 2018)

We had a leisurely start to our second day in Nagoya and went to the popular tonkatsu chain - Misokatsu Yabaton - for brunch. Misokatsu is a Nagoya speciality - it's miso sauce poured over fried pork cutlet (tokatsu). Yabaton is very popular among locals. When we arrived before noon, there was already a line. They give you menus as you queue and seat you only when you have ordered.

It was slightly stressful as people who came after us expertly place their orders and were ushered into the restaurant while we were still trying to figure out the difference among the many different cuts of pork and sauces! But eventually we got our act together (when in doubt, order the one listed as "#1 Bestseller") and got a seat. A giant jug of cold green tea was served - trust the Japanese to decide what drink you were supposed to have to complement their food.

Three of us ordered the standard misokatsu bowl set. Each set comes with a bowl of soup and a massive serving of shredded cabbage. The waitress pours the red miso sauce over the pork for you.

Andre had the kurobuta (black pork) set.

I'm not a big fan of pork, but the tonkatsu here is excellent. The pork is tender, fatty and juicy, not like some of the tough cuts we tend to get in Singapore. The cabbage and green tea are a refreshing counterpoint to the richness of the pork and the sauce.

On our itinerary today was a trip to the Toyota Automobile Museum.

To get there, we had to change trains at Fujigaoka subway station. The second leg was the Linimo train. Since it's a private railway, not the subway, we were expecting an older type of train, so was thoroughly impressed when it turned out to be a super modern one which looks like a souped up LRT. It looks very new and it moves so smoothly it practically glides along the rails. 

On the Linimo train

Entry to the Toyota Automobile Museum is Y1,000 per adult and Y500 for students, but at Fujigaoka station, you can pick up a discount card that gives you 20% off prices. The museum is very well organised, arranged chronologically according to the development of cars from the 1800s.

This is the Ford Model T, the car that changed the face of motoring, paving the way for cars to be made available to the mass market.

Kenneth loves to drive and Andre, who's now learning how to drive, has always been a motorhead. I, on the other hand, have been known not to recognise my own car, and Lesley-Anne is aligned with my non-car inclinations. As Andre went from one exhibit to another, exclaiming, "This is the Cadillac Model 30!" "Wow, a Bugatti!", Lesley-Anne and I were going, "oh look, a green car." and "that's a long one - I wonder how it parallel parks". When Andre excitedly showed us "the first car without a crank" I whispered to Lesley-Anne (whom we sometimes nickname 'Grumpy Cat'), "if you get into that car, we can change that."

This was the scene eventually (that's Kenneth in the background). Check out my unbridled excitement.

Meanwhile, Lesley-Anne, who's our official photographer, decided to adopt a more artistic approach.

Before long, this degenerated into the kids hamming it up.

The name of this car is Adorable One-Eyed Goblin

This is a predictor of things to come.

My disinterest aside, it really is a great museum for petrolheads. Kenneth and Andre enjoyed it a lot and it's not crowded, so you can enjoy a leisurely look at each vehicle.

Finally, we decided to try another Nagoya speciality for dinner - kishimen which is flat wheat noodles in soup. We went to Yoshida Kishimen at Nagoya station. No English name, so it took us a while to find it.

Kishimen tastes like udon, just that the noodles are flat. The regular broth is light and tasty. Andre ordered the one with ankake sauce, another Nagoya speciality. It's described as a sticky, spicy sauce with vinegar. It looks similar to the shark's fin soup we get at home, but milder. 

A lighter meal in contrast to the rich food we've been having, but alas, diets are thrown to the wind whenever we're on holiday. There's a Family Mart just around the corner of our hotel and Andre discovered this fabulous croquette sold there. We don't know what it is or what it's called but it has macaroni in it, so we think it's some form of mac and cheese croquette. Creamy and cheesy. He's been having this as a snack every night. Yumz.

Nagoya - land of eel repute

Day 1 (Tues, 18 December 2018)

Our holiday destination this year is...Nagoya! To be honest, we didn't know much (anything) about Nagoya when we booked our air tickets. We wanted to go somewhere to relax and unwind, as it has been a hectic year for the whole family. And since end December, which is the super peak period, is the only period our kids' school holidays coincide, we decided to just pick a destination where the cost of air tickets didn't require us to sell our kidneys.

So Nagoya, also because Japan - home of the best food anywhere.

We took the SQ flight that arrived in Nagoya early in the morning at 8.20am. We were right on time to catch the Centrair Limousine which brought us to the Sakae area in 45mins, where our hotel was.

The bus stop is on Nishiki Dori Avenue, just a short walk to our hotel, which is HotelAPA Nagoya Nishiki. Brief background: the main, most happening area in Nagoya is around Nagoya train station. But hotels near there cost a bomb during the holiday season. Then I discovered that two subway stations away is Sakae, which is Nagoya's main shopping area. Hotels there are much more reasonably priced.

I wasn't sure if I would regret this choice as reviews were mixed on Tripadvisor. But in the end, we like it a lot. The rooms look like they need a makeover, but they're clean and they're larger than the twin rooms we stayed in in Osaka. The beds are comfortable, they have all the usual amenities and the shower is great (hot with great water pressure).

More importantly, the location is fantastic. A 2 min walk from Sakae subway station, and surrounded by malls, shops and eateries.

We were too early to check in, so we dropped our luggage at the hotel and headed off to Meijo Park, two subway stations away. I've always been fascinated by autumn colours, never having had the opportunity to travel during that season, and was hoping to catch some here. I was not disappointed. While most trees have already shed their foliage, there were still a few displaying their fiery hues (thank goodness for late bloomers!) They're absolutely gorgeous.

After that stroll in the park, we went for a spot of lunch at Oasis 21 - a mall near Sakae. The weather was just a tad nippy at 12 degrees celcius.

The venue was Nigiri no Tokube - a sushi kaiten (sushi train) restaurant.

Sushi kaitens have never disappointed us in Japan. The sushi is always fresh and the price affordable. The scallops were ridiculously delicious, unlike the ones in Singapore which tend to be rather tasteless.

By then, we were feeling pretty much like zombies, not having slept much on the flight over. So we went back to the hotel, checked in and took a 3-hour nap. After which, we were all refreshed and ready for...dinner!

One of Nagoya's specialties is hitsumabushi or grilled eel on rice. And the one restaurant that comes up on every list featuring Nagoya's hitsumabushi is Atsuta Horaiken - a restaurant with a 140 year history, so of course that's the one we had to try.

We went to the Atsuka branch at Matsuzakaya shopping centre, about a 10 min walk from our hotel. We almost missed it - the restaurant has no food displays, menus or English signboards on the outside, just a Japanese name. We didn't even realise it was a restaurant! Guess they are that famous.

We ordered their hitsumabushi and a serving of eel liver.

Eel liver

You can eat it three ways: alone, with condiments (spring onions, wasabi, seaweed) or with a bouillon. It was incredibly delicious, eaten any way. Sweet and smokey, with a slightly charred taste. It's like eel claypot rice. It's so good we want to come back. Tip: the rice portion is quite large. If you don't eat that much rice, order the large bowl which gives you more eel for Y5,100 and share it among two people.

After that scrumptious meal, we explored the area. One observation: the crowds here are nothing like Tokyo and Osaka. Considering this is the holiday season, the streets are quieter and not teeming with people, which we like a lot. There are definitely fewer tourists, and the tourists are mostly Japanese. We definitely stuck out as tourists here, and we have yet to see any Singaporeans.

We're really enjoying this - it's such a nice change from other busy cities. However the downside is that many restaurants only have signs only in Japanese, and most restaurant workers don't speak any form of English, which can make communication a little tricky. Ah well, there's always Google translate.

This is closest to the Glico running man in Dotonbori, Osaka - the Don Quijote building, which is at the intersection with the ferris wheel of Sunshine Sakae.

Our hotel is around the corner from the Nagoya Tower, which is lit up at night.

Next to it is Oasis 21, which is illuminated in Christmas colours for the season

View from the rooftop of Oasis 21