Category: Travel Wine Food

AustraliaSydneySydney BarsSydney PubsThe Rocks SydneyThe SGTravel Wine FoodWalking TourWine Tour

Secret Sydney Bars Walking Tour Guide #1

A guide to finding over 27 interesting, unique and hidden bars in Sydney City, from The Rocks to the City Centre (City Bars Walking Tours) Do you love craft beer, wine, whiskey, sake and other alcoholic drinks? Do you love exploring different bars? Are you always trying to find a new bar to experience? Sydney features a lot of hidden bars in many strange and wonderful places – in forgotten laneways, at the back of basement shop hallways and down fire escapes. Even locals don’t know where many of them are. This guide will show you where to find some…

JapanJapan Tourist AttractionsJapaneseNiigataNiigata CityNiigata JapanSado IslandSado Island JapanTravel Wine Food

Top 5 Things to do on Sado Island City, Niigata, Japan. Video.

The Top Five Things to Do on Sado Island Sado Island, otherwise known as Sado City, is a part of the Niigata Prefecture. It’s just a short ferry trip away (about an hour on the fast ferry or almost two on the scenic one). The island is home to a huge number of things to do. Mainly because it is a bit of a distance away from much of Japan so the people of the island do their best to attract visitors. I was very impressed with what they had to offer. It is a surprisingly huge place with immense rice…

JapanJapan Tourist AttractionsNiigataNiigata CityNiigata JapanTravel Wine Food

Niigata 新潟市 is the city of Niigata Prefecture, in Honshu, Japan. Video.

Niigata 新潟市 is the capital city of the Niigata Prefecture. It’s on the northwest coast of Honshu and is the gateway to Sado Island. The city has about 810,000 people so is considered a country town by residents of other major cities in Japan. However, Niigata still features many of the modern conveniences that you get in Tokyo, just with less people! So, it isn’t like you are actually going somewhere to eke out a living, like some towns in Australia. Niigata also gets LOTS of rain. About 270 days of rain and snow a year. So if you’re not into sunlight much,…

AustraliaSaturday SydneySydneySydney UniversityTravel Wine FoodVivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney. Get ready for 2016! Part 1. Sydney University Vivid Display

Well, what an amazing ride Sydney’s Vivid festival was. While arguably not as good as the previous year, depending on who you speak to, Vivid Sydney’s 2015 event was still a refreshing and artistic light show organised by both amateurs and professionals. There was something for everyone. For me, seeing Intel’s drones on display in Martin Place was the highlight, but then I like anything robot-like! I also like artistic manipulation of geometric shapes, so creative use of shadows in light forms to change the shape of a building, or structures closely resembling dodecahedrons or tetrahedrons, or even some basic…

AustraliaBar ReviewItalian FoodItalian PizzaItalian RestaurantSaturday SydneySydneyTravel Wine FoodWine BarWine Review

A Distilled Wine Known as Grappa at Vanto in the QVB in Sydney.

In Sydney I regularly explore the bars and restaurants, looking to discover something new. In menus I look for different combinations of food that are unique or interesting, as well as drinks I’d never heard of. Sometimes I’ll be at a restaurant where I’ve already tried everything, but I’ll try something again that might be worthy of a review. This review falls into the former category as, and I was quite surprised to realise, I’ve never really tried grappa. Grappa is a drink made from the remains of the wine making process (seeds, pulp, skin and stems known collectively as…

Bar ReviewCraft Beer FestivalCraft Beer Festival JapanCraft Beer ReviewJapanJapan Tourist AttractionsSaitamaStreet Markets JapanTravel Wine Food

Saitama Craft Beer Festival Japan Review and Video

The Saitama Craft Beer Festival was everything I expected and more. Compared to Sydney ones, the Saitama one was a much better organised event with individual breweries offering their products at direct prices. This meant no prebooking required, no restrictive tab/ticket based tasting systems, no endless queues, and plenty of time and space to enjoy many craft beer tasting selections boxes. The best thing was it was just a five minute walk from the Saitama train station and there were no tickets to buy to get in or people checking your bags or even checking your ID. Families were welcome.…

Fish MarketsStreet Markets JapansushiTokyoTravel Wine FoodTsukijiTsukiji TokyoTsukiji Tokyo Fish Market

Street Markets, Food Markets near Tsukiji Fish Markets, Tokyo, Japan. Video.

This is just a short walk from the Tsukiji Fish Markets and so, if you find the seafood markets closed when you get there, there are still plenty of other options available to you. What impressed me about the food markets was that, unlike other bazaars and street food markets around the world, everything was spotlessly clean, all pieces of food were individually wrapped or in their own resealable pouches or under clean glass covering with not a speck of cooked or raw food dropped on any surfaces. You could even buy individual oysters, eat one, then be offered a…

Fish MarketsSeafood Markets JapanSeafood Restaurant JapanTravel Wine FoodTsukijiTsukiji TokyoTsukiji Tokyo Fish Market

About the Tsukiji Tokyo Fish Market for Tourists. Foreigners Are Not Usually Allowed at Auctions Anymore.

The Tsukiji Tokyo Fish Market is THE place to go in Tokyo if you want to explore seafood. Some things have changed since all those fantastic reviews made it online though! 1. Foreigners are unlikely to have access to the auctions anymore. No more 5am tuna auction for tourists. 2. On the rare occasion they make the auction available to tourists, you must line up by 3am for a 3.30am entry and there is a maximum of about 120 people allowed in. As it is easy to get lost, perhaps get there earlier than that! 3. While sellers will have…

HachikoJapanShibuyaShibuya CrossingShibuya TokyoShibuya Tokyo JapanTokyoTravel Wine Food

Streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Video.

This short video simply shows you some buildings in Shibuya. And here is a picture of some blurred-out people waiting at Hachiko. The Hachiko waiting area stretches out across the square. Here is a picture of some wine for sale in a store in Shibuya. Remember you can get these kinds of drinks just about anywhere in Japan. Some are even available in on-street vending machines and on various floors inside hotels. There isn’t much of a restriction. However, you might be surprised at some of the prices if you’re from Australia. We usually pay about 3 times more than the…

AkasakaBusiness HotelHotelJapanJapanese Business HotelsTokyoTokyo StreetsTravel Wine Food

A quick look at a few streets of Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan and a business hotel room in Hotel The B Akasaka-Mitsuke. Video.

Streets of Akasaka in Tokyo, Japan and a quick look inside one of the Hotel The B rooms. We stayed at Hotel The B Akasaka-Mitsuke. This is part of a large hotel chain of business hotels with rooms available at a good price, and free coffee near reception. Very polite guys at reception. Ice vending machines on various levels. A bit smokey though! However, when we requested a non-smoking room they loaned us an air cleaning machine! Very local and within a short walk of the Ninja restaurant.

AkasakaJapanJapan Tourist AttractionsNinja CafeNinja RestaurantTokyoTokyo RestaurantsTravel Wine FoodWednesday Wine ReviewsWine Review

Chateau Mercian Yamanashi Bailey A Muscat Unfiltered Red Wine Commentary Review Tasting Video

At the ninja restaurant cafe in Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan I had the opportunity to sample the Chateau Mercian Yamanashi Bailey A Muscat Unfiltered Red Wine and give a wine tasting commentary review of it to camera. The vintage of the wine was 2006. On the video I didn’t know the grape variety but found out later it was Muscat (which, as there are many varieties of Muscat, means I still don’t really know!) In Australia the more popular red varietals are big, bold and juicy with peppery, coffee or chocolate notes, whereas the reds regularly served and prized in Japan are sweet,…

HachikoJapanShibuyaShibuya TokyoShibuya Tokyo JapanTokyoTokyo RestaurantsTravel Wine FoodUncategorizedWine BarWine Review

Irish Bar Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Wine and Haggis!

After meeting at Hachiko we headed to a surprise place for dinner that one of the friends of our friend had recommended. We had been looking forward to perhaps a sushi place or a rare and secret izakaya, and certainly somewhere that no foreigner would ever know about or could ever find in Shibuya. However, we were surprised to find that we were taken to Abbot’s Choice – an Irish Bar, right in the centre of Shibuya and easily seen by everyone. So, definitely not what we were expecting, but apparently THE most popular place for Shibuya residents. Who’d have thought? Ironically, wherever…

HikarieHikarie BuildingJapansashimiSeafood Restaurant JapanShibuyaShibuya TokyoShibuya Tokyo Japansushisushi restaurantTokyoTokyo RestaurantsTravel Wine FoodWine Bar

Le Sun Palm Bar in the Hikarie building, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

It was a pleasant surprise to stumble across this craft drinks place in Shibuya. I had no idea that this kind of establishment had already become popular in Japan. We tried a couple of drinks there but the main surprise was the quality of the ‘bar snack food.’ This was delightful, fresh and filling. Tuna and avocado combination with wasabi flavour. The perfect accompaniment to pre-dinner drinks. Around Le Sun Palm Bar were other places equally impressive with quite a wide variety of drinks on the menu. If you’ve been living in Japan for awhile and need a European or…

HachikoHikarieHikarie BuildingJapanJapan Tourist AttractionsShibuyaShibuya CrossingShibuya ScrambleShibuya TokyoShibuya Tokyo JapanTokyoTravel Wine Food

Shibuya Crossing aka Shibuya Scramble in Tokyo, Japan. Shibuya Ekimae Kosaten is where a million people cross daily. Video.

The Shibuya Crossing, otherwise known as Shibuya Scramble, (also known as Shibuya Ekimae Kosaten) is one of the most busiest pedestrian crossings in the world with an estimated million people crossing it daily. (About, on average, 2500 people cross every time the light changes) While it is not that busy during a weekday during the daytime, it may seem like you’re risking your life on weekends and during peak times. Below is a video showing the area, the crossing and a view of the crossing zoomed in from the Hikarie building. If you wish to join in, go to Shibuya…

HikarieHikarie BuildingJapanJapan Tourist AttractionsShibuyaShibuya TokyoTokyoTokyo RestaurantsTravel Wine Food

Hikarie Building Shibuya Tokyo Japan Shops and Viewing platform

Featuring a creative space, cafes and restaurants as well as several levels of department stores, the Hikarie building is a new event in Shibuya. The viewing area on level 11 referred to as the Tokyo Theatre Orb and Sky Lobby is definitely worth a visit and looking out the windows is completely free! For a variety of wine and food you can’t go past the various European style restaurants on level 7. I was surprised at the international selection of wines and other drinks on offer. Definitely worth checking out.  

Bakery CafeHachikoJapanJapan Tourist AttractionsTokyoTravel Wine Food

Hachiko and a Bakery Cafe, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

I met up with one of my Japanese friends who I haven’t seen in 9 years at the Hachiko statue in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Hachiko is a well-known meeting place in Japan and features a statue of a loyal akita inu dog that had returned to Shibuya train station every day for 9 years to wait for his master to get off his usual train, not knowing he had died of a cerebral hemorrhage at work and never got to go home. (I had no idea it would take me 9 years to get back to Japan, and I only found…

Bar ReviewJapanShinjukuShinjuku Tokyo JapanTokyoTravel Wine FoodWine Bar

Review of a drinks Bistro in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

We checked out one of the hidden bars in Tokyo. (There are thousands of these places!) I had a glass of Japanese red wine. The grape variety wasn’t known but was light and fruity with some strawberry characteristics. We also had some assorted snacks. The food came quickly and was tasty.   This was more of a western bar rather than a Japanese one, and much of Shinjuku and Shibuya has been taken over by these tiny fushion bars. There is not much arm or leg room, the seats are tiny, though the chair design has been chosen so that you can store…

Fishing RestaurantJapanJapan Tourist AttractionssashimiSeafood Restaurant JapanShinjukuShinjuku Tokyo Japansushisushi restaurantTokyoTravel Wine Food

Zauo Fishing Restaurant Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Catch your fish and they create sashimi from it, or cook it for you. ざうお

Last night was huge! We met up with some old friends at a place called Zauo ざうお where you can fish for the fish you want to eat. The restaurant is a short walk from one of the Shinjuku station exits and was hidden away in a shopping building. It had a little river of fish that ran around the inside of the restaurant with izakaya style tables situated around it. There were three main fish to choose from, though the cheaper fish were difficult to catch. The most expensive fish, the snapper, was easily caught, so of course I…

JapanJapan Tourist AttractionsTokyotokyo skytreeTokyo TowerTravel Wine Food

Tokyo Skytree Tembo Galleria Deck Video Japan Tourist Attraction

If you’re planning to visit Tokyo Skytree I recommend you put aside a day, and go early in the morning. Visit the Tembo Deck on level 350, and spend a few hours, go to the restaurant, visit the store, get your photo taken on the glass floor, then buy the extra ticket up to the Tokyo Skytree Tembo Galleria Deck. Approximately US$30pp to go up to floor 350 and approximately an additional US $20pp to go up to level 450. When I went there the first time I didn’t know you could pay an extra $US10 and get a fast ticket with…

JapanJapan Tourist AttractionsTokyotokyo skytreeTokyo TowerTravel Wine Food

Tokyo Skytree Tourist Attraction. Great View of Tokyo, Japan. 2 hour queues!

Our latest tourist attraction adventure was at Skytree, a massive tower built to view Tokyo, and taller than Tokyo Tower. After an hour wait to buy tickets to the main level and a few minutes to buy tickets for the top level, we experienced a sugoi moment with many others at the vista that spread out before us. I love modern cities, with Tokyo being one of my favourites, so seeing these amazing views was worth every yen. The second section is a separate price (much like the second and third sections of the Eiffel Tower) and requires a second ticket…

sashimiSeafood Markets JapanSeafood Restaurant JapanStreet Markets Japansushisushi restaurantTokyoTravel Wine Food

Tsukiji Fish Markets, Tokyo, Japan. Nearby Restaurant Serving Sushi, Sashimi, Sea Urchin, Kamenote and more.

Awesome breakfast this morning. The Tsukiji Tokyo Fish Markets were closed (they sometimes close randomly on a Wednesday, even if the website guarantees they’re open!) so we headed to a great sushi place nearby where we tried some amazing seafood, including sushi such as sea urchin, tuna, snapper, squid, octopus and others, as well as hot and juicy rock worms which have an outer shell that looks a bit like turtle hands (kamenote – you can find them on the rocks at various beaches around the world). We also enjoyed a bowl of  chirashi ( a bowl of various sashimi)…

AkasakaJapanJapan Tourist AttractionsNinja CafeNinja RestaurantSeafood Restaurant JapanTokyoTokyo RestaurantsTravel Wine Food

Ninja Cafe Restaurant Izakaya Akasaka Tokyo Ninja Girls and Crazy Food!

Went to an amazing place called Ninja Restaurant. Even the food menu was unique and was a scroll available in Japanese and English. Taken by a ninja girl who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, through various hidden doors, up and down secret stairs and across a broken path that we could cross thanks to a suddenly lowering drawbridge after a few sharp claps, to a secret, private restaurant room. We were served by 7 different ninjas including a magician ninja who did card and coins on a ribbon tricks. They were surprising too. The door would suddenly be slid aside and…

AustraliaJALJapanJapan FlightJapanese AirlinesNarita AirportTokyoTravel Wine Food

Japanese Airlines JAL Flight Sydney to Tokyo, and information about Narita Airport in Japan

The Japan Airline JAL flight was great. There was some turbulence due to the aftereffects of a nearby typhoon but otherwise uneventful. As I’m allergic to dairy and gluten I requested a non-allergy meal and I wasn’t disappointed. I was able to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner without the slightest reaction to anything they gave. Also, people with allergies, religious needs, disabilities or children get served first. This is a great situation as it means that those people get first access to the toilets afterwards and helps reduce the queues. Most people are allergic to dairy and gluten to varying…

Travel Wine Food

Welcome to the Travel, Wine and Food Blog. Your Window Into Food, Wine and Great Experiences Around the World.

        It’s great to have you with me! Like me you love reading about places, drinks and food around the world, and this blog is all about that. It’s actually been two years in the making. I have thousands of reviews of great restaurants, awesome places, amazing wine and more. Pictures, videos, and adventures. There’s so much to write about that it’ll be years before I catch up, so I hope you enjoy the ride! To start, expect to read (and see if there’s a video!) – Restaurants, food and wine in Australia, Japan and other places around the world –…