Jahbella’s Tokyo Adventures (Jul 2015) – Ninja Restaurant Akasaka Review

Posted in Eating Out with Kids, Holidays, Japan by jahbella

One of the main things which we were worried about when it came to visiting Tokyo with the kids, was food. We heard that most places in Tokyo or at least those that would be serving the more ‘authentic’ Japanese experience, would not be too child friendly (think small places/ no high chairs/ unfriendly chefs/ zero tolerance for kids who make a pip). So how do we ensure that we get a decent experience (i.e no fast food) but yet feel welcomed and have the kids enjoy themselves.

Taking the train to Akasaka

A friend who had just returned from Tokyo recommended that we try the Ninja Restaurant at Akasaka. The Ninja Restaurant Akasaka is basically a themed restaurant which served mainly course meals and is ‘set’ in a Ninja village. The experience starts from the moment you enter their doors and its main entrance is so non-descript that you can’t even tell what’s behind that door on street level. In fact you wouldn’t even notice it unless you were looking for it. Trust me, we were looking for it and we missed it. :p

Upon entering, your Ninja guide would take you through the ‘village’. Through trap doors and door ways with low beams and ceilings. Lots of bending down and going down narrow stairways before you eventually reach the main dining room. It was all very dark so please excuse our photos which were all taken in a very dark restaurant. Oh and we couldn’t take any photos of our ‘journey’ through the village for fear of falling.

We prepped Jah way beforehand for fear of his reaction to the ‘scary’ ninjas and the dark restaurant so thankfully he was perfectly fine and loved the experience. However we totally forgot about prepping Bella, actually it would have been quite impossible to prep her. She was and is still currently in the phase of “I’m scared of everything” (come on! She was even afraid of standing next to cute ole Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland..sigh). So there was a bit of resistance from Bella and she insisted on sitting on Joel’s lap through the entire meal which was well not the best dining experience for him.

Anyway we were led to our private dining room, yes a private dining area/ room even though it was just the 4 of us. Thank goodness so that we could have some privacy to calm Bella. Oh yes and because we had kids with us, the restaurant had advised that we could only book the 5pm to 7pm dinner slot as they do not allow kids after 7pm due to the ‘nature of the crowd’. While some people might feel ‘discriminated’ by this, I felt that it is a very good system to ensure that the kids were allowed a friendly environment and no one was going to be upset that they might be seated next to kids. 🙂

Don't be fooled by this peaceful moment...Bella was super jumpy hahah

Don’t be fooled by this peaceful moment…Bella was super jumpy! Thank goodness for a private area!

We were asked to pre-order our sets when we made our email reservation so that the kitchen could ensure that they had the ingredients for what we wanted. They had a kids menu available but we chose to order 3 adults meals to share amongst the 4 of us because we weren’t really keen on the kids menu. However a recent check on their website shows that they have updated their kids menu offering a little and even offer a kids ninja bandana as part of the set. Would have been nice if they had it during our visit 🙂

That is where she will stay for most of the meal…:/

We ordered their 2 sets of their Tasting Course as well as their Jyubei course. The courses were delivered one by one and only after you have completed each course. So you would probably buffer about 2 hours for the meal. The food was good! Some dishes probably alittle ‘stranger’ than I would have liked but we all loved their beef. In fact the kids were fighting us for the only course of beef that we ordered..grrrr…We didn’t take photo of a lot of our food because we were so caught up in eating, the entertainment and also with pacifying with Ms Bella so honestly the food photos don’t do the meal much justice.

Yes..all edible! Jah was made to believe that they gave him Ninja power!

Some of the courses were accompanied by a bit of fanfare – like dry ice coming out of a ‘treasure box’ which they would ask you to open and also get you to crack the magic egg, or a ninja sword display before you were served your next dish as well as some drama as your ninja server prepares your stone boiled soup.

Magic box…

Magic egg???

Dramatic Sword Display with fire!

Stone boiled soup (The soup was cooked with hot rocks in the pot!)

We were initially concerned about whether the kids could sit through a 2 hour meal but with the fanfare and entertainment, the kids were entertained (or at least Jah was..Bella was just always on edge every time the Ninja reappeared with food :p)

They rounded up the meal with a private Ninja Magic Show where a magician would come to your private dining area and perform a few magic tricks. Jah was amused and annoyed all at the same time because he felt tricked by the magician’s ball disappearing from under the cup act. :p

Bella totally suspicious of our Ninja magician (Note no photos allowed during the magic show)

What impressed me about the experience was the fact that the show didn’t just end with dinner. Our Ninja server engaged us and the kids all the way as she was escorting us out of the ‘village’ and even needed Jah to help perform some ‘magic’ before the door would finally open to let us out. They even took their act all the way to street level as they bid us goodbye.

It was an awesome first dinner out in Tokyo and truly a wonderful official start to our Tokyo Trip. 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

More of our kid friendly Tokyo Adventure coming up soon…

In the meantime, you can read about…

29Oct2015

JahBella’s Tokyo Adventure (Jul 2015) – Tsukiji Market and Hakkuhinkan Toy Park with Kids

Posted in Holidays, Japan, Travel with Kids by jahbella

When I told people that we were intending to holiday in Tokyo with the kids for 11 days, most were surprised and then skeptical. After all what was there to do in Tokyo with 2 kids under 4, besides the whole Disney thing and that definitely does not take 11 days. For those who are wondering or who are even considering Tokyo as a holiday destination with kids, I can assure you that we found some absolutely kid friendly stuff to do and were able to adapt some adult stuff to suit the kids. In fact we found a lot more kid friendly stuff than we eventually attempted.

Our first morning (after a full day flight and a good night’s rest) brought us to Tsukiji Market. Yes Tsukiji Market! 🙂 Joel and I really wanted to visit the fish market but were unsure if the kids could cope in that bustling, wet and chaotic environment. We decided that we did not need the ‘full experience’ of a fish market early morning auction but just really wanted to take in the touristy ‘retail’ market part of it.

We travelled relatively light with only a backpack that contained our raincoats, 2 toddler carriers as well as the spare clothes, diapers, pee bags and wipes needed by the kids.

We headed out pretty early and reached the Tsukiji Station at about 9am, from there it was a slow 5 to 10 minutes’ walk to the market. We actually took the longer route that morning because the rain threw us off and I couldn’t get my bearings despite having my Google Map in hand. I was too busy adjusting our raincoats and ensuring that everyone was as dry as they could be. However we did managed to take the shorter route when we came back a week later. 🙂

We chanced upon a ‘fast food’ joint near Tsukiji Market and stopped for a very early brunch during our 2nd Tsukiji Market visit

Simple kiddy sets and curry rice for Bella who discovered her love for curry rice in Japan

Simple kiddy sets for Bella who discovered her love for curry rice in Japan

Running out of cash on our 2nd last day and was saved by the Suica card (similar to our EZ-link card)

We finally got to Tsukiji Market and what is known as the Outer Market which is where all the retail touristy stuff take place. I was quite surprised that Jah and Bella were quite adventurous and were willing to try out random food that we passed.

Not so chaotic right?

Now what about this? :p

Mummy!! They sell jelly beans at the fish market! Can we buy?

Ice cream!!!!

Perfect for a hot day! Yes the 2nd trip to Tsukiji Market was blazing hot!

We taste tested Tamagos (egg) from random stalls (these stalls are a dime a dozen) and we were so intrigued by an old couple grilling huge scallops that we had to stop to try. It helped that the stall was well-sheltered and we could take our time to finish our piping hot scallops. Jah loved it so much that he slurped every bit of it including the ‘sauce’. In fact, he loved this new found taste and food so much that we had to later stop at another shop to order a second round. This time round, we had scallops in butter as well as large oysters that were super cheap. This shop was connected to a restaurant so we were able to order drinks and beer to go with our food and we stood around a huge barrels which acted as tables. Quite the experience for the little ones! In fact the reason that we came back a second time (aside from the fact that Joel and I wanted more yummy scallops), was because Jah and Bella loved it so much that they wanted to come back too! Who would have thought right?

Bella and her tamago

Aunty adding uni to our scallops! There were crab claws in there too!

Time to cook it!! Yummy!

Mummy can I eat it already?

Scallops! Oysters! Beer!

Savouring his scallops…we lost count of how many he had but we know he had most of our share

We proceeded to a random restaurant for lunch after, even though we were already quite full from all that snacking. This is supposed to be Sushi/ Sashimi restaurant paradise so I wasn’t leaving until I had my sashimi lunch. However our random lunch turned out to be really disappointing and expensive so I guess nothing to rave about here.

It was almost 11am by the time we were done with our early lunch and Jah was insisting that we proceed to something that he wanted to do. :p A toy shop visit! So with my Google Map in hand, we made it back to the train station and headed to the Hakuhinkan Toy Park at Ginza.

Hello Little Red Riding Hood

Say fish!

Time for the Toy Store! Yay!

Tsukiji Market Trip – Mission Accomplished

Oh yes I have to share that we survived this trip by using the Google Map on my hand-phone. I used to print out hardcopy maps and pre-indicate the routes we would take. But the real-time GPS map came in very very handy! Of course you also need an internet connection which was no problem for us because we rented a wifi dongle from Changi Recommends. I love technology! :p

By the time we made it to Hakuhinkan Toy Park (It was a really long way *sweat*) It was almost 12pm and there were levels and levels of toys at the Toy Park so needless to say the kids were occupied for quite abit. There was even a car race track that you could pay I think approximately $1 to $2 to play for about 15 minutes. The kids loved it and wanted to go many times over.

Oh wow..where do we begin?

Choose a car..pay for your game and race away!

Bella could not resisit a few rounds too!

Jah having an absolutely tough time…

We eventually left Hakuhinkan Toy Park at about 2pm with our hands quite full and our pockets quite empty! :p So you have been warned! We also had to take a cab back to our hotel because there was no way I was going to struggle with cranky kids, tons of shopping bag and multiple changes at the train station. So yes if you decided to risk it and enter a toy shop like Hakuhinkan Toy Park, please be prepared to pay for a cab ride ‘home’. We paid about $60 for a 15 minutes ride from Ginza to our hotel (Hilton Tokyo Bay). We used one of those cab fare estimator website to prep ourselves so that we wouldn’t faint at the cab charges when we got to our destination. :p

More of our kid friendly Tokyo Adventure coming up soon…

In the meantime, you can read about…

JahBella’s Mummy

7Jul2015

JahBella @ the Singapore Zoo – Should we renew our membership?

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

We have had our Singapore Zoo Family Annual Membership for almost 2 years now and we are starting to wonder if we should renew it for the 3^rd consecutive run. After all we seem to be using it a lot less in recent times and how many times can a kid visit the zoo right?

So we decided to head to the zoo for ‘one last time’ before our annual membership ends in 2 weeks time and see if the zoo still holds the same appeal for the kids.

Since we forgot our umbrella strollers and neither parent was in the mood to carry a 13-15kg child in this hot weather, the kids were in for a treat! We rented a little wagon for them to enjoy their ‘ride’ through the zoo. The wagon could fit two kids comfortably and it cost S$15 for a full day rental. We were there for about 2 hours but it was still good fun and better than dragging tired kids around.

Did we really succeed in getting everyone to look at the camera and smile?!!!!

We visited the Koala Enclosure which was all the craze over the June School Holidays. There was a sign outside which informed us of the estimated wait (20 mins according to the sign) but we only waited 10 mins. I loved it! (for the aircon! :p) The kids were curious about the koalas for all of 5 minutes and then Jah wanted to go for the Elephant show. (To be fair, Bella was alittle more ‘nurturing’ and liked the little bears abit more.)

Now the Elephant show, yes the ever elusive Elephant Show! We have been to the zoo countless times over the past 2 years but no we have not caught the Elephant show. In fact we have seen all the shows and even some shows twice or thrice but we always can’t seem to get to this one on time. However getting to the Elephant show and ensuring that we had a seat for everyone, meant that we had to forgo the giraffe feeding and the Animal Show at the Kids area). In fact we almost didn’t get a seat because the seating is really limited and it runs out so quickly.

Surprisingly the kids were ok with waiting 30 minutes for the show to begin and it was pretty fun. Jah apparently wants to come back for the Elephant show again the next time. But someone probably has to remind him that that means no giraffe feedings and what not.

After grabbing our customary Fanta Slushies in the special tall bottles, we were off for lunch. One of the reasons, I don’t fancy coming to the zoo is because I always have trouble figuring out how to feed the kids after. The choice of F&B or lack of really bugs me because there is so much potential and space here but so little ideas. I absolutely hate having to eat KFC everytime we come to the zoo and they don’t even have the breakfast options available. 😦

So I was quite excited relieved to find out that they had open a few new F&B outlets at the entrance of the zoo. This meant variety as well as a fast exit to the car after lunch. We decided to try out Chawang Café which served pasta, fish and chips and a few varieties of hotdog buns. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and the speed of the service. That being said, I wished they had some options for the kids or at least a kid sized portion. (Side note: I would go for the hotdog buns over the fish and chips which Jah rejected because he didn’t like the ‘oily’ taste’. The hotdog buns were pretty decent with their different toppings and sauces).

So will JahBella be renewing their Annual Family Membership for the consecutive run? At less than S$200 per annum for a family of 4, we will have to go to the zoo at least twice in the year to make it worth our while/ money. I say why not! After all the kids do love the Singapore Zoo and we do have one of the best zoos in the world don’t we? 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

8Mar2015

Penang Holiday (Oct 2014) – Adventure Zone

Posted in Holidays, penang by jahbella

Adventure Zone was initially meant to be a back-up activity in case it rained during our time in Penang. How could we let good sunny days go to waste, after all we were staying at a hotel with fantastic pool facilities and a nice beach right in front of us. However the kids got alittle bored of swimming everyday and so we had to bring in our stand-by activity.

Adventure zone is a facility with drop slides and play equipments for the whole family. There were slides available for all ages and also for those with little dare devil children (I didn’t know mine were until then). For those who are considering to go to Adventure Zone, please bring along socks, long pants and a long sleeve top , this is to help prevent ‘burns’ when coming down the slides and they are really strict on the dress code.

I know my kids look like they are on a winter holiday

It is located within the grounds of the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort and Golden Sands Resort so it is ultra convenient for families staying there. It is a 3 minute cab ride away from Hard Rock Penang. The good thing about the place is the fact that adults need not pay if they were accompanying a paying child.

Upon entering the facility, you will find lockers for you to keep your belongings and a small café area for the kids to take a break or for parents of older children to ‘hang out’. The café area has an unblocked view of all the slides so that you can keep a watch on your kids from where you are. It is also located right next to the toddler play area which is very convenient.

Toddler Play Area (Separate from the big play area and slides)

We spent alittle bit of time at the toddler play area for Jah and Bella to warm up but they really didn’t need much of that. I think all our indoor playground sessions in Singapore made them a little more adventurous. :p

We initially rode tandem with Jah and Bella on the ‘gurney sack’ slide but it wasn’t long before Jah wanted to go on his own and we were coming down the slide, side by side. The only downside of him having so much fun and wanting to go again and again, was the fact that I had to repeatedly climb up the long flight of stairs for 3 seconds of ‘thrill’.

Whee! It was quite fast!

Thank goodness there were other areas for them to explore and Jah and Bella occupied themselves with climbing up ramps and across ‘bridges’.

Miss Dare Devil Bella

We were there for almost 2 hours and in that 2 hours, Jah had silently worked up the courage to attempt one of the vertical slides. I never knew this boy was so fearless. I have to say that it was probably easier for him to attempt it since I was lowering him down the side whereas other kids and adults (like myself) had to sit on the ledge and well push ourselves off the ledge. Scary stuff!! (And it wasn’t even their scariest slide).

The scariest slide of the lot…we didn’t try it

My little fearless boy looked like a rag doll coming down the slide and he was so disoriented after landing in the ball pit that he wasn’t quite sure where to go but 30 seconds later, he wanted to go again!

I have to say that we didn’t really expect much from Adventure Zone but I guess sometimes all you need are a few slides and a dose of courage! We will be back the next time we are in Penang for sure!

JahBella’s Mummy

1Mar2015

iTheatre’s Aesop’s Fables (Media Invite)

Posted in Media Invite, Plays/ Theatre, Reviews by jahbella

Theatre boy (Jah) and I were invited by iTheatre to their latest production Aesop’s Fables at the Raffles Hotel Jubilee Hall and we decided to bring Papa Joel along. Papa Joel usually hates it when I ask him to join me for a play or musical because he just doesn’t have the attention span for it :p But he was more than willing to come for this production because he wanted to witness Jah’s interest in theatre for himself.

This is our second time at an iTheatre production (the first was Hop and Honk) and I have to say that you realize how super passionate they are for theatre and super good at what they do when you see the effort that goes into their programme booklet, stage set and props.

Mandatory Poster pic

Checking out the programme and activities in the booklet 🙂

Thanks for the goodie bag iTheatre!

Programme Booklet

Awesome backdrop

The 50 minutes show (no intervals) revolved around a theatre troupe, the Crowfoot Troupe taking us through 8 fantastic fables. The show was filled with catchy tunes, intelligent humor and great acting! Jah had declared a few times to me that he was scared of some of the characters even though he understood that it was all pretend, just like in his speech and drama classes. He even said “the uncles and aunties act so well!” :p

Wefie!

The show is suitable for theatre goers ages 3 years and up. Although they do say till 13, I’ll have to say “up” because adults like Papa Joel and I enjoyed ourselves immensely too! Papa Joel actually thanked me for bringing him along for the show!

Not only did I enjoy the production elements of the show, I also truly enjoyed the storyline. It was nice to be reminded of the moral of the story behind each Aesop’s Fable. Yes the ones we had learnt as children but somehow had forgotten that they apply to us even in today’s world. It also has given me a lot of ‘material’ to work with for the next couple of months when it comes to introducing Aesop’s Fables to Jah and telling/ reminding him of the moral of each story.

So if you are looking for some good fun for the family and something educational for the little ones then check out iTheatre’s Aesop’s Fables! We can’t wait to catch Gingerbread Man by iTheatre when it premieres in May! 🙂