Steak and Sushi, Exeter, Devon.

This is another meal I had a while back, at a restaurant called 'Steak and Sushi' it included a two course meal for £12, which wasn't bad at all! For the first course I had a seared teriyaki beef salad, which was beautifully seasoned! My partner had tempura shrimp, which were beautifully presented and tasted great! 

For the second part of the meal I had a mixed sushi platter, I enjoyed the tuna, bass and shrimp nigiri, but I didn't enjoy the cucumber maki or the tofu very much - the rice seemed slightly stale. My boyfriend had a teriyaki chicken udon, which tasted gorgeous!!

Cost around £30 for the two of us, I feel it was worth it, staff were very friendly and the restraunt wasn't very busy, recommended, and I shall be returning! 

Asian House Sushi

Apologies for the poor photo quality, as I only had my phone, I ate at a restaurant named 'Asia House' in Jefferson city, Tn, I'm not an expert on sushi, but I really enjoy it, and have eaten it at many different restaurants. As far as I can tell, this stuff if great! ha!


I had crunchy shrimp roll, which consisted of tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber and mayo; it was delicious!! such and amazing texture and beautiful presentation, although the photo is far from flattering! My second roll was a simple vegetable roll, cucumber, avocado, spring onion and cream cheese if i remember correctly,  this was also delightful!! Price wise, it was brilliant, sushi rolls costed around $5 each, and main rice and noodle dishes are only around $9. Highly recommended to anyone living in East Tennessee! 

I Enjoy Good Food!! - Wagamama

Yaki udon

Some people have said that Wagamama isn't good - I have to admit, their ramen is far from up to scratch, very salty broth with tasteless noodles, but their udon dishes are to die for; 
I had the yaki udon (top), its one of my favorite foods, thick udon noodles, with chicken, shiitake mushrooms, pickled ginger, spring onions, red onions, bean sprouts, prawns, sesame seeds, - pure heaven!!  
My boyfriend, Josh, has the amai udon (below) thick udon noodles in a sweet, peanut sauce, with lime - tasted great! So I agree wagamamas ramen and soup dishes are overpowering and far from authentic, but their udon dishes are full of flavour and texture!! So I highly recommend them! As for price, its fair expensive, but I feel its worth it for a good evening meal, each dish is around £8, which isn't bad for a good restaurant, side dishes are near £5, and soft drinks are £2 so for the two of use it was about £30. 

Amai udon

As for sides; we had the tori karaage and teriyaki ribs, both were good, I think the ribs are a bit expensive, but the karaage and the dipping sauce are to die for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Tori karaage

Teriyaki ribs

So, my verdict on wagamama is a good one - The foods tasty, the service is quick, and the servers are polite, the foods is made fresh and uses quality ingredients, and I will not be hesitating to return!  but don't go for the ramen, else you won't enjoy it, really! 

(Wagamama, Exeter, Devon) 

Study tool reviews!

White Rabbit, Kanji Flashcards. 

I find these cards really useful, they're small, compact and perfect for taking on a bus/plane/train and studying, I bought the first series secondhand for less than £10 and they have been so worth it! I haven't used the 'Kana' or series 2 or 3 yet, but have thoroughly enjoyed series 1 and they have been useful, so after December I will not hesitate in purchasing series 2. As they are flash cards, it is easy to make your own, but these do have a lot of helpful conjunctions as well as the stroke order, I would say not to buy them at full price, but they are defintly worth what I payed! 


Price: not worth full price, but wouldn't hesitate to pay £20
Usefulness: essential, compact, and perfect for testing yourself on kanji knowledge. 
Out of 10: 9/10

Genki Japanese course textbooks. 

Perhaps one of the best book series I have looked at, this is one that I have stuck with, although, it can get repetitive, it is not quite as bad as some others! I think the repetitiveness is necessary though, the only thing I find frustrating, is that as they gradually introduce kanji, they do not have the stroke order, or the kanji in bigger print, so it is a hassle to cross-reference the kanji or record it for future use, this is not a big deal though, and I would recomend this series to most people, its pretty beginner friendly to, by the end of it, you will know most content for the JLPT N5. 

Price: I would say this is worth full price, but you can get it VERY cheap of Amazon!

Usefulness: very useful, series 1 is good for beginners and the series extends well so you do learn!

Out of 10: 8/10

Japanese; the manga way. 

I got this very cheap at a second hand store, in like new condition, I think it was about £2! I have never read it all the way through, but it is both fun and useful to dabble in and out of. it has short 2 or 3 panel strips written in kanji and kana from the start, it then breaks this up into Romaji, literal meaning, and translated meaning, it then has footnotes explaining grammar points, formal/informal interjections and culture notes, I think this is a great book for beginners, (and manga lovers of course)

This book will help you with your reading and casual conversation, but it's not a book to souly rely on, just a fun book to read and pick up more casual phrases and written grammar.  

Price: Very cheap on Amazon - recomended for about £15, but no more! 

Usefulness: not very useful on its own, but makes a fun book to read on the side.  

Out of 10: 7/10

Colloquial Japanese

I took this book out of my local library, which I highly recommend doing if your library has any foreign language books! I enjoyed the exercises, they were simple and fun, it included a lot of, write this kana in kanji and vise versa (if i remember correctly), which I found very useful, although, I wouldn't call most the content 'colloquial' it was fairly standard and similar to the content in most other books. If I remember correctly, the exercises begin fairly simple and are easy to follow, it also came with some tapes, but I don't have a tape player so wouldn't be able to tell you there quality!  

Price: I would be happy to pay £20 for this, although I got it free from the library. 

Usefulness: I thought it was very useful!!

Out of 10: 8/10

Japanese for Bust People

Another book I got cheap second hand! Which I'm glad of, as I don't think its worth full price and it certainly isn't for 'Busy People'! It's a pretty hefty book, very repetitive, and the execises are so boring (in my opinion atleast) I barely reached half way through this book, because I did NOT enjoy it, it was very business based! it may be some peoples cup of tea, but if I don't enjoy something I won't pay attention or want to learn from it; and this book was not enjoyable! 

Price: I thought t was good for the £3 I payed, but would never pay full price!! 

Usefulness: very boring, may be good for some - but not me!

Out of 10: 2/10

My Goals ~~~

I am currently working towards the JLPT N4/5 ~ I know all of the required syllabus for the N5, but fear I may fail if I try and jump into the N4 without being prepared enough!! I have until September to decide! 

After I finish my A levels, I shall be taking a gap year, and shall be spending a month or so in Japan with my best friend and at least 3 months in the USA, before going to university. 

In Japan I shall be visiting a place called Shizuoka, as well as traveling to areas such as Kyoto, I would love to visit Okinawa, but I'm not sure thats possible with the funds I have! 

As for University, I am aiming to get into either Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or East Anglia,  depending on the grades I get in August, I may apply to Oxford Brookes or Lancashire as back ups, as they require lower grades!

Are any of you studying towards the JLPT? 

About me :)

My name is Joelle Alice, I am currently going into my last year of college, or high school, if you're American! I live in the UK, but love to travel - My dad lives in the USA and I spend a lot of time there!

I am making this blog for a few reasons, at the moment my life isn't very exiting, but, I am soon going traveling and going to start University, I'd like to record my experiences and let my friends and family see what I'm up to! I'm also using this blog to record my goals, and weather I achieve them!! 

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So who knows what's to come :)