Sapporo Ramen Alley, Hokkaido king crab and Kinotoya Bake cheese tarts

Fat sweet scallops. Giant king crabs. Buttery sea urchin. If these words commanded your attention, you need to make your way to Hokkaido as soon as you can. This island oasis of crisp clean air and spectacular scenery is what I like to call the Tasmania of Japan, a haven for lovers of nature and good food.

My first trip to Hokkaido was five years ago for the Sapporo Snow Festival, a

Kin Senn Thai Street Food, Haymarket, Sydney

Thai cakes. We're talking flavours of Thai tea, young coconut, egg yolk and pandan slathered with cream. If you ever walked along Campbell Street in Sydney's Thai Town, you would have seen Ma Toom's cream-laden cakes out the front of a particular grocery store, beckoning you closer with its tortes and rainbow crepe cakes. They've moved around the corner to Pitt Street now, in the heart of Thai

Hiroshima okonomiyaki and hungry deer, conger eel and grape soft serves on Miyajima Island

"He's eating my itinerary!" There was a wild and shrieking panic as we ran after the deer, already swallowing the first sheet of racy_staci's bundled papers. We'd laughed at everyone else's stories of Miyajima deer eating maps out of people's hands - oh those silly people - but that didn't lessen the shock when it happened to us, the deer sneaking up behind our backs and then quietly and

Textbook Boulangerie-Patisserie, Alexandria

Decisions. It's never easy on your first visit to Textbook Boulangerie Patisserie, the newest haven for sweet tooths that opened in Alexandria less than a month ago. There's been a stampede of fans since the doors first opened, and no wonder. The army of glossy airbrushed desserts in the display cabinet - garnished with silver leaf, antennae of tempered chocolate and shields of macaron shells -

Papi Chulo, Manly

Fifteen bucks. That's all it'll cost you for the fanciest tater tots in Sydney. We're talking potatoes dauphine with chicken gravy and roasted bone marrow. But wait. There's more. Did you know that Papi Chulo currently has a winter dinner special for snacks, sides, a small main and a wine or beer for $35? Neither did I. I'm sure they're deliberately keeping it on the down low. We only happened

The Local Mbassy, Ultimo

Those red velvet pancakes. They've been all over my Instagram. That graduated tower of pancakes with fresh strawberries, layers of whipped cream and a generous blanket of icing sugar always looks picture perfect. The Local Mbassy might not have been around for long - it opened barely eight weeks ago - but there are already 456 location tagged photos. And 128 of them include their red velvet

Exam ramen at the first Ichiran in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan

Locals call it exam ramen, not because you have to take a test, but because each diner eats in individual stalls, much like a polling booth. It means minimal distraction from the bowl of steaming hot ramen in front of them. It's name is Ichiran. Few establishments take ramen as seriously as they do. They have only one style soup available, the tonkotsu pork collagen broth that originated in

Oregano Bakery, South Hurstville

You can't mention Oregano Bakery without talking about THAT cinnamon scroll. These giant pillows, laced with layers of cinnamon sugar and blanketed with a heavy snowfall of icing sugar, can be spotted in coffee shops and markets all over Sydney. They're even couriered overnight to Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane.

It wasn't always that way. When Sonia and Tony Jabbour first opened Oregano