Japan Series - Food

This time, for a change, I had some pretty poor Japanese food. This is due to catering to the lowest denominator when there are five of us and each of us has different tastes and preferences. Once, we evaluated at least 6 restaurants and ended up at a chicken place that served the most awful food. Even the yakitori was hard and unyielding, and the chicken pieces on my rice was all skin and little meat.

Sushi on conveyor belt.

This is a popular sushi restaurant at the Yokohama station. On a Saturday night, it was overflowing with diners, all patiently waiting on benches on one side of the restaurant. Inside the restaurant, there are metal shelves for diners to deposit their coats and shopping, all left unattended on an honesty system. All over Japan, I see things being provided to customers, e.g. spectacles at the ticket centre, umbrellas at a bus stop, without being chained to an unmovable object for fear of being appropriated by customers. The honesty system is quite humbling. For once, the hotel would lend me an umbrella without a signature in case the item is not returned and then a charge would be levied in the bill.

Kaiseki

This kaiseki is a simple version for a mere 38,000 JPY. The more elaborate versions start at 80,000 JPY. I've seen kaiseki advertised for 100,000 JPY. This time, I have learnt to mix the turnip paste into the sashimi sauce, courtesy of instruction from the waiter.

A sushi counter

I ate at this sushi restaurant - a really old fashioned place where the diners know the chefs and would buy the latter a drink or two. As you can see, the diners can smoke with impunity. There was an English menu but unfortunately the chef could not read English! So I asked him to decide for me. It was the first time that I was introduced to sea urchin and raw shrimp, an experience that I am not likely to repeat in a hurry. I also witnessed the menu for locals written in oblong pieces of paper - nothing like the laminated variety offered to visitors like me.