Eating Out

It's really fun to go out to eat here. I have tried so many new foods! I only have pictures of a couple of the things I've tried.

The first picture is of okonomiyaki. I've been to two different okonomiyaki restaurants, one with western-style seating (ie. normal table and chairs for you folks) and one with Japanese-style seating (a low table and thin cushions on the floor). In the middle of your table is a special hotplate used to cook your food. You order your ingredients and your server brings them in a bowl with batter and a raw egg. You mix all of the ingredients together in the bowl and cook it on the hot plate at your table. You can add a special sauce, fish flakes, or seaweed flakes to your dish. Okonomi means "what you like" and yaki means "cooked" or "grilled."

The second picture is of kawara soba (grean tea buckwheat noodles cooked on a Japanese roof tile). The noodles are topped with beef, thinly sliced eggs, nori (thin dried seaweed sheets), and green onions. It was served on a very hot Japanese roof tile. There was a special sauce (momiji oroshi - grated daikon mixed with red mustard) for dipping. In the restaurant I went to in Mojiko you had the option of western or Japanese-style seating.

Of course pretty much everything is eaten with chopsticks, which I am finally getting used to. Not all restaurants have napkins for you to place on your lap (Japanese don't put napkins on their laps), but you do get a wet (often hot) towel called oshibori to clean your hands before eating.