But the menu is expensive and in unreadable script. Without a Japanese friend their is simply no translation.
Luckily some budget places have pictures on the ordering machine. You put your yen into a vending like machine, press the picture and out comes a coupon you give to the waitress.
Other places have plastic food outside but it doesn:t feel right to drag the waitress outside to show her what you want.
Grocery stores have aisles and aisles of ingredients and food with unreadable labels. I almost bought a jar of miso paste I mistook for peanut butter. I can:t even figure out if a bottle of tea has sugar added.
Markets have vegetables so perfect they look plastic. One market I went to had squid you caught from a pool with a fishing rod. Once caught the vender sliced it up and gave it to you squirming around on your plate. Fresh but not for me.
My solution is the convenience store. 7-11 or its equivalent does awesome lunches or dinners. Sushi, spaghetti bolagnese and everything in between sits on tables looking fake and heavily wrapped in plastic. You see exactly what you get and its always fresh and piping hot (not the sushi). Perfect and cheap. Dinner can be $4. Not as cheap as a budget eatery with $2.40 bowls of pork and rice but a lot easier to find. These prewrapped meals are sold in markets and grocery stores as well. Indeed almost everywhere. The Japanese can not seem to get enough of these convenient fresh meals that get snapped up often before they get cold.
The best meals here so far have been with Mizuho. Her friend Yuriko and her did an amazing hot pot at her house. Mizuho pulled out a massive bottle of homemade plum liquor and we sat down for an unbelievable feast. They cooked meat and veg which were shockingly dipped in raw egg before consumption.
The night before we went for all you can eat lamb. We went to a German style beer hall and sat at a small table containing a grill and we cooked out own meat and veg. We placed all our loose items in plastic bags before tieing on aprons for a BBQ feast that covered the table in grease spatters.
The food here is amazing. Even the chocolate is interesting. With names like MeltyKiss and Crunky how could you not try.
Ty
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Tyson Brooks
In India -
http://tysonwrites.blogspot.com/
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