Unfortunately I didn't document my first food experience in Sasebo but I can tell you a little about it.
We went to a place in the Ginza. Which is the longest mall in Japan. It isn't your typical mall though. It's outdoor, but covered. They have shops of every kind there. Honestly, anything you could possibly want or need is at the Ginza!
So our new friend, Faye, took us to this one place that is Japan's Denny's Diner equivalent. They had a little of everything.
When we got to this place, we had to sign in to a sheet. We didn't tell a server how many was in our party, we wrote it down on the sheet. When the host was ready, he went to the sheet, called out the next name and showed them to their seat.
We get to our seat, the waitress gives us water and menus and then departs to help other tables. Now, I'm not sure how it is in a traditional Japanese restaurant, but in most other places there is a button you press when you are ready to order and when you are done with your meal. I thought that was pretty cool. It probably is much more convenient for the server!
Luckily, on this particular excursion, we had English menus. We get ready, hit the button, and order. Now...we don't speak a lick of Japanese yet so we did a lot of pointing and nodding. Haha. When we conveyed what we wanted, the waitress went over the whole order with us so she could be extra sure. I thought that was cool. It's typical too I guess.
I got a beef and rice bowl and Jordan had beef and veggies. It was delicious! But really it wasn't any different than what I could get in America. It also wasn't super traditional but it was still good!
By the way, their soda and juices do not taste the same as America's. They don't add a lot to their drinks. You know how when you drink soda or juice and you have that syrupy after texture? Not here. That was cool.
On to experience number two which I DID document!
Before Jordan and I got here, we tried sushi a couple times. And we fell in love. We even tried traditional sushi where it is just the raw fish and rice. Still good. Why? I don't know. So when our friend, Faye took us to a super popular sushi place I was so freaking excited!!!
First of all, this place was farther into the town of Sasebo. There was less and less English to be seen or heard.
When we walked in, to my right was a sink that guests could wash their hands in before and after their meal. Now you don't see that in America. We didn't have to sign a sheet to indicate our party number and the host was able to seat us right away.
To give you an idea of what it looked like, there were only booths and a sushi conveyor belt that went around the whole restaurant in between the booths. The conveyor belt thing isn't new to me, there are places in Seattle with those. However, in Seattle they are just in one area, here it was the whole restaraunt!!!
We sat down and to my left was the conveyor belt. Just above that was a touch screen that we set to English and from there we could make our order. We also had the option of just grabbing what came by as long as it wasn't set on a certain plate. Those plates specified the table it belonged to.
The dispenser in the middle is hot water for green tea and the tea is in the brown container. Chop sticks of course are on the other side. There were no utensils but they were available if asked for. Good think I knew how to use chopsticks because I have no idea how to ask for a damn fork!
Here are a couple pictures of what I tried:
The picture above is cooked, eel...yes, eel and it was SOOOOO good! I have no idea what the white shit is on top. It tasted weird, or maybe it was the texture, but the whole thing was super tasty!
This right here is a tuna roll. I've never had seaweed before so that was interesting. Very, very chewy. If it was smaller it would have been better. Now, straight up tuna and rice? Fucking awesome.
See the red bowl with a blue sticker? That's what our food was served on if we ordered it. That way we knew it was ours.
If you know me at all, you know I can eat. I can eat for DAYS! Blame athletics for that. However, I had to cut my excursion short here. Faye and Jordan were done and I felt rude to keep eating. Next time I go there though....watch out!
I honestly believe, deep down in my belly, I could eat that many plates just by myself!!! Haha, but that was all three of us.
Ok now here's what I know about Japanese customs when it comes to eating. Not that I see a lot of people in general do this, but you know how we typically talk with our hands and with anything we are holding? When it comes to food, never talk and make hand gestures with cutlery or chopsticks in your hands. Disrespectful. Also never keep your chopsticks or cutlery stuck in your food. That is typically associated with death.
I also heard it us rude to leave your chopsticks on your plate when you are not eating, but I'm not sure.
There are also specific types of meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Although you can find all sorts of different types of food here. There's an Italian place right up the street. It makes me laugh, I really need to try it out. I hear it's good though!
Did you know that Sasebo, Japan is where the burger was first introduced? In 1950 some dude in the Navy showed the Japanese the American burger and they loved it. Sasebo is country renowned for their burgers and its where it all started for them. I don't know how they taste to my standards (I'm a burger snob) but I can't wait to try one. I hear they are outrages!!!! There are like 12 differently locations dedicated to burgers. All with weird names and mascots.
So that's all for now!! I'll be sure to document all my foodie adventures. I really want to go to a real traditional Japanese place. That would be awesome.
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