Itadakimas!!!

(pictured: tissues, menu, weird chili garlic stuff, oil, toothpicks, soy sauce, white pepper, chopsticks, water jug... Not pictured: hot red oil stuff. Also, Itadakimas=I am about to receive or Bon Apetite!)

Ramen. It's more than a bag of dehydrated noodles and sodium-filled seasonings. It's a comfort food. It's a bowl of hot broth, hearty vegetables, and fresh springy noodles. It's an addiction.
That's the menu. Well, part of it. Luckily in Japan, most menus are picture menus and unlike the US, the food that you're served actually LOOKS like the food in the menu. Like, perfectly the same. It's mind boggling, really. Anyways, this ramen shop is our favorite guilty pleasure. If money grew on trees, we'd eat there every day but sadly, money doesn't grow on trees, nor is the Yen/Dollar exchange rate in our favor, so it's now just a place we visit every once in a while. Sigh.

This is what I normally get. Now, most ramen is very, very hot and so very yummy, but I'm an oddball. My favorite dish is this (That says Zaru Ramen. Yes, I can read it!) It's chilled noodles that you dip into the hot broth. I can't really describe the taste except that it's just really really full bodied and yummy and I think it's a soy sause base. Or something. Just come visit and try it yourself.


And that is what Blake normally gets. He and I aren't quite sure what the base is... or what's in it exactly, but Blake loooves it and loves it even more if he dumps a lot of hot oil in it! Whatever floats your boat.

This is the C Setto (C Set). It adds a bowl of seriously yummy fried rice and 6 wonderful tasting yummy gyoza to your meal. The gyoza is (I think ) pork with cabbage and other veggies and we love to dip it in a mixture of soy sauce and hot oil. The fried rice is also some kind of pork and veggies. They're both So. Good.



Take a look at that. Isn't it gorgeous? I love their food and how they make it all really pretty. See over to the left of the photo, you'll see our check. They bring it to you after your food is served and put it in a little holder thing so that when you're done, you just take the bill up to the register and pay. That's how pretty much all Japanese restaurants do it. Well, except of the ones that are major chains from the US like Outback Steakhouse and T.G.I.Fridays. There, they do it the American way... You know, you wave your arm around like an idiot trying to get the inattentive waitress' attention. No offense.

Side note: In Japan, customer service is sooooo wonderful and I'll miss it a LOT when we're back in the States. They're overly polite and always making sure that you have everything you need. Because of this, it makes us want to give them huge tips but guess what? Tipping is considered very, very rude in Japan. It's the same as telling the business, "Your business looks like it's failing. Here is my contribution to help you get bigger and better." Tipping is an insult. Cool, huh?

You're probably wondering what the name of the restaurant is. Well, so are we. Let us know when you figure it out :)