No Translation in Tokyo: Ordering the Wrong Food at an Izakaya Restaurant
An izakaya is a casual restaurant frequented by corporate workers, or as colloquially called, the salary men, for after work socials over drinks and food. I made an entry about this here: Izakayas: Traditional Japanese Gastropubs, Male Supermacy and Why is Smoking Indoors still Acceptable in Japan?
Dutchman actually spotted this izakaya restaurant near our hotel on his way back one evening. ‘I found a restaurant nearby that you would definitely like! I promise!’ he announced as he entered the hotel room. You know, I was shackled to the bed because of a bronchitis situation which later turned into a pneumonia crisis. Nevertheless, I need to feed myself so I got dressed up and we went to this restaurant.
He knows my penchant for very local but nice places to eat so his definition of ‘what I like’ is obviously based on here. He got it right though because the place had a very Japanese façade and interior design, and we were the only foreigners around, which heightened my ‘experiencing Tokyo the local way’ trip objective. This was by the way our first time dining at an izakaya restaurant.
Upon entering the establishment, we were greeted with a loud chain of ‘Irrashaimasse!’ shouts by all the staff. For a moment I thought I just entered a Friday’s restaurant, haha. You know at Fridays, or at certain upbeat American restaurant food chains, waiters are always in a state of euphoric mood, yelling hellos and welcomes and later announcing at your table—‘Hi! I am your waiter for the evening!’ At izakayas though, they just tend to greet, albeit enthusiastically, customers when they arrive, as well as when they leave.
Each wait staff is not exclusive to a particular table, they wait on every customer, which is more similar to some of the European practices. Any wait staff can serve you. I am happy with that. Also, the Japanese does not accept tips. Now I like that. Transparency.
So we started looking at the menus. Turned the pages. Looked some more. And turned some more pages...
Uhum. Our eyes just kept glazing over at the menu, page per page...
We are not getting it? Everything was in Japanese, and there was no English translation available. It is almost impossible to second guess a dish as well because the Japanese language is character based. So we thought of a brilliant idea: We will narrow down our choices to the ones with pictures. Aren’t we just so smart he?
Feeling a bit confident of our choices, we ordered our food. But little did we know that we ordered the wrong kind of food. Except for the free starter though, which is the fresh cabbage and whisky-wasabi sauce, and oh, by the way, the sauce was super delicious and very addictive(!), all the foods we ordered were a flop. A total fail.
I ordered an innards-butt-of-a-chicken barbecue in what I thought was a pork barbecue. Although this was tasty, I barely ate it.
Dutchman ordered sautéed chicken skin in what he thought were filet chicken strips. Eww, chicken skin???
And we both ordered an additional very spicy and oily rice in what we thought was a normal fried rice. Because I was sick, I was supposed to stay away from spicy and oily foods.
So for food: Ugh, total fail. But for the ambiance: We quite enjoyed the place. We really liked the local setting and the friendly staff, it helped compensate for the wrong food we ordered and the smoking indoors (which is pretty much normal for most izakaya restaurants). Fortunately I came armed with a face mask.
The lesson: When in doubt? ASK. And well, with the hopes that the wait staff speaks English, haha. This is, after all, Japan =)
Travel Period: November 2014
Destination: Chuo (Tokyo), Japan
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
Everything is in Japanese so I have no idea of the name of this izakaya restaurant. The restaurant is located in Kodenmacho area in Chuo, Tokyo.
Dutchman actually spotted this izakaya restaurant near our hotel on his way back one evening. ‘I found a restaurant nearby that you would definitely like! I promise!’ he announced as he entered the hotel room. You know, I was shackled to the bed because of a bronchitis situation which later turned into a pneumonia crisis. Nevertheless, I need to feed myself so I got dressed up and we went to this restaurant.
He knows my penchant for very local but nice places to eat so his definition of ‘what I like’ is obviously based on here. He got it right though because the place had a very Japanese façade and interior design, and we were the only foreigners around, which heightened my ‘experiencing Tokyo the local way’ trip objective. This was by the way our first time dining at an izakaya restaurant.
Upon entering the establishment, we were greeted with a loud chain of ‘Irrashaimasse!’ shouts by all the staff. For a moment I thought I just entered a Friday’s restaurant, haha. You know at Fridays, or at certain upbeat American restaurant food chains, waiters are always in a state of euphoric mood, yelling hellos and welcomes and later announcing at your table—‘Hi! I am your waiter for the evening!’ At izakayas though, they just tend to greet, albeit enthusiastically, customers when they arrive, as well as when they leave.
Each wait staff is not exclusive to a particular table, they wait on every customer, which is more similar to some of the European practices. Any wait staff can serve you. I am happy with that. Also, the Japanese does not accept tips. Now I like that. Transparency.
So we started looking at the menus. Turned the pages. Looked some more. And turned some more pages...
Uhum. Our eyes just kept glazing over at the menu, page per page...
We are not getting it? Everything was in Japanese, and there was no English translation available. It is almost impossible to second guess a dish as well because the Japanese language is character based. So we thought of a brilliant idea: We will narrow down our choices to the ones with pictures. Aren’t we just so smart he?
Feeling a bit confident of our choices, we ordered our food. But little did we know that we ordered the wrong kind of food. Except for the free starter though, which is the fresh cabbage and whisky-wasabi sauce, and oh, by the way, the sauce was super delicious and very addictive(!), all the foods we ordered were a flop. A total fail.
This is the free starter: fresh chunky cabbage and the secret weapon of sauce--whisky and wasabi. I did not ask what it was really, I just assumed as it tasted like the whisky sauces we have here in the Netherlands, with a touch of wasabi.
Not my kind of bbq really.
I ordered an innards-butt-of-a-chicken barbecue in what I thought was a pork barbecue. Although this was tasty, I barely ate it.
It's all chicken skin =) Fat stuff, high cholesterol calling.
Dutchman ordered sautéed chicken skin in what he thought were filet chicken strips. Eww, chicken skin???
The too spicy and too oily fried rice.
And we both ordered an additional very spicy and oily rice in what we thought was a normal fried rice. Because I was sick, I was supposed to stay away from spicy and oily foods.
Our whole dinner spread minus my innard-butt bbq.
So for food: Ugh, total fail. But for the ambiance: We quite enjoyed the place. We really liked the local setting and the friendly staff, it helped compensate for the wrong food we ordered and the smoking indoors (which is pretty much normal for most izakaya restaurants). Fortunately I came armed with a face mask.
The lesson: When in doubt? ASK. And well, with the hopes that the wait staff speaks English, haha. This is, after all, Japan =)
Travel Period: November 2014
Destination: Chuo (Tokyo), Japan
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
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