Shabu Shabu

The process at work

Before our final group dinner, I had never heard of Shabu Shabu. It is simply the boiling of meat, vegetables, and noodles at a temperature so high, it cookes completely immediately. The meat was very good with the tartar sauce, which I had never tasted before. It was decent with the soy sauce as well, but was better with the tartar sauce. I preferred the beef to the pork because the pork still had fat on it, but both were still very good. Of course, the rice was good as well.

Cultural story of the night: I asked the waiter for water in Japanese and his response was “Water” in a tone that made me feel like he responded “Hey, I KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH!” It was hilarious. Not my fault he didn’t make it clear he spoke English. The restaurant itself was the perfect setting, especially at night.

Korean BBQ

An unheated BBQ unit

So after we visited FutureScope, we went for dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant. It was delicious. There was all kinds of meat and we were able to cook it ourselves. I had never been to a Korean BBQ in person so it was quite an experience. Wearing my dress clothes around the heat made it slightly uncomfortable, but I was able to endure it. The real challenge of the night was using the chopsticks, something I have never been able to master in over 2 years. Because of that, I left most of the cooking to everyone else at my table. My favorite piece at the table was the chicken with melted cheese on it. I could barely taste the cheese, but the chicken really hit the spot. And as a bonus, I learned that Dr. C is actually #@ years old! Overall, the Korean BBQ was one of the best food experience I’ve had since coming to Japan.

Uncooked food and food cooking on the grill