懐石料理 FTW!!

Jul.25.10 - 1:01a
Dinner was sooo great that it deserves a total post by itself!!

So we left shortly after 6:00p to Sensoji temple again because tucked away in some side alley is a quaint Japanese style farmhouse that serves kaiseki ryouri 懐石料理!! OMG, ever since I started watching the 點解日本咁好玩's, I've always wanted to try kaiseki. Last time when I was in Osaka, I didn't get a chance to go but this time, I told myself I must! Thanks to the handy Frommer's guidebook, we easily found the really really nice place to have my absolute first kaiseki experience.

We wouldn't have been able to locate this restaurant if it wasn't for the recommendation from the guidebook since we'd not think to head into some back alley after visiting such a big tourist attraction. After the hour-long subway ride, we came up to Waentei-Kikko 和えん亭　吉幸 and peered at the sign that had two tags that read 18:30 and 20:00. We thought: darn, did we miss the seating? Not wanting to wait around doing nothing for 1.5 hours, we decided to open up the traditional Japanese sliding door to let the owner know to expect us later, only to find out the place was deserted except for 2 tables (yes this place has no glass windows)! Great, that means we can eat! The cute (and really really polite) hostess, who spoke very little English, came up to us and welcomed us warmly. She pointed out that the restaurant was set menu only and made sure we knew what we were up against. I was getting so excited already! We sat down on a traditional tatami たたみ mat and ordered the 9 course kaiseki meal. They have a 7 course and 9 course regular set and the same with fugu. Since I've already had fugu before, Tinlop didn't care for it and most importantly, since we didn't have reservations, we ordered the simple set instead. Waaaaah, service was so impressive and impeccable! Food was presented very very nicely, as expected, and the taste was absolutely phenomenal!! The highlight of the night was definitely the mini concert the host gave playing the shamisen 三味線, a 3-stringed instrument which (if I understood correctly) he had 40 years experience playing. Waaaaahhhh, that was a real bonus lor! What an awesome awesome experience! Just before the performance, the host came by and asked us where we're from and during his performance, he mentioned having guests from Canada and played us a "Canadian" tune, lol... it was "Happy Birthday", LOL!! We finished dinner (I was all smiles), took some pics with the host and hostess and left just shortly before 9:30p. I was really happy I had my chance to carry a couple of very broken J conversations during dinner and that's exactly why I like speaking to people who speak very little English so I am forced to spit out what I can in Japanese.

We went back to the hotel and after Tinlop had taken his 3rd shower for the day, we went out again at 10:45p to check out Shinjuku Nichome again. This time, there were way more people but after a drink (I didn't even finish mine), Tinlop suggested we leave and we did. We spent a total of 40 minutes there, including the travel time to and from the hotel, LOL!

I am now trying desperately to finish the plum wine that I opened yesterday. Somehow, I can't seem to see that bottom of that thing! Literally too, since the bottle is completely black and opaque. I think I'm going to go take a quick shower, finish the wine and then hit the sack, concluding my final night of my shortened stay in the monstropolis of Tokyo. (1:44a)