Lunch Meetings

Me and my office mates go out for lunch every week. It's a ritual thing for them, conducted every Thursday. And when I joined the team, they asked me if I want to join. Of course, not wanting to turn down an offer from a Japanese (it's really rude to do that), I said yes.

"Yoshi! Don't bring any packed lunch this Thursday okay?" And thus started my weekly culinary adventures.

Ever since starting work last month, I've been to a whole lot of restaurants here and around Tokyo. Mostly Roppongi and Akasaka. And every time we finished eating, they'll offer to pay my bill. Why not? I said. But lunch after lunch, I've began to worry about their extreme hospitality. I tried to force my way to the cashier to pay, but they strongly insisted on letting them. Now I can't imagine myself paying for my meals on these lunches anymore.

Lunches I had (no particular order... maybe):

• Shabushabu - a smorgasbord of meat slices, mushrooms, vegetables, noodles and other stuff that can be thrown into a boiling pot. Each person is given a huge box filled with raw food, and you throw bits and pieces into the hot water. Wait for it to cook, choose from the variety of sauces, and gulp them down while hot. Absolutely delicious.
  
• Soba - cold noodles on a bamboo plate with a cup of hot beef soup stock. You pick up the noodles and dip them in the beef soup and slurp it. There were lots of beef slices and veggies. Very yummy and refreshing on a hot, summer noon.
• Okonomiyaki - LOTS and LOTS of veggies that were stir-fried with bacon, octupus, and bean sprouts then mixed with batter. Looks like pancake. Placed on top of stir-fried noodles and garnished with a fried egg. It had tons of sliced leeks, but surprisingly, the leeks were sweet.
• Curry - although it was summer, we went to an Indian curry house for an all-you-can-eat-curry buffet. Good thing the curries had descriptions and levels of spiciness. Lots of foodstuff to dip into the curry; mini-donut thingies, flat and chewy bread, rice, bread sticks, etc.
• Mabo Tofu - extremely spicy and hot. We went to an authentic (and very classy) Chinese restaurant where we were given a huge platter filled with red, super-spicy, tofu dish that was served with soup, rice, and an assortment of side-dishes. Everyone began perspiring immediately and runny noses were rampant.
• Sushi - I've probably had each and every type of sushi available on the menu. Sushi after sushi, the chef kept on dropping on my wooden plate different types of cold and raw delicacies. I loved them all! Even the salmon roe (fish eggs) that was extremely slimy and quite... *shudder*
  

And there you have it. The current list of the Jap foods I've been fortunate to gobble down for FREE. Not sure if I've listed them all or forgot some. Nevertheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity and the fortune of being able to sample these wonderful cuisines. Quite sure that I would never (nor could I) buy these dishes on my own without much reluctance, and that each lunchout is an experience I definitely can never forget.

Thanks guys!