Sushi!

Got my first fancy meal (and first sushi!) in Tokyo last night, and it was an experience. A fun, if somewhat intimidating, one.

I asked the concierge for a sushi restaurant in the neighborhood (I trekked something like two miles to get back from the imperial palace, and did NOT feel like walking far), and she said if I didn't mind paying a bit more, to try Tsukiji-jin sukiyabashi. Everything I'd eaten so far was less that $15, so I didn't mind a splurge.

I got some (very very tasty) sake to start off, then they brought out three different menus: multi-course dinner sets, combo meals (like a dinner set, except all at once), and a la carte. The mid-price dinner set seemed tasty, so I went for that.

I'll say this: the restaurant was a little intimidating. The maitre'd was dressed to the nines in a three piece suit, and the waitresses were all wearing bright green kimonos. In my quest to find wear the wasabi was hidden on the table, I realized the little square thing on my table was a doorbell that buzzed the front desk, and had to explain to the maitre 'd that I was just a dumb tourist who didn't know what he was doing.

The waitress spoke just a wee bit of English, so it wasn't hard to order. It was funny though, because she didn't know some specific words about the food. It was really funny watching her drop the 'of course sir, I'm here to help, thank you for coming' act that service folks here adopt, and whip out her iPhone to use google translate and show me what stuff was.

Anyway, the food was very tasty, even if I'm not sure what half of it was.

Sake

Sake! Don't remember what type >__< It was cold, though, which is how
they serve the good stuff. The box on the left is the doorbell I accidentally used

Course 1

Assorted appetizers. The red container had sashimi in peanut sauce (I think with
a bit of cinnamon), the stuff on the bottom right was fried, salted fish, and the stuff up
top was a two-colored omelette (I think).

Course 2

Sashimi! The red one is Bonito (carp), the orange one she called 'orange crab' but
I think she meant 'orange clam.' The silver one is 'Japanese needle fish,' whatever that is.

Course 3

Grilled fish. I have no idea what type or what the orange things on top of it were.

Course 4

Steamed egg custard, with veggies and shrimp.

Course 5 & 6

My first sushi in Japan, and it was delicious. From left to right, top to bottom, it's fatty tuna
unknown, mackerel, scallop, unknown, salmon roe, omellete, and steamed eel. The
cup to the right is chopped lean tuna on rice. Not shown is a bowl of some kind of strange miso soup

Course 7

Dessert was 'butterbur' icecream with maple syrup and roasted-rice tea. Don't get
excited Harry Potter fans, butterbur is apparently a very bitter herb, so the ice cream
was bittersweet.