Izakaya

When the Japanese have finished work and want to go for a bite and a drink or two, the like to go to an Izakaya. These are the usually little shops with a paper lantern outside, often indicated with the inscription "居酒屋", obviously the kanji for izakaya.

The one I went to was close to my ryokan and I could see from outside that the place was not yet full. Most izakaya have blinds or other things that prevent people outside from peeking inside. So this one appeared a bit more inviting.

I was seated at the bar. Unlike western style bars, behind the counter is not a bar tender, but chefs and the kitchen. I ordered a beer in my best (and still bad) Japaneese and studied the english menu. The first dish I had was tsukemono (漬物), pickled vegetables. They came on a small ceramic board in the shape of a leaf and looked amazing! Too bad I forgot to take a picture. The taste was delicious. There was a little bit of something on top of it I assumed was yuzu. I asked the chef if I was right. I was and he obviously liked that I asked him, as he immediately made up a broth with a leaf of bok choi and some more yuzu zest. Yummy.

As time went by I had some more beer, sashimi and tempura.

Tempura is a somewhat funny word, because there is actually no solitude m in the Japanese language. The are the ons (syllables) ma, me, mi, mo and mu, but no single m. There is a single n though. Therfore I wonder if it should rather be spelled tenpura, but I have never seen that anywhere. It seems those deep fried battered vegetables and see foods just can't be written in hiragana. But nevermind, there is a kanji for tem and so it can be written 天ぷら.