« Forums back up! | Main | UO Samurai Empire...it's got Ninjas! »
October 10, 2004
MMMmm...sushi
So, here I am in Tokyo to celebrate UO's anniversary, promote the launch of Samurai Empire and discuss UO's future plans with EA Japan.
The flight out was fantastic, although a bit delayed. As many of you know, on larger planes and longer flights, many airlines have a display that shows the plane's progress on the map. I've always wished that they would put a camera on the front of the airplane so you could watch the take off and landing from the pilots' viewpoint. Well guess what? The Japanese did it! Not only did they have take off and landing on the big monitors, once we took off, they had a camera showing the view from under the plane that you could watch on your own monitor. You could see the plane's shadow as it passed over the city and watch the clouds or terrain from cruising altitude. It was great! Landing was particularly keen.
On the flight, I met a young man flying to (of all places) Austin, Texas. He's from Shanghai and works for Dell. It was his first trip to the states. I gave him a good list of places to eat and things to do. Very pleasant fellow.
I arrived at my hotel in Tokyo last night. As usual, it's a very nice room, particularly given the small nature of the space. However, when I tried to get dinner in the hotel, I found every restaurant had a 1 hour wait. So I asked the concierge for a local sushi bar. She picked a place for me that was about a 15 walk through Tokyo's meandering roads.
It was a small adventure. The restaurant was a BIG adventure. In case you are wondering, I don't speak Japanese. No one in the restaurant spoke English. But they were very nice. After waiting 5 minutes, a spot opened up at the bar. The waitress brought me some tea and miso soup, as well as the sushi menu (Japanese with a few English words and no pictures :)).
My first few attempts at ordering were a little frustrating for the chef, but I eventually managed to get some wonderful fish. In particular, I finally got to have Anago (saltwater eel) for the first time since I moved from Austin! Thank the gods. It was fantastic. That, plus 2 orders of Saba (Mackerel), some Maguro (tuna), Ama-Ebi (shrimp), Uni (sea urchin). After that, I ordered some more Saba. I think the chef liked my taste, because he made me two more kinds of sushi, neither of which he charged me for!
I can't remember the names, but they were prepared in similar ways. The first was tuna, prepared like it usually is on rice, but then he put it on the grill and got a butane torch and briefly cooked the top. Then he added more vinegar and a dollop of wasabi on the top. That was great!
Then he did almost the same thing with some Saba, except it was even better. He torched it, and then I think he put sea salt on the top, and instructed me not to put it in the soy. Great!
Posted by SunSword at October 10, 2004 08:21 PM