japanese restaraunt question
 

hey guys,

Im looking forward to my first trip to Japan next April,
I have a love for Japanese cuisine and cant wait to try the real thing!

my question is:
do you generally have to be in pairs or groups to have yakiniku and some of the other foods often enjoyed as a group.

see i will be travelling alone and really want to try some of the banquets offered in the restaraunts, might be a silly question but here in Australia many of the restaraunts only do yakiniku, nabe, and hotpot type foods for a pair or group. Hope its not a silly question,

thanks heaps

Ben

I don't see you having a problem, other then trying to pack away all the food ;)

Yakiniku: Mostly no problem.

Nabe: Problem. It's for two persons or more at most places. Then again, April isn't exactly a nabe season to start with.

Sukiyaki & Shabushabu: Can be difficult, especially the former if not the latter. Check back when your trip approches, I wouldn't mind googling for places that may suit your needs.

A few months before I went to Japan, I made some friends online, that were going to be in Tokyo at the same time I was. Mostly, a swedish girl who was going to university there. We spoke a few times by e-mail and when I was in Japan, we met up several times to go out, shopping, restaurants, etc.

Take this opportunity to meet people and make new friends :)

That's a good pickup line.

"Would you like to join me for dinner since this restaurant requires at least 2 people per table?"

Biwako, you've hit an important subject! There are a lot of types of restaraunts where you need another person. Also, there are a lot of restaraunts that are hard to go into alone. I think everyone's advice about meeting people to go out with is great. If you could find local Japanese people that would be even better because they could show you where the really good stuff is.

I don't know if you've been to Japan before, but I think that it's important to note a few things. For starters, try to avoid chain restaurants as non-chain style places are usually better (unless it's a small chain, which are usually fine). Another thing that can be tempting is to go to an American restaurant (especially while in Tokyo), which I think is a waste of an opportunity. One last thing... when I first went to Japan, I went with some kids in my high school and our teacher. Our teacher insisted on eating at Conbinis for probably 3-4 nights (out of a two week trip! and we did a homestay for 7 days elsewhere!!). That was probably the biggest dissapointment of that trip for me. It's an easy way out of taking a chance and going somewhere, but the food is so mediocre (albiet a slight step up from convenience store food I've had in America). Cost wise, it doesn't make THAT much of a difference to go out to a restaurant, either.

Also, even if you find restaurants that accomodate yakiniku or okonomiyaki or whatever else for one person, you're gonna be missing out on a little bit of that experience.

Sashimister also pointed something out that I also think is important: the season. You should consider eating things that are in season while you're here. If you don't plan on coming back for a while and it's your first time, though, maybe it would be a consideration to eat those "off season" things just to have the experience.

Something that I'd like to point out is that location also makes a huge difference. There are certain things that you should definitely try in some areas and some things that would be better avoided and enjoyed at a better place. I remember when my parents came to visit me in Japan and they insisted on getting sushi in Kyoto... I live in Toyama so it just didn't make sense to me. If you go to Osaka isntead of sushi you'd be better off getting okonomiyaki or takoyaki or something like that. I'm sure there are local restaurants with other kinds of food that are absolutely wonderful, but what they are famous for are okonomiyaki and stuff like that.

The most important thing is to just try as much as you can. Something I found on my first trip to Japan is that there were a few things I ate that I thought were just OK. After I got home, I realized I wanted to eat more of it!! So on your first trip, it's best to just eat as many things as you can because you may find yourself discovering a whole new world of food that you never knew about.

I always talk too much on here, but one last thing... if you ever get the chance to have homemade food you might want to take it. Of course everybody makes different things and everything will taste different, but eating at home is just another interesting experience.

食いしん坊より

Thanks heaps for all the tips,

some awesome info here which will definately help in my travel plans

Thanks,

Ben