Art of Sake

Nanko Plum Drink ...

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... good, but excessively sweet until I realized as I was finishing the drink, that I had been sucking up a lot of syrup through the straw. I was supposed to stir things up BEFORE drinking ...

Assorted Toppings ...

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... things like green onion are typical for hot pot, but a bruschetta-like tomato mixture was unique, and a nice addition.

Star of the Show ...

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... high-grade Miyaxaki beef, incredibly fatty and marbled. The one knock on this restaurant is that it's not all-you-can-eat, though the beef is so rich, you can only eat so much of it.

Only In Japan ...

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... the restaurant offered both fans and blankets, in case you were either too hot or too cold. I imagine you might start with the blanket, but then switch to a fan once the eating got hot and heavy. They also had Q-Tips in the bathrooms in case you ate so much beef that rich, delicious beef fat oozes out of your forehead and gets into your ears. Solidified beef fat in your ears is tres gauche in Japan, after all.

Disappointment ...

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... overall, the meal was excellent, but dessert was severely lacking - previously-portioned ice cream drizzled with fruit sauce, dusted with what I think was toasted soy flour.

Good Bento, But Still Just a Bento ...

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... decent variety, with some fried chicken glazed in a sweet sauce, a fried fish ball of some sort, some roasted potato, a cherry tomato, and some assorted little veggies. The JR Shinjuku train station to Narita was shockingly devoid of not only food selections, but places to sit - we ended up eating our lunches sitting on the floor, getting weird looks from the locals for our poor etiquette.

Beef Bento ...

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... also decent, but we could have opted for the premium beef at 4X the price - but $40 for a Bento box was just a LITTLE too rich for our blood.

Airport Desperation ...

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... we had hoped to ditch our bags at Shinjuku station and get a good sushi fix nearby, before catching our flight at Narita, but the station had a curious dearth of storage lockers available outside of the station. The only way to access more station lockers was to go inside the station - meaning we would have to use up our tickets merely to drop off our bags, leave the station to eat, and get another set of tickets to board our train. Not a good option! Because of this, we pounced on Tatsu at the airport.

Surprisingly-Tasty Airport Sushi ...

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... with some decent tuna and horse mackerel.

Shad ...

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... a new find for us was shad, another good little silver fish - the shad, saury, and mackerel have been bordering on the magnificent, which may force us to reconsider our previous stance of avoiding these types of fish back home.

Not Quite As Good ...

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... our fried chicken in Fujikawaguchiko was superior, but this one was still damn good - just not quite as flavorful, crispy, or juicy. Still, we'd hit up Botejyu again if we were passing through Narita.