By the
time we were done visiting the museum, it was time to hunt down some
dinner. There was a ramen noodle house that was highly recommended by
our Lonely Planet guide book that sounded pretty interesting, so we
decided to check it out.
After
wandering the area for a bit, we finally found and made our way inside.
We'd read that you order your meal using a sort of juke-box/ticket
system, but we didn't really realize that there wouldn't be a word of
English on the machine. So, we sheepishly backed out of the restaurant
to see if we could get some hints from our book on how to order (or even
what symbols represented which foods). Right after we'd exited the
restaurant, a gentleman who'd been dining inside followed us out and
seemed to be trying to convince us to stay. We'd had no intentions of
leaving, but I guess because we'd stepped outside to consult our guide,
this fellow was concerned that we might miss out on an opportunity to
eat at his favourite restaurant. He helped us decipher the vending
machine, and we ordered our two noodle bowls chosing our meats, noodle
weights (for the record, 280grams is a LOT of noodles), and varying
spice levels.
While
waiting our dinner to arrive, I noticed loud slurping all around me and
rembered that slurping is highly encouraged in Japan to show
appreciation and enjoyment of a meal. Excited to try this out, when my
noodles came, I tried to eat them with the heartiest of
slurps...Apparently slurping takes practice! After a few first
attempts, my face was covered in soup and I decided that I wasn't meant
to be a slurper.
Even
though, I didn't slurp my soup, I did thoroughly enjoy it, and have
already thought about attempting to replicate it once I get home. Best
ramen ever!
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