Teishoku

Hey guys,

Ok gather 'round, I'ma teach you all a very important word in Japanese:  Teishoku

Now, this is not quite on the level of the most important word in the Japanese language, okawari (literally means "change", in practice it means "refill" . . . as in, you hold up an empty glass or bowl and say okawari and a new one shows up.  It's amazing).  And probably not quite up there with the next tier of words like sumimasen, arigatou, and nama biiru ("excuse me", "thank you", and "draft beer").  But still pretty important

First, of all, let's back up.  See, there is this one part of town with a bunch of restaurants organized by a particularly excellent conceit:  Each one specialize in a different kind of meat.  There's the beef restaurant, the pork restaurant, the chicken restaurant, etc. etc.  Needless to say, this is an awesome idea, and the setting makes it even more awesome

Perhaps "restaurant" is not the best word, because these are not fancy places.  No host to seat you, no fancy trappings, just simple places where you can get delicious food and nama biiru (told you that word was useful).  In fact, these places are all located underneath some of the train tracks right outside Tokyo Station.  The easiest way to get to them?  Cut through the section of all the yakitori places (and believe you me I will be writing about those soon) to the unmarked alley at the back, and then down the corridor that is just barely nicer than the Caltech steam tunnels:

You thought likening them to the steam tunnels was an exaggeration, didn't you?

Starts to get a little nicer as you near the end . . .

Patience is a virtue, and after a few hundred feet you get to paradise.  Sadly, the horsemeat restaurant, my absolute favorite in this complex, was closed when I went by--but don't worry that place will get a full write-up just as soon as possible.  What was open, however, was the shellfish restaurant, which brings us to that magical word:  Teishoku

See, dining out in Japan can be expensive.  Mostly because wherever you go you are getting the best quality food they can get--these people do not mess about with their foods.  The inexplicable exception to this rule seems to be the ubiquitous lunch set, or teishoku.  A teishoku usually contains a main dish, a few sides, rice and soup . . . and usually costs like two-thirds of the price of that main dish during dinner service.  I have no idea why it is, but for whatever reason it means that you can get a meal like this . . .

. . . consisting of four large fried oysters (at least 3 or 4 inches, which is I believe is 7.3kilowatts or whatever  metric conversion), three small steamed conchs, a sashimi platter with scallops and two kinds of clams, rice, and miso soup filled with delicious tiny clams . . . for 900yen ($9).  Because Teishoku

Learn that word, learn to love it

Feeling pretty good today

Noah out