{"id":7035,"date":"2009-12-15T19:29:54","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T11:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chekyang.com\/musings\/2009\/12\/15\/oishi-part-2\/"},"modified":"2010-12-29T21:46:31","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T13:46:31","slug":"oishi-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2009\/12\/15\/oishi-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oishi!! \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

I conducted the second day of the intensive program today comprising lecturing and workshop activities, with the day starting at 0830 and ending at 1800. Since the season is winter here, at 6 PM the entire place is pretty much pitch-dark and about what what we\u2019d normally experience at 9 PM in Singapore.<\/p>\n

Add to that that this morning and evening was bitingly cold. All of a sudden, my normal cotton fabric short-sleeve shirt, business pants and a normal jacket wasn\u2019t nearly so adequate anymore LOL.<\/p>\n

Dinner at Matsuri Restaurant was exquisite again, though I noticed that the wait staff this evening was a different team (more on this later). I\u2019d prepared a list of Japanese phrases I wanted to try using. Among them was for English tea, as I wanted something hot with milk in it. Green tea after six hours of teaching with freezed-up and numb lips is sooo not a good idea. So, I asked for one, which the wait staff readily understood.<\/p>\n

Then, the appetizers arrived, starting with\u2026<\/p>\n

\"blog-2009-kumamoto-DSC_4938-dining\"<\/p>\n

\u2026 which was boiled fish served with a sort of egg-white liked substance. Then\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2009-kumamoto-DSC_4939-dining\"<\/p>\n

\u2026 sashimi was next. The sashimi was sliced incredibly thin \u2013 I wonder what kind of knives were used \u2013 and served with two sauces. Next\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2009-kumamoto-DSC_4944-dining\"<\/p>\n

\u2026 which I really liked. It\u2019s a sort of braised pork that\u2019s cooked till it\u2019s very tender and soft, and served with condiments. I was really surprised by the fourth appetizer:<\/p>\n

\"2009-kumamoto-DSC_4948-dining\"<\/p>\n

\u2026 which reminded me greatly of Italian cuisine. It was served on a large clam shell, with melted cheese, scallops and broccoli. Amazingly delicious! Then the main course:<\/p>\n

\"2009-kumamoto-DSC_4950-dining\"<\/p>\n

This we see in Singapore widely, with every Japanese restaurant and eatery-wannabe dishing it up. It\u2019s tempura.:)<\/p>\n

And check out this dessert:<\/p>\n

\"2009-kumamoto-DSC_4953-dining\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s flavored ice-cream, but the decoration looks even better! :)<\/p>\n

The dinner however ended on a very slightly negative note. I think the English tea I asked for was considered off-complimentary menu, so I was charged an additional 450\u5186 (SGD7) for it. I thought that was strange, because whenever I am seated at my table at the start of dinner, I\u2019m shown the beverage menu and asked what I\u2019d like. And while I can\u2019t understand the Japanese characters in the beverage menu, I recognize the price numbers, and they look dreadfully expensive. I thought I\u2019d just order something modest.<\/p>\n

The bill processing by the wait staff this time was also more business like this time, and not quite with the warmth I\u2019d experienced with the other team from earlier nights. And no, this time no one walked me to the lift lobby either. Maybe they were a little irritated that I asked for something unusual, and they had to quickly send a runner somewhere to find this obviously non-Japanese guy English tea!<\/p>\n

Oh well. Next time, I\u2019ll just ask for ice water.:)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I conducted the second day of the intensive program today comprising lecturing and workshop activities, with the day starting at 0830 and ending at 1800. Since the season is winter here, at 6 PM the entire place is pretty much<\/p>\n

Read More Oishi!! \u2013 Part 2<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[463,237],"class_list":["post-7035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dining","category-traveling","tag-japan-2010","tag-kumamoto-2009","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}