Friday night after work Kuniko and I met on the platform of Hanshin railways in Sannomiya, and then proceeded to the sushi restaurant – just about a five minute ride on the local train.
The place was part of what appeared to be a strip mall, except Edo period Japan’s version. Interesting layout, full of traditional Japanese restaurants, and the sushi place was no exception. The interior was nicely lit, the counter and all the tables were made of wood, and I could tell it was going to be expensive.
For ordering we just left it up to the sushi chef, and that made for some unpredictability and a fun night. When we arrived we also ordered some cold beer, and then followed that up with two small bottles of sake to share.
We had lots of variety – mainly nigiri sushi. Tai, chu-toro, lobster, crab, egg, squid, yellow tail, mackerel, sea urchin, plum and shiso rolls, pretty much the works. They were all good – but the toro was really good, and I think the crab was the best. It was served with cooked crab meat on top of rice, with a little spoon of kani miso on top. Yum.
The dinner turned out to be about half the cost of what we had predicted, but still a little expensive. It will be hard to go back to 100 yen sushi after this, though.
Saturday Kuniko was stuck at work, and it was a day for me to catch up and relax at home. Sunday was a brief trip to Kobe to run some errands, and Monday Kuniko was back at work while I cleaned house and did shopping around here.
Now today I’m gearing up to go back to work, and I’m feeling pretty refreshed. Tomorrow is another afternoon-only teaching session, so it should be a really easy week.
