A lesson in Japanese
Rich and Sara were in town this weekend, so we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity and went to a local favorite for dinner: Sushi Sam's. Sam's is the sort of sushi place I love - fantastic quality without being pretentious. In addition, Sam gets all sorts of things from Japan that you can't find anywhere else - Saturday night's treat was a special unagi (barbecue eel) flown in that day. Phenomenal.
Three of us decided some sake (the drink, not the salmon) would go well with the meal, so I ordered a bottle. Mel, of course, abstained. (I should point out that Mel was only eating cooked fish as well - stop looking at me like that!) The waiter seemed only slightly surprised that I was ordering a bottle, and came back holding four traditional square wooden cups and our sake - all 1.8 liters of it. Eep. Well, the menu says it's only $16.50, so it must be some serious rotgut , but what the heck - it's a party, right!
Actually, it turned out to be the second-best sake I've ever had. Incredibly smooth, with a very light herbal/floral bouquet and just a hint of fruit. Fantastic. Also, fairly strong. At the end of the meal, there was still a fair amount of the bottle left, and the waiter asked my name so they could save it in the back for the next time we came in. (Warning bells should've been going off at this point, but like I said, strong sake.) Then we got the bill.
Seems that $16.50 was per glass. Thankfully, the bottle price was slightly discounted from the per glass price, since the bottle probably held twenty to twenty-five glasses. Still, the cost of my lovely bottle of sake was just slightly over the cost of a meal of fine sushi. For four. Oops.
So, anyone want to grab some sushi this weekend? I'll bring the wine...
Gee, and here I thought I was the only one to have ever fallen for that one! At least you live close to the resturant and not a continent away!
At least it was really good sake! And it was. Of course, the shot they gave you of the really good stuff was awesome, too. Maybe next time...
And it allowed me to score some sweet revenge yarn on Sunday. ;)
Mmm, more Gemini silk/wool goodness.
I'd forgotten to mention that the best sake I've ever had was the shot Sam gave us at the end of the night. Only $22.50 a glass. :)
wow, that is some story!
sounds like real fun! In Russia they had a nice custom of giving prices in restaurants not in regular rubles, but in mysterious "transfer dollars". The exchange ratio of "transfer dollar" with the real one was arbitrary, and usually displayed only on the wall in the darkest corner of the place. You can imagine the joy tourists had after ordering caviar per 2$, champagne per 5$, trouts per 3 $, and ending up with a bill for over 1000 real bucks.
By the way, the same trick they used in this sushi bar is a must in Hungary, with the exception that they in the menu they give a price per half glass (literally, it says it is for a glass, but they'll bring it double without asking).
tricks of the trade, I always fall for these ;)