Ramen & Sushi

Probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of food and Japan, is sushi and ramen of course! So it was only natural that we had to experience these things right away.

Our gang already had a favorite ramen place in mind, and I have no idea what it is officially called other than "Ramen Place". It was obvious that we needed English menus and a petite, cute little man came and brought them to us along with waters. The one thing we have going for us is that we already know how to use chopsticks! At least that learning curve has been conquered!

Most of the ramen is pork, with onions, egg and either spicy or regular. Since Zach ordered ramen, I opted for fried rice which is nothing short of amazing in Japan. The piping hot bowls started coming out one by one, and we have no idea how this man was just using his bare hands to carry them! It was all delicious, fast and fresh. Cannot wait to go back!

On a whim, Zach and I decided to brave sushi conveyor belt alone for lunch one day. To me, the building smelled like an aquarium, so I knew it was going to be the real deal sushi, whether I like it or not! There was a wait and we were directed to a computer ticket system, with no English. We saw times and "2" so we were able to figure it out. Once seated, we realized that there were no waiters, so we started watching the other tables. You get up to get your own waters, or beer on draft if you like.

We see the sushi going by and since we had no idea what anything was, just grabbed one to try. It took a few tries before we actually got the little pod to open, but then we got the hang of it! On the top there is another conveyor belt where things would fly by much faster, so we used our Google translate on the computer and realized that you could special order items. They had some cool sushi type drinks, so we decided to order two matcha ones. A few minutes go by and they show up right at our table with a little "Ding"!

The green sushi part is a matcha green tea type flavor, the white rice balls are sweet and doughy, and the red beans are also sweet! Then we started grabbing sushi plates. We had teriyaki "chicken" (aka cooked squid), corn salad (I know right?), tuna rolls, something like poke tuna, octopus, some cooked fish and one with prosciutto on top.