A Nippon in the air

As we're at a loose end this weekend for a change, the missus and I are in the enviable position of having the whole of London as our plaything on Saturday evening.  It's vital to always have a plan when you live in the the metropolis; otherwise you end up squandering its gifts and are left solely with the sheight bits - the crowding, expense, noise etc.  We were furiously scratching the collective noggin at home last night then when it occurred to me that we hadn't been for a Japanese meal for a yonk or several.

We both adore Japanese grub.  It umami-heavy, which we both enjoy - think Marmite with Worcestershire sauce poured all over it.  It's also possible to stuff one's face with Japanese food and remain lithe and lovely.  That's why the Japs are so trim.  In fact the only downside to it is the amount of salt it contains.  This does lead to seriously high levels of stomach cancer in the land of the rising sun, which, again, helps the populace to stay slender I suppose.

When we lived in north London a few years ago, we discovered a tremendous Japanese restaurant in Camden.  It's dead authentic (like I'd know).  Well, all the staff are Japanese, and one is expected to sit on the floor, cross-legged.  It's uncomfortable, yes, but in a Sunday colour-supplement, north London twat fest way.  

I'm always really mindful of my pees and cues when eating there.  I'm generally a polite person anyhoos, but with the Japanese, particularly so.  They set even greater store by decorum than the English, but they're far too genteel to vent spleen at you for any inadvertent offence caused.  And, as with all things Japanese, eating is pregnant with unstated rules.  A devil-eyed westerner can bone-up on some of these, of course, but not all.  Even rainman would struggle with the myriad complex niceties.

Still, it's worth it.  One little innovation of my own devising would help matters though: hollow chopsticks.  That way one could suck up the miso, using the chopper like a straw, and then wield them in the usual way to see off the noodles and raw kipper.  Bingo.