It’s not easy to find a restaurant that’s open past a particular hour here in Kanazawa. Still, I think it’s more to do with our inability to identify what is a restaurant in Japan because all the buildings looked so similar, and we were not able to read the signs. Well, I could take about my phone and Google translate it, but the novelty of it wears off way too quickly in single-digit weather.
So when we stopped at a typical restaurant Noren and the monkey statue we had seen all across the town, we went in quickly, hoping they would still take us in, even if it were for the last order.
They did — and Izakaya is still fully lit and warm. There were the occupied tables, us and another table of drunken merry Japanese.
There was no English menu. Not a surprise in a small town, I guess, but there are cute drawings of edamame and what looked like a bowl of ramen. I pointed out to both and said, “one umeshu, please” in Japanese. One of the few Japanese phrases that I have memorized so well.
First came edamame and the drink, and we started chatting about tomorrow’s plan to return to Osaka.
Then came to mean what I thought was ramen but looked more like Indomie. To tell the truth, I’d happily settle for Indomie in this weather. It also came with a miniature hourglass. The waiter made a few gestures to explain it to us. Essentially telling us to eat it only once the sand has been wholly tipped over to the other side.
We said okay, thanked them and waited excitedly.
At last, I slurp my first spoon of soupy noodles; oh boy, it was so good.
It was flavourful, spicy and hearty warming. It’s a bit like Indomie but also has a distinctive taste. First, we planned on sharing it, but I asked for another one and happily slurped it once the hourglass was tipped over. I told Fafa that our search for food on a cold night was so worth it when we took the taxi back to the inn (I was too drunk to navigate, too full of walking, and it was too cold outside.
Tonight has been such a good ending to our stay in Kanazawa.
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