wtf
Tell me people, how many times have you encountered situations where you flip open a menu in a Japanese restaurant, you have no frigging clue what they have to offer inside there? Just… what exactly does it mean when you see something like “Tempura Susihfuoishuidh Suhfduishjifdskj”? Is that a fish? Is that a chicken? Or is that some exotic cow’s pancreas that’s edible? You have no idea. That’s because, you ain’t a Japanese. (Or you’re a Japanese language illiterate like me)
That is when I would find those little descriptions in English under that litany of Japanese culinary jargons useful. If I wanted raw salmon, I’ll just go look around for something in the descriptions that says “raw salmon”. That’s how it works for me. I won’t even bother to make any attempt to pronounce the name of the food I’m going to order. I’ll usually just point that thing out and let them take the order accordingly.
I was exactly doing that at a Japanese restaurant yesterday. After ordering my bento meal out of the menu, I sort of forgotten about what I’ve ordered after chatting with my colleagues. That wasn’t a problem for me until one of the waitress came over to our table holding a bento set … and asked me in a soft spoken voice:
“Sirrrrr… did you order SUhfuhfduhu JHuhuhdjdhkjshkj Bento?”
Shitttttt. I don’t know. How would I know? I tried to peek at the bento set if it’s looking any similar to that I’ve ordered, but… I can’t tell the difference (coz they looked so different from the pictures).
“I don’t know” — I replied.
She gave me a befuddled look, probably thought I’m some disabled guy that couldn’t even remember what I’ve ordered 5 fucking minutes ago… and then turned to the rest of the guys if they have any idea whose bento was that. Like me, the guys didn’t know either (almost all of them ordered a bento set). So, the situation was like, a few blokes productively looking at each other not knowing what they’ve ordered.
It wasn’t until a few seconds later, one of the guys finally figured that he ordered the first item on that bento page (which he still has no idea what the name was) - only then, the waitress managed to cross reference it with her memory and delivered the bento set to the right guy. Fucking hell.
Having experienced that, I can’t help but wonder, why do we still pay for that 10% service charge if they can’t even work out what we have ordered? And what’s the rationale for them to confirm our order, again, by quoting the order’s name in, Japanese? Instead of taking the trouble to ask, can’t they just write it down in some way so that they fucking know who ordered what??
As if it’s not already bad enough, I had an upset stomach after consuming that box of bento and purged some slimy shits halfway through my important work. Goddamn. I ain’t going back that place anymore.
Was the waiter hot? And was she Japanese?
… That would make up for the service charge, I guess. (For me.)
she’s definitely a local. not hot, but rather, the opposite. (I wouldn’t have bitched if she’s hot, right?)
Yo man.. sama sini… the other day when my wife and me went to sushi king.. she order something and i order something… *hehehe*… yeah i order something…
after somewhie talking to my wife waiting for that something to come… when it come… i was looking at my wife and at the waitress…
William: “my wan ar?”
Waitress: “yeah sir.. you ordered this..”
william: “…” looked to his wife
wife: “err.. i can’t remember.. dear”
Waitress: .. like holding the things and stared at me…
William: “ok man.. just give it to me..”
After eating…
William: “this bento looks to me dun have sotong… i remember that box have sotong…”
Wife goes ask for the menu again…
William flips through and point… then realize…
William: “oh yeah NO sotong… correct correct…”
Really felt like my whole operating system like crash for a few moments… and hehehe.. blur like sotong…
Perhaps they should number their menu items. Like fast food joint, ‘I want set number 4′ or something like that.
fancy names are bother. i have problems ordering dim sum cause i cant speak a word of chinese :p
Waz at la bodega the other day and ended up ordering a whole loads of whachamacallit tapaz and other semaians….i think its equally bad cos at least most japs places have either that plastic toy thingy to show or some 3rd grade shots of the food. I asked the waiter whats good to recommend and he has to cheek to tell me all the stuff are good, otherwise there wont be a queue at the entrance. Even has the cheek to tell me, puasa laa cannot think of any food right now to recommend me! BTW, whats this thing about brinjal?? Where i was growing up in the suburbs of sentul…we call it brinjal or ngai kua….these days they call it egg plant or some kind of colorful name like aubergine..wonder who came up with these stuff. Was expecting of egg foo yong action when i ordered the egg plant…jeezzzz….kampong boy trying to be metrosexual…….
erm..i think most of the ppl doesnt know dat ‘bento’ is actually ‘kid’s meal’ in jap. lolx. my fren attended jap class in her uni years and she told me dat..lots of ppl orderin kids meal.. lolx.. me one of them..i still do *haha*
i think it’s a lunchbox or something like that right? Coz the food’s definitely not kiddy… I see some bento with wasabi. Kids don’t dig wasabi. (unless we coax them that it’s a type of green ice-cream… heheh)
‘Bento’ technically means packed lunch. A ‘bento set’ is basically a whole meal served in a lunch box. They say cheesing out the names makes the product sell, LOL.
The menu got no pictures and numbers meh. ask her to repeat the order using numbers or pictures. If no pictures and numbers, ask her to act out lor. Macam charade…
Prob they are told to do so so that makes the place more japanese, authentically. ha. what bs.
Ooh…hohoho..i’m gonna whack my fren.. but i dun recall there’re wasabi in my bento set .. hmm.. (^_^)