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Last Wednesday, Satoshi had the day off. I had a lesson, so he met me in Umeda for dinner.We went to Monsoon. It is on the 4th floor of the Urban Terrace in Chayamachi (above Cafe La Boheme).
The restaurant was quite empty since it was a weekday, so we were quickly seated. The waitress mumbled something, when we asked her to repeat what she said, she mentioned that if we pulled a winning stick we could receive two summer rolls for free.
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So, I shook the bottle and out popped a winning stick..JPG)
We ordered spring rolls. This was sold per roll, which is good, don't you hate it when you order something and the amount that comes doesn't match the amount of people in your group?.JPG)
A salad that had spinach and morning glory in it, is morning glory watercress?Pad thai with seafood (sorry this photo is a blur), lots of seafood (shrimp, squid and scallops).
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A variety of satay (chicken, pork, shrimp and beef), these were tasty but we thought they were a little pricey...only 4 sticks for the price they were charging (which I don't remember)..JPG)
And some Vietnam fried rice, this came with a spicy sauce, lots of veggies and some crunchy toppings.Everything was good, nicely flavored, maybe not authentically Vietnamese or Thai, but we thought we got a LOT for our money.
As we were walking out of the building a man stopped us on the street. At first we thought he was going to ask us for directions, but we were corralled into listening to his sales pitch for his apple juice and apple vinegar.
At first, I was only going to buy some juice but ended up buying 2 bottles of juice and the vinegar. They were pricey, 4500 yen (about US$45) for the 3 bottles, but I bought them with hopes of doing my part to help the economy. Plus, this type of apple juice is really good, made from Aomori Fuji apples, really sweet with no added sugar or preservatives.Monsoon
15-22 Urban Terrace Chayamachi Bldg A, 3F
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6292.0010
17 comments:
Hi Kat - So this was a Southeast Asian fusion kind of place? Morning Glory, from what I understand and have eaten is what we call Ong Choy/Kangkung/Kangkong/Water Spinach among many other names, the genus Ipomoea aquatica.
Hi kat, sounds like an interesting dinner, great that you got the rolls on the house, I think that morning glory is ung choy..:)
How kind of you to buy the drinks and vinegar from the salesman. Looks tasty and healthy too .
Yeah Kirkk, they also had Korean and Chinese food too, but we stuck with Vietnamese and Thai :) Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info Shar :)
Take care you two.
Kat
oh,,, good food
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You gotta wonder why the waitress mumbled about the winning stick...I mean, obviously it's a catch to obtain a positive response to the place yet she wasn't enthused to tell you about it from the getgo?
As for the morning glory, I always thought it was just a flower but Wikipedia confirms what KirkK said. Cool beans...
Thanks Yoga!
Rowena, I notice there are quite a number of wait staff at various restaurants that aren't very good at speaking, they slouch and kinda mumble stuff. They are lucky Japan is not a tipping society! Isn't it neat about the morning glory? I thought it was a flower too.
Take care you two.
Kat
Hey Kat! Long time that I have not comment! The food looks delicious!! For starters, I read a book today by a Japanese author (written in english and I didn't really take note of the title) who often described that Japanese women are skinny because they have smaller portions of food on different dishes at the table. Do you often come across Japanese restaurants that serve smaller portions and are emphasized more so than Westernized restaurants?
Hi Phoebe,
The restaurant portions are a smaller than the restaurants in the States, but most Japanese women can eat! I wish I had the same metabolism as them :)
Take care.
Kat
Hi kat, ung choy is of the morning glory family, it puts out a white morning glory flower. I use to grow this in my water garden, it also grows on dryland but prefers wetter areas. Its also called swamp cabbage :) I sound like my botany 101 class ..haha.
The pad thai looks delicious!!! I can't wait to try some of these dishes when we visit Japan! I am hoping my husband is brave enough to try some new things....something tells me he'll be hitting McDonald's!!! oh well, i can only hope!
Thank you Shar-sensei :)
I hope you enjoy your trip to Japan Sheri :)
Take care you two.
Kat
Looks like a wonderful dinner. I have been on an apple juice kick lately and I bet the one you bought is incredible.
I love it when I learn new things from my blog-friends! I love kangkong/ong choy but never knew it was also morning glory -- cool! Is the vinegar you bought meant to be drunk on its own, it's very pricey. Many vineyards in Germany sell vinegars made from their fruits (grapes, pears, peaches, etc) but they were sipped from aperitif glasses -- good for the digestion and tonify-ing the liver (that's the sales pitch!).
I hope you can find something similar at Marukai or Shirokiya, Deb, it is really good!
Manju, the internet is so powerful, connecting all of us to learn from each other :) The vinegar can be diluted to drink or used like apple cider vinegar. I heard it is supposed to be good for digestion too.
Take care you two.
Kat
Hope the Aomori juice was tasty. I like the POM brand from Ehime prefercure, seems they are getting it right. Have you tried it?
My dad would love that apple juice, he just visited Aomori a couple years ago. I wonder if any of the Japanese markets here would sell it?
I haven't seen the POM brand around here Martin, will keep my eyes out for it :)
Lori, I am thinking that maybe Marukai or Shirokiya may have some, maybe not in bottles but in milk carton type packaging? Hope you can find some :)
Take care you two.
Kat
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