funny foodie sunday

Sunday was unusually hot but a very nice day. Lunch was at Abientot. We've gone here for breakfast, and I've been wanting to taste their lunch menu.

I was surprised to see the place was doing steady business (on a Sunday), luckily we were able to get a table.

Satoshi and I both ordered the main dish set...1800 yen (about US$18) each.

This came with a salad (baby greens, sweet potato salad, proscuitto & fried renkon (lotus root), chamiton simmered in red wine served with roasted veggies & dessert.

Chamiton is a brand name for a type of pork in Kagoshima. A couple of years back, kurobuta (Berkshire pork) was all the rage, apparently now it is chamiton. The pork in this dish was cooked so tender, you really didn't need a knife to cut it. I loved the free refills of bread to mop up the tomato based sauce!

Dessert was a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and pineapple cheesecake. The pineapple cheesecake was whipped so it was really light. I also thought it was neat how they didn't serve it on a crust.

After lunch, we went home to rest.

UPDATE: as of 2/2012, Abientot no longer has breakfast or lunch service, instead you may purchase breads and eat in their dining area.

In the early evening, we walked to the Ikeda Community Hall to watch Japanese stand-up comedy.

Some people often say that in order to be truly bi-lingual, you need to be able to fight and to understand jokes in the said foreign language. While I don't understand all the jokes/humor in Japanese, I think I could hold my end when it comes to verbal fighting (if I had to).

Anyway, in Kansai, especially Osaka, manzai (stand-up comedy), like rakugo (Japanese comedy story telling) has been around for decades.

With manzai, there are 2 people, the tsukkomi (straight talk) and the boke (makes fun, literally means fuzzy). The tsukkomi usually is telling a story and the boke usually interrupts making fun, using puns.

Sometimes the tsukkomi slaps the boke for making such funny remarks to his story.

While I do not like when they hit each other, I do enjoy when I understand the puns.

Also, there are some manzai-shi (stand-up comics) who shout during their performances, I don't appreciate this type of comedy, to me, it makes it harder to understand what he/she is saying.

Nowadays, I think manzai is called o-warai (literally big laugh) because not all performers are in pairs.

On one of my walks in August, I noticed the poster for this show. I told Satoshi about it and we went to buy tickets after we came back from Palau...3500 yen (about US$35) per person.

2 hours of laughing, definitely good for the soul.

After the show, we ran across the street for dinner at a tiny Chinese restaurant called Chaina (that is how it is spelled).

This shop only has about 16 seats. We tried to eat here before during the summer, but the place was packed and they didn't know how long it would be before a table would open up.

As we walked in, the place was quite full but we were able to get seats at the counter. Satoshi and I both order one of the two specials.

One special was the chinjaorosu (thinly sliced bell pepper with bamboo shoots, mushrooms and pork). This came with karaage (Japanese fried chicken), egg drop soup, cole slaw, and lots of rice....800 yen (about US$8).

The other special was an eggplant-pork dish. This came with spring rolls, cole slaw, egg drop soup, some gyoza and lots of rice...800 yen (about US$8)

Satoshi also ordered 6 pieces gyoza..220 yen (about US$2.20) and a jocky of beer on tap 400 yen(about US$4). In Japan, they call these tall glass mugs, jocky.

The food took some time to come out but everything was nicely seasoned, not too salty nor too oily. The serving of rice was quite large, I gave half to Satoshi. The restaurant is only run by 2 people so be patient, it is worth the wait.

It was a great Sunday.

Chaina
1-1-16 Tenjin
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.763.1147