Correct answer!

The assignment seemed simple: our friend was to take us to Shinjuku, stop at a bookstore, show us a department store, have dinner and get us to our bus to Kyoto by around 11:00 p.m. This was a deceptively mundane to-do list: The bookstore was eight stories high, the department store had a grocery on the ground floor, and the bus station was secreted deep within Shinjuku Station, one of the largest train depots in Tokyo.

We recovered from the eye-poppingly extensive bookstore, and made our way to Isetan, an eye-poppingly large department store. Automatic doors slid open to the grocery floor and we were greeted by an elegant display case stocked with a rainbow of cakes and confections that could have easily graced the pages of Gourmet magazine. But what we inhaled was not eau de creme -- it was fragrance of fish counter. Fresh fish, to be sure, but fish nonetheless. We wandered the aisles, tasting free samples of tea, snacks and sweets. Filling up on samples might have easily become our dinner had not our observant guide asked if it was time for dinner, perhaps a drink first? A drink first, by all means, we agreed. "Correct answer!" he exclaimed.

After we'd enjoyed several tokuri of sake at Rikka, a tiny, seven-seat bar, our friend began to make motions as though it was time to leave. We rose with him and began to put on our coats. As he straightened his collar, he said, "What would you like to have for dinner?" We looked at each other blankly. With a slight smile, he added, "We could eat here."

Here? Intrigued, we agreed to stay in our cozy little bar. "Correct answer!" he exclaimed again. Almost immediately, another tokuri of sake appeared and then a dinner of unique bar cuisine: dried fish, grilled fish, grilled vegetables, salty-sweet omelette. All prepared by the bartender/owner, served in turn as she casually cooked each course, measuring our appetites and serving us accordingly.

Since that delicious evening I have learned that that this style of bar and restaurant is known as Izakaya. Izakaya-style restaurants are gaining popularity in the U.S. (SF Gate: Imbibing izakaya style).

Shall we have a drink or get dinner? A drink, of course.

Correct answer.