Japanese cuisine

What will you have?

Courtesy is everywhere here, on the road, on the pavement, in shops, even with policemen, I am told. So when you walk into a restaurant, and that too in a Japanese place, courtesy was very much evident. The place is known as Wasabi, a strange name for an eatery. But later I learned that wasabi is a fine, concentrated, pale green paste made of horse radish, cabbage and mustard, a tiny slurp of it makes you hit high. This is once-in-a-life-time experience that you opt to sit right in front of the Japanese chef along with four other complete strangers. Your choice food is taken as an order and the chef comes, greets us, and then gets into his expertise. He juggles his giant fork and knife skillfully and waits for an approving applause. When he gets what he wanted, he mixes aesthetics and culinary arts and tosses our aromatic food in different colours and flavours into our plates. You stare at his skill and then at the food, indecisive as to the taste. But then the food does taste good and we wait for the next installment. The climax was something very unexpected. Two women came banging on drums, put a mask on Pearl’s face and started singing birthday wishes. Our fellow guests had no option but join the chorus. Britto must have given them a hint. But the outcome was dramatic. Thus our Pearl got her special day served on a platter .