A Better Japanese Meal

Well, I was again hankering for a Japanese meal. See, I told you I love Japanese!

So I went to Rakuzen at The Starling. I haven't visited in ages.

The food here is decent enough, not remarkable, but affordable. You want remarkable, be prepared to pay premium prices.

Since I was a lone diner, I was seated here.

Where I can see the sushi chefs' heads bobbing here and there but unable to see what they were doing.

I chose from the lunch menu - Steak Don Zen. It is rice topped with 100g ribeye (medium rare) and onsen egg, some veggies, miso soup, chawanmushi (steamed egg) and cut fruits (watermelon and dragonfruit).

This looks very nice.

I broke the egg yolk.

The steak was cooked to medium rare but needed more seasoning.

The chawanmushi was nice and I found a shellfish and a prawn in there.

The meal came with green tea.

This warm towel was brought to the table shortly after I was seated (not all Japanese restaurants do this). It reminded me of a story told by my aunt a long time ago.

The (late) big boss of a prominent automobile distributor (at a dinner my aunt and her family attended) used the towel to wipe his entire his face and then he cleared his throat and spit into the towel.

So to this day, I am afraid of these towels because you never know who and how they used it.