Izakaya 居酒屋

One of my favorite institutions in Japan is the izakaya. It's kinda a bar, it's kinda a family restaraunt. Which means, it's a bar you can take your family too. You usually remove your shoes and sit on a tatami mat at a low table. The lighting is dark and the mood is lively.

For the past few months Saturday night has been our izakaya night. For awhile there we went to all the fancy ones. Yea, those were great and crowded and they served all sorts of virgin cocktails for the kids but now that I want to go back to the states this winter we are on a real budget (more or less...I mean it still would be cheaper to eat in. I consider our eat outs a morale booster, a sort of 'we made it through that week, let's celebrate!'



When the beer first came out it was entirely frosted over. Unfortunately, the first few pictures didn't come out so it just looks like a normal beer.

Cheese spring rolls and fried octopus in radish and ponzu sauce. Yum!

Here is Julyan holding a crab claw. He brought that thing home and left it on the kitchen table. The cats had themselves a little party last night. Pieces of crab claw...everywhere!