Two yummy meals from this week

I didn't have breakfast this morning, and all I can think about is food as I wait for lunchtime... So here is a recap of two yummy meals I enjoyed this week!

I had this last night at a restaurant about a block and a half from my apartment. I've passed by this place several times but never stopped because it always seemed so busy. But tonight I decided to go in, and I'm glad I did. As you can tell by the photo, I ordered entirely too much food. The pictures made the portions look smaller, and I like variety, which is why I ordered so many things. On the right is a seafood and vegetable dish over fried rice, next to some kind of soup (that I didn't know came with my meal). The seafood dish had a fresh scallop and a quail egg in it, both of which were delicious. On top is a delicious eggplant dish that they prepared right in front of me (a benefit of dining alone is that you are often seated at the bar overlooking the kitchen.) And on the far left, fried sesame seed balls for dessert. So if you haven't figured it out yet, this restaurant is Chinese-style. Not very Japanese at all, but very delicious. I got all of this food for about 1100 yen (about $12 or so) and they prepared it fresh within about 3 minutes of taking my order. I'm definitely going back to this place!

This is another restaurant very close to my apartment that I neglected for far too long. The service was very fast and the food is both reasonably priced and delicious. This place's deal is a set of tempura over rice with cold noodles (udon or soba). You also get a hot miso soup (top left). The little vase-like thing on the bottom right holds the cold broth. You pour that into the cup to its left, mix in the fresh scallions and ginger, and then you dip the cold noodles in. On a hot day, you can't beat this. MMmmmmm!

Okay, I think I'm going to go have Indian food for lunch.