On that second last day in Japan, I headed back to the apartment with all of my purchases and chilled out for a bit before being convinced to head out for a long walk to Akasaka, near Roppongi. He wanted to go to a ninja restaurant in the area. If you recall, I made an attempt to wander around the city from Roppongi back to the apartment back before the rail tour. That walk took 4 hours. Of course, I wasn’t taking a direct route, but still. Knowing that, I was skeptical about the walk. He promised a 2-2.5 hour walk. I balked at first but he retorted: “what are you going to do on your second to last night here, just sit around the apartment?” True. As such, I just decided to go along. God, that was a rough walk. I mean, after walking around the city all morning, I really just wanted some rest. Instead, I was hiking cross-city again. Sure, he took me around to see some interesting sights: Kanda Myōjin, the Imperial Palace, Hikawa Jinja in Akasaka. Of course, it was all in the dark, but still. We eventually made it to where we needed to go after 2.5 hours. I was hot and sweaty and rather unamused.
As it turned out, the ninja restaurant was called…Ninja Akasaka. Figures, doesn’t it? We waited around for a third person to join us. When we arrived, we headed in. Oh man, what a trip that place was. The reception area looked all boxed off and dark. There was a single greeter there taking names. After taking our names the greeter went from smiley to secretive and spooky all at once. She announced that a ninja was going to come in and guide us to our table so we had to pay attention. All of a sudden one of the walls opened up and in came the seater, dressed up ninja garb guiding us to follow her. She took us through some tight passages with low ceilings. The whole time she was bending her knees and looking around because, after all, we were in a ninja hideout and someone might attack at any time. We had to go up some uneven stairs and such. At one point the pathway looked destroyed–the path was broken and there was flowing water below. The guide put on a good show in decent English. “Oh no! The bridge is destroyed! What should we do?” I think we were all just in a state of WTF is going on @__@ to respond. She said, “wait…NINJA MAGIC!” She then yelled out and did a chant “rin pyou tou sha kai jin retsu zai zen….” All of a sudden, a drawbridge came down allowing us to cross. God, that was awesome. When we crossed, we finally got to the dining area. There were different rooms with tatami mats full of people enjoying themselves. When we got to our own room, we took of our shoes and sat down at the low tables.
The waitress, naturally in ninja garb, came by and greeted us. She started prefacing things saying that she wasn’t too great with English but that she will try her best. My friend then spoke up that it’s OK to speak Japanese if she has to because he’ll translate. The waitress was shocked and let out a very happy “arigatou gozaimasu!!!.” So funny!
After we ordered drinks, ehe pulled out what looked like a tube, and with great dramatic flair, she yanked on it and revealed that it was actually a scroll with the menu on it. She said that a few of the courses involved “ninja surprises.” Naturally that was a draw. Two of us ordered the “Surprise Course.” My friend ordered a steak course. Well the first course that came for us was a bunch of ninja star crackers with some foie gras. No kidding. The juxtaposition between an oddball theme the sophistication of foie gras was amusing. When the waitress came in with the second course, she announced: “first appetizer…now…dessert! Ninja surprise!” She set down two chocolate truffles in front of the two of us that ordered the surprise course. All I could think was, “umm..OK…” After a pause, she told us though that the chocolates were actually a potato type appetizer and a meat ball of sorts. Well that was neat. Heh. At some point we got this escargot type course. She came with a plate with shells on it. She did a chant and…well…probably better if you see this:
Awesome! For another course, she brought out these veggies and started cutting them up in a small wooden bucket. She poured in a “secret soup” which was a mixture of soy milk, shellfish soup, and vegetable soup. She then took this rock and told me to say “nin nin.” I did, and then she stuffed the stone into the bucket. The contents started sizzling. Turns out the rock was 400 degrees. That heated up the whole thing. Quite awesome. She added pork, and that completed the soup. See the following vid:
The soup itself was pretty nice. It had a very Thai feel to it. At some point someone (also in ninja garb, of course) came in to perform a funny magic show for us. He was also able to speak in broken but understandable English which makes me think they must get a lot of foreigners around the restaurant. By the end of the meal, the waitress brought in what looked like a bonsai tree. Turns out the bonsai was made of a fried wonton-like wrapper. The soil was made of chocolate cake. The green moss was dusted matcha powder. Underneath is all was ice cream and fruit. That was damn awesome.
As our guide was taking us to the front, I was expecting another crazy trip so I had my camera ready to capture it all. Unfortunately, the way out was a little for straightforward. She opened a door and there we were back at the reception area. God, that was amazing. As we headed out, someone called out to us. It was the guide. She jumped out, pulled out a scroll with a big smile: “Please come again.” Hahah. So cute! Well yes, if I find myself back in Tokyo that will be a place I’ll want to visit again. I was totally happy to have eaten in such a place. I had so much fun! It was a memorable way to slowly close out my vacation there. Of course, I still had one day to do stuff, but wow, how do you top something like that?
I’ve still got stories to share.
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