September 17, 2013 – An
Evening of Adventurous Eating
This evening marked my
introduction to the world of izakaya. According to Wikipedia (not an
authoritative source, I admit), an izakaya is “a
type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the
drinks.” These are informal places,
popular for after-work drinking, where small plates of food are generally
shared in the manner of tapas or mezze.
Honey Pig Izakaya in Annandale sounded like a
perfect spot for a casual get-together with some of my AHS colleagues. We met late this afternoon for an early dinner,
which unfortunately did not include any drinking other than tap water. (I forgot to read the Wikipedia article
first. I’ll know better next time.) Since there were five of us, we were able to
order a wide array of tasty items:
succulent shrimp dumplings, emerald green seaweed salad, a dinner-plate
sized Japanese seafood and bean sprout pancake, crunchy roll (the tempura
shrimp added the crunch), vegetable croquettes (the Japanese version of potato
latkes), grilled veggie skewers (mushroom, asparagus, zucchini, gingko nuts,
and garlic cloves), and stir-fried vegetables over noodles.
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| Seaweed salad (foreground) and Japanese pancake |
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| Vegetable croquettes |
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| Skewers of grilled vegetables, gingko nuts and garlic cloves |
How do you say “yummy” in Japanese?
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