Ramen

I have to say, it's taken me a while of being in Japan to embrace the whole noodle thing, but I finally have and yesterday I think I had one of the best dishes yet. It was just a local place, but very busy (always a good sign) and luckily the friend I was with knew what to order, otherwise I would have been lost. It came in a massive steaming bowl and smelt divine as we sucked it down with vigour, enjoying every spicey, meaty mouthful. I have to say, I am still in awe of the volume that some of the slurping gets to in these little restaurants. The tables and chairs are all very close to each other and there's no avoiding the "glorious" sounds that emanate as people suck up the noodles. I have tried to embrace the slurp action, but years of being told it's rude to slurp, makes it pretty impossible for me to do!

I am ashamed to say that Neil and I then went out for dinner last night and chose an Italian restaurant where we had divine spaghetti. It was still being slurped by the locals with the same vigour as with any noodle dish - love it!