Just nibbling

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A group of generous foodie friends insisted on taking me out for my birthday, despite protestations of having over-indulged and my desire for a break in my eating schedule.  In the end I relented, but requested for a venue where I could just "nibble".  After a 11th-hour mix-up, we ended up at Yi Pai Ya (一杯屋) for some meat on a stick and some ox tongue that the place is famous for.

The marinated eggplant with bonito flakes was a welcome change from the routine in the past week.

Grilled supreme ox tongue (極上牛タン) - pretty good.

Grilled superior ox tongue (特上牛タン) - thicker cut, which is what I currently prefer.

Korean-style marinated raw ox tongue (牛タン ユックウエ) - not bad... love the texture.

Deep-fried eel bones - very, very crunchy but sooooo salty...   we joked about this looking like HR Giger's aliens...

Fried bean sprouts (もやし石焼) - we mistakenly ordered two portions without realizing the size, but it was all good... Just meant that we got a little more veg than expected, which was certainly good for me!

Fried river shrimps - these were soooooo good!  I love tiny river shrimps, having grown up with them in a Shanghainese household.  These tiny shrimps were crunchy with lots of flavor.  I could just snack on these like popcorn...

Grilled pollock roe (焼き明太子) - we asked for this to be grilled "medium rare", and it was.

Deep-fried squid tentacles (ゲソ揚げ) - very delish.  Deep-fried foods often are...

Grilled squid tentacles (ゲソ塩焼き) - this was nice, too... especially biting on them little suckers...

Grilled smelt (ししゃも焼き) - kinda sorry-ass looking... skinny without eggs inside.  Guess it's just not the right season for the pregnant ones (子持ちししゃも)...

Grilled ox tongue meatball (牛タンつくね) - normally つくね is done with minced chicken and cartilage, and they do it here with a quail egg inside.  But I was curious to try out the ox tongue version, which wasn't bad at all.

I joined as a member of the restaurant tonight, so I could get a discount and a birthday gift.  We ended up getting 3 glasses of free beer, which wasn't bad.  I did bring a bottle of my own sake...

Tatsuriki Junmai Daiginjo Akitsu (龍力 純米大吟醸 秋津) - full of fermented rice grain (酒釀) notes, and a little sweet on the palate but with a dry finish.  A very fine sake with seimaibuai of 35%.

We adjourned to have a few drinks at b.a.r. Executive Bar.

Mango daiquiri - made with Thai mango, Bacardi and a dollop of honey.  The top was lightly brûléed.  Not bad.

Peach daiquiri - made with peach from Fukuoka, along with Bacardi and peach schnapps.  A nice big ice ball sits in the middle of the glass. Very nice.

This was a lot of fun.  Many thanks to my friends for such a fun night out.