Have I mentioned that I love nominhodai? Because I love nomihodai. M, K, and L (Lindzi, who is, unfortunately, an Aussie [haha Lindz, I'm just kidding]), Minji and Kukhwa (you've heard of Minji before, Kukhwa is her friend and also from Korea) went out to do nomihodai and have some dinner. I know I've already blogged about nomihodai, but last night was quite a lot of fun. I am really enjoying hanging out with the girls.
Dinner was interesting. I decided to try some new things. I randomly ordered a drink off the menu and ended up getting something called a Gin Orange Sour (I think), which wasn't as sour as one would expect. I also ordered pork heart, which comes grilled and skewered on a stick. Then I saw something I absolutely had to try. Sakura niku (桜肉), which is... are you ready for this? Horse sashimi. Yes, raw horse, which looks something like this (not my photo).They call it Sakura Niku (cherry blossom meat) because it's pink, or something. Looks like beef to me.
Well, I wasn't blown away by it. It didn't taste like anything I'd ever had before, and I've had raw beef before. The flavor is difficult to describe. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Most sashimi is flavorful enough to stand on its own, flavor-wise (tuna, I'm looking at you), but the flavor with the horse sashimi was just kind of bland. It actually came with horseradish (IRONY!), crushed garlic and chopped green onions, which it needed because there isn't much flavor coming through. No one else at my table was willing to try it (more for me!), but Meaghan did try the pork heart, which was excellent. It didn't have the texture that organ meat usually does (somewhat grainy, chewy, etc.); it wasn't the same texture as regular pork, to be sure, but it didn't come across like liver or anything. It tasted very good. I would order it again. The horse sashimi, perhaps not - not because I didn't like it, but because it was 500 yen for an order of four slices and I don't like it enough to go out of my way to find it/pay for it. I'd rather get any other sashimi, flavor-wise.
After dinner, we did karaoke because somehow Lindzi had never done it, despite having been to Japan what - three times, now? Everyone gets really excited about karaoke. When we got to our rented room (karaoke here transpires in individual rooms which you rent by the hour, which have the TV and all the things you need for karaoke set up for you), Minji and Kukhwa literally squealed with excitement upon entering it. Adorable :D We sang a mish-mash of Lady Gaga and Disney songs (I'm serious - we sang songs from Mulan [this one's especially ironic] and Beauty and the Beast, as well as Telephone, Poker Face oh, and Single Ladies by Beyonce). Lindzi sang My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, which I will never forgive her for. There was a Japanese song in there somewhere, too, but I don't know it. It was really fun! I like that karaoke is more private here than in the states. In the U.S. if you want to do karaoke, you sing in front of the entire bar/club/restaurant and everyone can hear how awful you are. Here, only Minji, Lindzi, Kukhwa, Kathryn and Meaghan had to suffer through my singing.
Also? All the Single Ladies is REALLY hard to sing. Props to Beyonce.
