the tall blond guy goes to japan

We Will Shoot You Then Take Your Wine

Casa Vino

A few days ago, I promised to talk about the restaurant in my hotel. Well, since it's kind of a slow news day (I'm excited about tomorrow though- I'll get to do something I've been wanting to do for a while) I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk a bit about the restaurant.

We will shoot you...

First of all,the decor is all kind of a hodge podge of European culture. Lots of wines and trelisses (terelii?), recessed lighting, pictures of old European buildings, old battles and the like. They also have (and this is rather disturbing) antique guns hanging on the walls.

...then take your wine.

Along a kind of ledge running all through the room, they've lined a long row of empty wine bottles. Either this place has been here a really long time (it's not a small room), or the customers must really like to drink.

Furansu

They also (and this is truly wonderful) feature hand-drawn maps of France and Italy, detailing all the best areas for wine.

The staff, who by now are getting to know me pretty well, are always friendly. The somewhat insincere-but-necissary politeness which is everywhere in this city is fading to reveal geuine politeness and a kind of warmth that I miss from being used to service in Vancouver. A kind of polite friendliness, I suppose. I'm still trying to slip out unnoticed, to avoid the goodbye bowing that I'm still not used to.

The routine goes thusly: I walk in to choruses of something like "Thankyou for walking in again this morning and it's good to see you haven't died overnight" (note this is not a direct translations). I present my breakfast voucher to someone nea the door, and I'm handed a tray with a plate, knife and fork, and lovely made-from-BC-wood chopsticks. On to the buffet! Bacon, ham, a kind of egg thing, spaghetti (I'm not sure why they have spaghetti here). Soup, coffee, Japanese tea, orange and tomato juices.

On the other side, a bunch of Japanese-type breakfasty things, green salad stuff, a lovely fruit plate and some tofu-and-fruit stuff. Yum yum!