Suki Shabu, huh?

Have you ever seen the movie “Lost in Translation,” with Bill Murray? I’m a huge Bill Murray fan, as his dry sense of humor is quite close to my own. There is a scene in the movie near the end of the film where he and his co-star are sitting in a Japanese restaurant together, and then waitress brings their food to their table. However, they are presented with two plates of raw meat for their dining pleasure. The next day the two friends meet up, and Bill Murray’s character talks about what a bad lunch they had together the previous day. He then says, “What kind of a restaurant makes you cook your own food anyway,” which is one of my favorite lines in the movie. The reason for this is that they had gone to a sukiyaki restaurant, which is a very popular type of restaurant all over Thailand as well.

So, today for lunch we went to a new sukiyaki restaurant near our condo. Normally i avoid this type of restaurant like the plague, but my other half really really likes it so I just went with it today so he could enjoy. There are many in Thailand with names like Shabushi or MK Suki, which seems to be the most popular of this variety of dining. You go in and are seated at a table with a hotpot in the middle, in which there may or may not be some less than fresh looking water waiting. The hotpot is then turned on and you order veggies, poultry, beef, pork, fish, or seafood. Your food then quickly arrives at the table, but don’t think you are going to get to start eating just cause you’ve now got your food. Oh no! The food all comes to the table raw. Yes thats right, you are paying to sit in a restaurant where you are expected to sit and cook your own food. All the food goes into the hotpot and you wait for your boiled food to be done. Then you pick it out with chopsticks and its finally time to eat. There are usually 2 or 3 different types of dipping sauces to use, and you can order a side of rice to go with your boiled meat. I bet your mouth is watering already right? I’ve never met a Thai person that didn’t absolutely love this type of dining experience, but i normally go out of my way to give it a miss.

I couldn’t believe it when i first came here and was taken to a suki restaurant. A place like this would never make it back home in the west as raw meat, open flames, and super hot boiling water would be a good combination for a lawsuit at home. Just to many accidents waiting to happen. Plus like Bill said, who wants to pay to go out to eat and cook your own food. However, I do occasionally agree to go to make the better half happy. He seemed very pleased with our lunch today and asked me if i thought it was better than another place we’d been too. “Yeah i guess so,” I said trying to lie since the truth would be that its all boiled food to me so i can’t tell the difference. That was the most interesting thing I did today, as I didn’t make it out to grad school today to meet my professor. Hope everyone is enjoying your weekend, and i’m off now to dive into World of Warcraft. Talk to you tomorrow!