Actually, yes, if you must ask. Not a scholar per se of the language, but of something about Japan that matters very much to the Japanese economy. And it isn't about food, I'm just a neophyte compared to some of the people on this board. But no need to get into that, in the internet nobody knows you're a dog.

I was having a chuckle with somebody also famous about this, and we realized the "literal" translation of "onagaishimasu" would be something somewhat rude. Although it wouldn't be a common expression, but a bad wordplay, and may not easily parse to a native speaker.

Ah yes, Yenching. That spot hasn't been the same since Bick's moved on.

That's why I said "Peech is a friend of mine". Aberdeen fish market canteen, here I come!

As one of my esteemed professors once said, while focusing on a difficult point involving previous knowledge at the blackboard: "As you learned in your introductory course... actually as you were taught in your introductory course... let me take that back, as you were *shown* in your introductory course..."

There is no direct word for "please" in Japanese, but the closest one isn't onegaishimasu ("I respectfully request") but -kudasai.

And you ran the same "typo" on onegaishimasu three times. Maybe your keyboard is stuck on the "a".

I'm not Peech (cue: I know Peech. Peech is a friend of mine. And you, sir, are no Peech). But Man Wah is as good as ever, maybe even better.

Onagaishimashu doesn't mean "please", and neither "onegaishimasu". But nice try.

I love that place, it's like walking into a true time warp. As you said, the food is good, not outstanding or the slightest bit inventive, but a classic nonetheless.

The sushi is excellent. But $80 per person sounds rather low. I don't think you can get out of there with a proper experience under 12-15,000 Yen.

Oh man, you picked some place. The boss there is a nice guy, but he speaks no English, and he's not the kind of gent who's even going to try. As to "how much you want to spend", that's quite fraught. He may have already a set course with a set price, and it may or may not be a better deal than what you're thinking of spending.

" I've noticed that the better restaurants usually specialize in just one dish, and don't offer a variety which stands out from the rest. Not like the restaurants I'm used to in Hawaii."

Welcome to the rest of the world. Same in Japan. No self-respecting Japanese would go to a restaurant that served (say) both sushi and tempura. Except Gonpachi in Tokyo, which is where the locals take their foreign guests who don't know what the real deal looks like and probably would find it unsatisfying, you know, with a limited dish variety.

I think you mean big ass-flavored iced coffees. A case where "Eats, shoots, and leaves" comes in handy as a reference.

I grew up in Mexico. Trust me, a taco stand where the people running it had a parallel deal of changing their baby's diapers in the same area as the cooking area and during the cooking process wouldn't get a lot of customers. It's just widely-agreed common sense. Eating shit, either yours or others, is not widely recommended as an experience. It isn't good for you, in general.

Exceptions to be made, believe it or not, for something called a "fecal transplant", look it up, it's amazing. But not in a commonly-experienced setting.

I was in Pittsburgh once and ordered a lobster roll. They brought me a Japanese-style maki roll with lobster inside. I told them that this was off in so many levels it wasn't even wrong.

In Japan, the Michelin guide is, ahem, controversial. And not exactly reputable.

Japan is offering a 25% discount across the board. Everybody loves a bargain.

I think "fading in popularity" increases the "goodness" of many restaurants, especially those that people go to because they're on some damn list or another.

You know you're in Japan when the chicken on a stick sellers have their own trade promotion group...

Anything else?

It's penance for having turned The Tasty first into a stupid Abercrombie and Fitch, then into some kind of sunglass store, then into Alpha Omega, and now a Starbucks.

No matter how you get there, you'll still have to walk the last bit. If you take a taxi, it can drop you off at the end of the road on the north side of the river, then you walk up the hill. Or you can take a train to Arashiyama station and walk from there.

I wouldn't wear those anywhere in Tokyo unless I was a middle-aged lady with a sun-hat doing the Imperial Palace jogging circuit. And even then I'd take them off immediately afterwards.

I guess if I was in this quandary where I would not be able to eat something in some way or another and are limited to the airplane "food", I'd probably end up not eating at all. Life is too short to drink bad wine.

Isn't Dan Ryan's an Australian invention?

No, you're not the only one. Welcome to the "famous because it's famous" concept of dining. Glad you've come to your senses.

The Man Wah at the Mandarin is featuring the chef and the menu from Hangzhou's Zhiweiguan Weizhuang restaurant. Went for lunch today, and it was most excellent, probably one of the best Chinese meals I've ever had, and I've had lots.

Had the fish soup, the spiced beef, and the scallion pancakes, which were all outstanding. For dessert had glutinous rice mango dumplings. All of it was new to me and extremely accomplished in terms of the quality and presentation.

So if you're in HK between the 20-28, I urge you to give this a whirl, it was fabulous.

Tonki is not open for lunch. And if you catch the crowd, you can be in there for a couple of hours...

Never been to Blue Ribbon, but I found Nobu's sushi to be the ultimate in mediocrity.

That's a dumb, uninspired name. Like the kind of name you'd give the hotel restaurant at a Marriott or somesuch.

Staying on Kubrick, the bar at the Overlook Hotel. "the hair of the dog that bit me, Lloyd"

Harlan is a gasbag. Even though I have to give him credit for losing all that weight.