The Octagonal Fish Dinner: The fish was octagonal, not the plate

Yes, fact is stranger than fiction. There is actually a fish that has 8 sides to it.

Last week, Greg and I decided to eat at our favorite Japanese "French" restaurant, Lapin D'or, which means The Gold Rabbit. For some reason, the rabbit is a popular symbol in Japan. Rabbit or no rabbit, the food is excellent! Anyway, the restaurant is down a funny little pedestrian street and always an interesting walk to get there. The restaurant is run by the chef, Koshimizu, and his waiter, Ito. They are definitely a comedic duo, with Koshimizu having all the straight lines. Their taste in music leans toward jazz ... makes a person want to sit there and drink wine for hours...guess that's the point.

Every meal is different. Koshimizu has a little black chalk board with the menu for that evening, all in Japanese of course, so we never quite know what we're going to eat. Our favorite salad is the "Greg" salad...that's how often we eat there.

Koshimizu usually surprises us with something interesting. This evening, it was the eight sided fish. It was long and thin and covered with very hard and sharp spines. The head was still on and the eyes were bulging out at us saying..."how could you!" We were stumped as to how to eat the thing. Koshimizu came to the rescue. If you turn the fish over, there is a line down the belly of the fish where the spines end. You simply slice down the line and pull the spines apart. Inside is a very delicate and tasty white fish. It takes about four fish to get a serving though. It's a pretty skinny fish.

For dessert, Koshimizu's wife had baked a homemade chocolate cake. I thought homemade cake was extinct....

Some days, I think all people do in Japan is eat. I have found that a lovely dinner or afternoon tea is an important part of the Japanese culture and now it is part of my culture. I think it is because most people are living in such small spaces. Restaurants, cafes, coffee shops - all offer a way out of the isolation of the tiny apartments.