food adventure

Do you ever wonder what makes someone love a certain restaurant so much? For weeks now, a waitress at the restaurant has been begging Brandon to try out her "favorite restaurant in Sasebo". He wasn't ignoring her, it's just very infrequent that we have a night off to dedicate to the exploration of a new restaurant. I mean, there is a lot that goes into it. Do we have enough yen? Can we walk? Should we walk? Because, let's face it. . .we have discovered there is a major difference in the 2 questions. So, being too tired to do anything of major substance tonight, we felt that a nice, relaxed dinner would be deserved. We forewent the walking option, and the taxi drove us high up the mountain to a little house, perched on a hill, over looking the whole of Sasebo. The view was spectacular. It was here, at this little house restaurant decorated like a bungalow, that we had the best Thai food of our lives.

The menu. You could get lost in the menu, not to mention they had a full out English menu. Not the kind with pictures, but a full written menu. We ordered spring rolls to start, then followed by green curry with chicken and jasmine rice, and finished with grilled shrimp pad tai.

The spring rolls were amazingly simple, filled with chicken and shrimp nestled between the most perfectly fresh julienned vegetables. They came with this dipping sauce that was so good it could bring enemies together. Our mouths were on fire. But, oh so good. The Green Curry, served in a mini cauldron of awesomeness, was the kind of thing that makes you break rules and lick your plate in public. Milky in a coconut kind of way, spicy in a red chili kind of way, and accented with our favorites; cilantro and tai basil. Last to be delivered was the pad tai. This is the favorite dish of the waitress that diligently pushed us to visit. The curry was a tough act to follow up, but did an amazing job. The shrimp, noodles, and peanuts come together quite deliciously. We must have looked like we were really enjoying the pad tai, because the waitress literally boxed up the last scraps we left on the plate.

All things we've had before? Yes. All things we've had in Japan, over looking a mountainous city speckled with bright lights, while the single waitress conducts her version of a symphony and the Thai chef prepares our meal from scratch? No. This my friends, was a first time experience.

It was pretty amazing. Sitting across from each other, enjoying a new experience. All very elegant, until the CD stopped and restarted with believe it or not. Britney Spears. At least it was the old stuff. . .the good stuff. Followed closely with Destiny's Child, Avril Levine, and as we were walking out of the door. . .TLC. They totally redeemed themselves with the TLC.

** We must apologize at the horrendous quality of the pictures. Not to worry, a new camera is coming soon. **