Stand-up Bar - Otsu (by G)

I was wandering around Otsu looking for somewhere to eat without success so I decided to stop and take a beer before resuming the search.

The bar I stopped at was pretty deserted and did not have any seats (downstairs) just a bar and some stand-up tables. The first beer went down pretty well, so I had another, and another in quick succession because the staff were ignoring me and I felt a bit awkward. Just as I was about to call it and leave someone asked me if I liked sake - I do, of course. Apparently they featured sake from the region and showed me a map on the wall with all the nearby regions. I ordered a sake.

After the sake they asked if I was hungry - I was. I couldn't really tell what they were serving and their English was not great so I just said 'Omakase' - I'll leave it to you. Parings of sake and food.

The first was mackerel (I think) sashimi. After the first pairing went down well the chef began to enjoy himself. The second pairing he described as, 'totally unique'. Sake and home made cheese cookies. Then oden, I think some other things (I was pretty drunk by this stage). I requested fried quail eggs at one point (and managed to photograph them). Someone upstairs ordered karagge chicken and the high-school student chef off-sider filtched a piece for me. After that I had some more beer - there are some unknowns towards the end.

It was such a great and unexpected experience. I spent about 5 hours there, just eating and drinking and watching the chef and his tiny female offsider kick ass. A steady stream of people came in and ordered huge amounts of food and the two of them just calmly went about knocking the dishes out, all the time periodically dragging me outside to view an on-going lunar eclipse.

At one point, right in the middle of the rush, the chef came over and asked if I wanted something to eat. 'You're really busy - later will do', I said. 'No, G. Don't worry about it'. He said and brought me another pairing.

Oh, boy, did I get wasted. Not mumbling and stumbling drunk - just thoroughly, thoroughly wankered. It was a miracle I woke up in time to get my train in the morning. A quick check of my wallet in the morning revealed that I had probably walked out without paying at the end of the night.  I quickly hustled my way back to the bar to find it shuttered so I slipped some money under the roller-door with a note of apology and my e-mail address in-case I owed them more money.  I haven't heard from them - I just hope it was the right place...