Regulars

I’m unimaginative when I eat out.  I generally have one of two favorite restaurants in a given city and I recycle them endlessly any time I want to eat out.  Twice a week, Sen and I eat at our favorite Indian restaurant, about once a week at the ramen shop we discovered one day, and probably about once a week at the amazing and fantastically cheap kaiten-zushi near our house.

This was even more true in Saijo, where restaurants are few and the dorm kitchens filthy.  An endless rotation through about four restaurants, but our favorite was Q, our okonomiyaki restaurant of choice.  Hiroshima is famous for okonomiyaki, and restaurants therefore abound. In the city, there’s actually a 5 story building full of different okonomiyaki stalls, at least five stalls per floor.  There are at least 5 okonomiyaki places within walking distance of Hiroshima University campus that I can think of, and I’m sure that there are plenty more that I don’t, not to mention the ones that probably exist in downtown Saijo.  At various times, we strayed from Q in order to add a little variety into our food rotation, but in the end we always went back.  I think there was only one restaurant that really compared in terms taste — and may, in fact, have been slightly tastier — but nothing could beat Q in terms of style and atmosphere.

From the outside, Q looks a bit like a surf shack.

Inside, they’ve decorated with various American paraphernalia including a surf board, various American license plates (including one in the bathroom from Florida) and Coca-Cola and neon “Coors on tap” signs.  They play American music — mostly older stuff like the Beach Boys and Elvis, but some newer stuff occasionally.  The staff is more relaxed and friendly than most places, their dress code apparently flexible enough to allow one female employee to wear what appeared to be an animal pelt stapled to her belt, much to our amusement.

I had severely mixed feelings about coming back to Saijo.  With everyone gone, I thought that my nostalgia might turn to melancholy, or that perhaps the boredom of Saijo life would make me regret coming.  So I focused on my two reasons for coming: Bun-chan and Q.  Bun-chan never ceases to be amazing, so I had no qualms about coming to see her, but what about Q? Would the staff be the same?  Would they have any idea who I was?  I spent so much time there, I felt both excited and uneasy about going back.

Walking inside, it all looked the same.  The same cook stood behind the teppan.  We sat at the same table I sat at with Poot the first time I went to Q, the first time I ever ate okonomiyaki.  The cook — the only employee present, though there used to be three regular employees — sidled up to our table and said, “久しぶり.”  It’s been a long time.

Two years since I’d set foot in the restaurant, and not only is it unchanged, but the staff remembers me.  My taste buds may have been swayed by my joy, but my dinner was fantastic.