Roter-something

July 22, 2012

Brewed by: Um, erm, by someone, uh, somewhere in Japan

Style: A reddish something or other

2.5 of 5 burps

Ordered a beer. No idea what kind. Some kind of red beer. Not much flavor, but the flavor it had was OK. Just not quite enough to go around even a sip. But I did like the presentation. Lighting was nice, too.

But this beer was more about the surroundings. And those were quite accidental and awesome. While in Tokyo last fall, we ended up at Kamonka because didn’t know the restaurant we wanted, Tofuro, was in the sub-sub-basement.

We also didn’t know when we walked up to a giant Chinese emblem around where we thought our restaurant was that the whole wall behind it would slide open automatically.

Yeah, well, it did.

And then, you know how it is: You’re in a strange city, you don’t speak the language, you go with what you understand: Door opens = enter. It might be dark in there, but you go. Any movie you see, who doesn’t go through the magically opening portal?

You go. Duh.

Kamonka Restaurant

We were rewarded by being ushered into a seemingly endless hallway lit on both sides with tall pillars of Chinese-style lanterns. Coolest first-impression ever. I kept expecting Kim Cattrall to run through chased by a flying Chinese warlord in a pointy hat.

(I also expected to end up doing dishes, but prices weren’t all that bad.)

We were whisked into a screened and curtained booth just off that main hallway. We could hear other people around, but really didn’t see anyone else except the servers.

I have no idea what we ordered, but it seemed to end up involving shrimp dumplings, a dim sum-style collection of who knows what other dumplings that were the most gorgeous things ever, and fried chicken with a vinegar sauce.

Kamonka dumplings

If it wasn’t that, didn’t matter. Yum.

Best wrong turn ever.

Except for Kurt Russell not showing up either. Where’s an all-American trucker when you need one? He probably would’ve given the beer five burps.

Tasted at: Kamonka, a Chinese restaurant tucked down in a metro stop in Ginza, Tokyo

Tasted when: Nov. 23, 2011

Tags: 2.5, beer, photoblog, tokyo