Narita, Ringer Hut, Akihabara, Maid Cafes & Sake

5 guys, 7 days, 2 countries, and a mentality that anything goes. This was the bachelor party. It wasn’t The Hangover, but it was eye opening with lots of WTF moments, extreme activities, and partying. During this time I was more tourist than a Japanese, bringing my camera everywhere and taking happy snaps of anything and everything – especially food.

Our week begins with a 2 day stopover flight to Tokyo where we are more foreign than prunes in a pickle jar. Our trip to Tokyo is tame, as we conserve our energy for the trip to Las Vegas. The stag is the only one that has been to Japan so we rely on him to guide us around.

After our arrival to Narita airport we board the Narita Express to Tokyo, and it is a 1 hour trip. It is cold and rainy outside and we are glad to be nice and warm inside. Some of us have an interesting experience using the urinal on the train. At every corner or bump there would be a thud of skulls on ceramic tiles, and wounded lower body parts as they hit the back part of the urinal. It would never happen again.

Narita Express Reserved Tickets Only

Once we get to Tokyo, we catch another train to the district of Akasaka in Minato where we drop our luggage off at the hotel before going out to explore. We find something to eat at Ringer Hut, which is the first place we see. It is 1:00pm and we are so hungry that we could eat a scabby cat on toast.

Ringer Hut originated in 1963 in Nagasaki and was named after famous British Merchant Frederick Ringer. He was regarded as a great contributor to trade and industrial promotion during the 1840 – 1908 period. Ringer Hut is famous for its Champon (noodles in a spicy broth with vegetables, seafood, meat, and flour sauce) and Sara Udon (crispy egg noodles topped with vegetables, chicken, and flour sauce).

Ringer Hut

This place is so small!

Nagasaki Sara Udon with Gyoza Combo Meal

Not knowing what to order at that time, one of us points at a picture and the rest of us choose the same thing – a Nagasaki Sara Udon with Gyoza Combo Meal. The Nagasaki Sara Udon looks like basic grub suitable as a hangover cure. It reminds me of san mee, which is a hawker dish made of crispy egg noodles with egg sauce. Ringer Hut describes the dish as follows:

“These golden, all-natural noodles are made of a special blend of flours, and cannot be found anywhere else in the world. We top these thin, crispy noodles with a rich, hearty secret sauce made from fresh vegetables and chicken. An old favourite, Sara Udon is also low in calories (693 calories) and is loaded with vitamins and minerals.“

Nagasaki Sara Udon

Crispy Pari Pari Noodles

The side dish for the combo meal is Gyoza described on the menu as follows:

“Gyoza, better known as Japanese pot stickers, is great-tasting alternatives to the traditional Chinese pot sticker. Our bite-sized Gyoza are filled with pork , vegetables and special spices, and encased in a delicate shell. Because we steam and grill them, they are lower in calories (297 calories per 6 pieces) and lower in cholesterol than traditional pot stickers. Try dipping them in our special made Gyoza sauce!“

Haha yes, the description is a bit over the top, but they are good – moist and slightly crunchy, going well with the vinegar sauce.

Gyoza

Smooth, creamy Kirin Beer

After our meal, one catches up on some much needed rest back at the hotel while the rest of us catch a train to Akihabara Electric Town to explore. It is a geek’s paradise with tall buildings, large neon signs, and lots of lanes off the main road. Every game and console imaginable is for sale from Wiis to PS3s. There are so many girls dressed up in Cosplay (“costume play” in the guise of a specific character – normally Anime) outfits handing out flyers to the people walking by. One of the flyers we pick up is about a Maid Cafe. This immediately reminds our stag that we must go to one before leaving Japan. We end up going to two – one not so popular cafe, and one very popular place called the @home Cafe.

Akihabara Denki Gai aka “Akihabara Electric Town”

The streets of Akihabara

A maid cafe is place staffed by young girls dressed up in maid outfits with white aprons and crowns, short skirts, and socks up to the knees. The idea is simple: you are the master (or mistress), and the maids are technically your slaves. There are many rules at the @home cafe, with the main ones outlining that:

• You must not touch or harass the staff.
• You may not ask maids for their personal details.
• You must purchase a drink or meal.
• There is a set time limit of about 60 minutes.
• A cover charge of several hundred yen is required by the party.
• A subsequent cover charge follows if the time limit has been exceeded.
• No photographs or videos. Photos can be purchased.

@Home Cafe Doors

Lining up at the @Home Maid Cafe

Oops, cameras prohibited…

We are each presented with a menu that is colourful and filled with photographs, all annotated with cute anime and animals. I choose a meal that consists of an omelette on rice with chicken nuggets, a magical cocktail chosen by the maid based on her mood, a caramel latte, and a chocolate rabbit cake. My meal includes a free photo with a maid of my choice. My friends order similar items too. I wish we could take photos of the food and drink as they are so beautifully presented.

A maid comes to our table with omelette dish in one hand and red tomato sauce bottle in the other. She asks me what animal I would like drawn on my food and I say “cat“. Standing quite relaxed and with a sultry look on her face, she draws a cute cat face in tomato sauce on the omelette, a sun on the plate, and cute little paws on the chicken nuggets. Then she tells me to “repeat after me and do the moe moe” and get my hands to form a love heart shape. Apparently this “moe moe” ritual was supposed to wish super happy delicious goodness out of my food. We are all smiles because it is just too funny. To my surprise, the food is actually very good. Not bad at all! Later my cocktail is brought out in a shaker by another maid. Like the previous maid, she asks me to repeat after her while she shakes the cocktail. This is something along the lines of “moe moe *shake shake*, doki doki *shake shake*“. After the chant, she pours a bright milky pink liquid into a glass. It turns out to be some alcoholic strawberry milk. As for the other items, my caramel latte is served in a tall glass with a small picture of a cute rabbit drawn in caramel sauce, while the rabbit cake is simply a rich chocolate cake with Oreos forming the eyes of the rabbit, and strawberry sauce as the mouth and nose. Again it is all too cute.

Midway through my meal I am called up to stage to take a polaroid with a maid of my choice. She points me to the props wall behind the stage which consists of a range of furry animal ears, and other weird stuff. I want the furry cat paws (which I see being used by the previous lucky guy) but they are nowhere to be seen. I choose the tiger ears. I am then asked what pose I would like to do but I go all conservative and form a heart with my hands and do the “moe moe“. Later, I am given the photo which is annotated with hearts and words in pink. My mate the stag is also called up to stage at one point during the meal. He chooses cat ears and kneels on the floor while the maid pats him. Classic!

Maid Cafe Polaroid

As we leave, each of us is presented with a Lvl 1 Master Card with our names written on the back. Apparently this is a loyalty card, so after three visits you receive a Lvl 2 Master Card, and so forth. I do wonder what you get when you are a Lvl 30 Master. A free polaroid perhaps?

@Home Cafe Lvl 1 Master Card – Front

@Home Cafe Lvl 1 Master Card – Back

Another Maid Cafe – the first one we went to. Oops, there were no signs saying we couldn’t take photos!

It is dark by the time we finish, so we meet up with our friend who is now full of energy, and find a place in Akasaka for dinner – a place preferably with sake – lots of it. We walk into a nice establishment that has lots of wood finishes on the outside and a very large bar inside.

Akihabara at Night

Our waiter passes us some English menus and asks what drinks we would like, suggesting perhaps 3 tokkuri for the 5 of us. In fact we order 5 flasks of warm sake – 1 each. He is so surprised and shocked that he rushes out to the back to tell his colleague that we are crazy for ordering that much. Our choko (small cups) are always kept full to the brim during the whole night.

Warm Sake

Cold Sake

Only four of us eat, with two sharing an Assorted Sashimi Plate, and the other two each ordering Assorted Yakitori Plates, with Deep Fried Octopus on the side. We also get some seaweed rice to share. The two sharing the sashimi describe each piece as the best thing ever eaten – so fresh, soft, and with that melt in your mouth awesomeness. The wasabi is freshly grated and smells potent. It is very strong.

Sashimi Assorted

Fresh sashimi

The assorted yakitori plates consist of chicken winglets, livers, thighs, and chicken balls. We are so surprised because we expect just one or two sticks of skewered chicken (like in Australia). Boy were we wrong. This was a meal! The chicken balls are soft like sponges, the livers creamy, rich and sweet, and the thighs moist and tender. The deep fried octopus is seasoned nicely, crunchy on the outside, and chewy and delicate on the inside.

Yakitori Assorted Large Size

Yakitori Chicken Balls

Winglets, Livers, Thighs, and Chicken Balls

Seaweed Rice

So delicious!

Deep Fried Octopus

It is 11:00pm and our day is complete. We are buggered and walk back to our hotel, stopping by a convenience store on the way to pick up some few junk food items and drinks. First impression: Japan is awesome.

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