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Every time a restaurant in America tries to grab attention with some sort of gargantuan portion which clearly no individual (or even a small party) is meant to eat, it ends up being an example of American portions being out of control. In Japan, such over-size offerings are seen for what they are, a joke. Well, they might also be a bit of a challenge for more gluttonous sorts, but I doubt few would opt for the types of carbo-overkill offered at this restaurant near Kagurazaka station.
As for what they are offering, you could buy 2.5 kg/5.5 lbs. of fried rice (cha-han) for 5840 yen ($72), 100 pot stickers (gyoza) for 9600 yen ($117), 3.2 kg/7 lbs. of ramen for the bargain price of 1890 yen ($23) or an enormous pot sticker (2.3 kg./5 lbs.) for 9600 yen ($117). I'm guessing the ramen was the big seller in the crowd given it's reasonable price.
My eye starts to twitch whenever I hear people complain about portion control in America and how stuffed they are from eating all that food. Nobody's forcing them to eat the whole thing. That's what the doggie bag is for in restaurants. Do people not have the sense to stop eating when their satisfied?
ReplyDeleteComplaining about TOO much food...unbelievable.
I absolutely agree with you, J! Even in Japan, I rarely ate the entire serving at restaurants... and they don't have the doggie bag system!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, studies do show that people eat more when more is put in front of them. It's something one has to be conscious of (stopping when sated) in such cases. Still, I agree that you shouldn't complain about too much food and should just take it home as a second (or second and third) meal.