Japanese Food and Sake

UPDATE: It is spelled "Sake" and the Japanese food we had was quite good. After a long final day at the Suzhou plant, the China employees took us out for Japanese food and we all had a lot of fun.

After work, we returned to the hotel before going to the restaurant.  Once I arrived there, I had to take my shoes off before sitting down; soon after I had some black pepper steak and some local beer (Tsingtao) in front of me.  Shrimp followed shortly thereafter, followed by some breaded chicken and chicken wings.  All were quite good.  I stayed away from any fish-related dishes, but I tried a bite of Calamari.  After five minutes, I knew I wasn’t going to have an allergic reaction, so I had the rest of the portion I took.  While quite rubbery, it was good.  By this point, the Suzhou employees knew what we liked, so the second round of food basically duplicated the first.

Following this, some Saki was ordered and I indulged.  Not much different from vodka as far as I can tell, although I am no alcohol expert.  One of the Suzhou employees assured me prior to its arrival that it was “not a liquor”; however, I am quite certain there was alcohol in it.  One my compatriots inquired about wine, at which point we were informed that local white wine ran in the 30-50% alcohol content range.  I passed (both because I don’t like white wine and because I don’t like high-alcohol-content beverages).

Tomorrow we are headed out on a half-day tour of some city gardens followed by some shopping with one of the Suzhou employees (so that we don’t get ripped off and so that we hopefully find what we want).  The day after that we head to Malaysia, so I may not post again until next week.  Until then…