Boil your own

A couple of my Thai classmates were leaving today so after School a few friends and I headed off to a funky local restaurant for the 'Sayonara' dinner. It took quite a bit of persuading to get me to come along as the pricing was almost eight pounds a meal and really quite expensive for Japan! Eventually I relented and am glad I did, 'cause this place was a true experience. An experience of the kind that would set you back thirty pounds a head in London.

I'm not sure if it was traditional Japanese cuisine or a concept restaurant but either way it was completely interesting. The table was set with twelve small white bowls (two for each of us), a selection of raw meat & vegetables, and two large bubbling cauldrons of boiling broth.

This caused a couple of initial complications, first with someone almost burning themselves on the all but invisible heating rings in the centre of the table, then with me misunderstanding Japanese food rules, thinking the uncooked cow was a sashimi and nearly tucking in (quite logical when you consider that this is a nation who eats raw horse!).

After saving me from this rare fate, my chums explained the restaurant's rules- Into each of your bowls you poured a different sauce- tasty soy in one and creamy sweet peanut in the other- the raw meat and veg was placed into the communal pot until cooked, fished out with chopstick, dipped into whichever sauce took your fancy and then gulped down.

Eight pounds each payed for a one and a half hour 'eat as much as you can' free for all and every time we got low on anything more plates of meat would appear alongside a trolley full of odd vegetables. I ate enough sliced beef to fill me for a month but oddly enough there were absolutely no carbs. Surely a complete heaven for Atkins subscribers but it left my stomach feeling peculiarly empty, despite being about to burst.

I'm off to the convenience store to buy myself an individually wrapped slice of bread to compensate but in the meantime if anyone knows the history and/or name of this strange self boiled cuisine, I'd love to hear your comments. Enlighten me.