Enkai and Yakiniku

Although I didn't think I'd done a lot this week, it turns out I was wrong.

What is an Enkai? It's a drinking party! A work drinking party to be precise and it's rather a more formal affair than going out with your work colleagues in England. There are lots of little customs to observe. When you first arrive, everyone pours drinks out and waits for the party to officially start. This usually is started by the 'boss' calling for 'Kanpai' which is equivalent to 'Cheers'. There are a few ground rules about drinks: never pour your own drink, hold your cup whilst someone pours for you, make the rounds to pour for others and don't try to finish your drink because it will just keep getting topped back up again!

Although I can't really talk much about the Enkai I attended due to company rules, I can say that it was held partly as a welcome party to me and that they held a quiz about me where my colleagues had to guess information about me. Questions ranged from what's my favourite colour, what do I like and dislike to when is my birthday. That was really a nice touch and everyone got involved, some were so competitive! I had to make an impromptu short speech - so I thanked everyone for making me feel so welcome and learning about me. The night was really nice, the party comes to a close in a very interesting way. To close the evening, everyone must clap, just once, at exactly the same time.

There was a meal as well as drinks which just kept coming and there was so much food that I couldn't even try everything. Highlights include eating raw egg with some cooked meat, some really delicious vegetable tempura and some amazing sashimi. Before I knew it, the evening was at a close - it definitely is a shorter evening than most of the work outings I've been on in England - some of my workplace outings in Manchester were marathons compared!

Over the weekend, I met up with Amy and her boyfriend Nam a few times. The first evening, we went for Yakiniku (which is a place where you cook your own meat over a grill which is set in the table) and not only was it delicious, but it was a lot of fun to cook your own food.

 {The pit of fire in the middle of our table where our meats were expertly cooked by us 😏}

The place we went to had a set charge for one and a half hours of all you can eat dishes. Within the first 5 minutes, Nam had managed to accumulate this on our table:

{The pink drink was supposedly a grape cocktail but it tasted like bubblegum}

Now with places such as these all you can eat for a flat fee, it is ridiculous to get vegetables but I just want to say: Mum, I know you're reading this, we did order vegetables as I've evidenced below! And because I knew you wouldn't believe me, I have also included a picture of the tongue I tried which was really delicious.

 Here is a video of me putting the first meat on (in which I am quite understandably both excited and distracted).

In conclusion, if Yakiniku is an option, always pick Yakiniku.