A Trip to Tokyo

I have been wanting to take Lily to a hibachi-style restaurant called Miyako for awhile. Last week I mentioned that idea to Liz; when she said that was one of her favorite places to eat, I knew we had to go. So, on Thursday evening I told Lily she was getting to go to a special big-girl lunch with Mommy and Bama on Friday, and she seemed pretty excited. On Friday morning, I gave her a few more details about where we were going. I told her how they cook the food right in front of you, and it's like they are putting on a cooking show because she loves to watch me cook and pretend cook in her kitchen. She loved that idea. Then I told her they were cooking Japanese-style food, so of course she said "What is Japanese?" I said "Japan is a country. You know on your ABC board, the T is for Tokyo? Tokyo is in Japan." From then on, Lily kept saying "We go to Tokyo Mommy? I eat in Tokyo?" I couldn't stop laughing at that.

We were the first of seven people to sit down. Luckily, the table next to us was just starting their meal. I was relieved because that let us show Lily what they would do at our table, so she wouldn't be as surprised. She gets nervous in new situations, so I think it was very helpful to have her see it at a distance first. I asked Lily if she wanted steak or chicken, and she was adamant that she wanted steak; a girl after my own heart! Here she is checking out the menu.

First, the waitress brought out a soup that Liz and I both love, but Lily refused to try which didn't surprise me too much. Then they brought a salad with a wonderful ginger dressing. Lily started eating the carrots from her salad. On the second bite, she apparently got a little bit of dressing on one...she loved it! "That good dip Mommy!" is what I heard, so then she started actually eating the salad which I couldn't believe. After we finished with our soups and salads, the chef came out and started preparing the stove top which includes making a huge fire. Lily was not a fan. She looked at me and asked to come sit in my lap; I didn't let her, but I did let her hold my hand. Right after that, he started showing off his knife and spatula skills which was pretty loud. Lily is very aware of sounds around her, so she really didn't like that either. I was starting to wonder if I made a really bad decision.

Then, the chef started to cook. From this point on, Lily was great. She loves rice, so she was excited to see him start cooking that first. Check out this picture (ignoring the finger in her nose) as she watched him cook. Thankfully, the other people at the table found Lily very entertaining with the commentary she added as she watched.

I helped her cool off the rice once they put it on her plate. She took one bite (with the "big girl fork" that she was very excited to use), looked at me and said "That good rice Mommy; that good!" She absolutely loved it. I didn't realize this when we ordered, but the kids' portion is the same size as the adults' lunch portion, so Lily had the exact same portions of food that Liz and I had. I have to say, she ate more rice than either of us! Here she is enjoying a big bite of rice while keeping a close eye on what the chef was cooking next...her steak.

The chef did a great job cooking the steak. I truly appreciated that he cut her pieces into small bite-size pieces. She really seemed to enjoy it. She ate several bites of it, but really, she was into the rice so we ended up bringing most of the steak home as left-overs. The chef also prepared delicious vegetables for us. He asked Lily what her favorite vegetable was and she told him carrots. I thought it was so nice of him to take her portion of vegetables, pull out all the carrots and cut them into smaller bite-size pieces; he gave her a few of the other veggies too, but I liked that he gave her a lot of carrots. Unfortunately, she didn't want much to do with those, probably because she was so full of rice. Here's a picture of her plate before we packed it up. Notice how much rice is left as compared to the picture above which was taken after several minutes of eating the rice.

After the chef cleaned up the stove top, we applauded his efforts. Then, as he was walking off, he looked at Lily and said "See you tomorrow!" She enthusiastically replied "Ok!" Several times after we left, Lily mentioned how much she liked her lunch in Tokyo which I was very glad to hear. Overall, Lily did a great job. I can't wait to take her again sometime soon!