How to eat difficult food?

I feel like such a rube...

A friend and I went to lunch at blufish sushi bistro in Park Ridge the other day, and I ordered:

TEMPURA UDON
White shrimp & vegetable tempura with buck wheat udon in broth

Since I love, love, love udon noodles, I was very much looking forward to this dish. I was presented with a giant bowl of broth, vegetable and meat goodness and a serving spoon, along with a smaller bowl in which to place some of said goodness for an individual portion. (There was only one piece of tempura that I could discern -- a shrimp, but that was fine by me.)

My dilemma began when I examined the giant pieces of vegetables and meat that were in the broth, along with the very long noodles, and the spoon I was supposed to eat all this with. The only eating utensil I was provided with was a spoon like you use to eat hot and sour soup.

Perplexed, I considered my options for attacking my bowl of food in a refined manner. Everything I tried was difficult and messy. About all I could do was saw away at the noodles; the pieces of meat and vegetable weren't tender enough for the spoon to slice in half.

I am assuming this was a pretty traditional rendition of this dish, so I ask all of you who are more worldy-wise than me -- how was I supposed to eat it? I thought about asking for a knife, but that seemed ugly-Americanish, even in the suburban utopia of Park Ridge. Was I supposed to fish out the big pieces with chopsticks and eat them separately from the noodles and broth? I briefly considered this option, but the pieces were really too large to eat without cutting them down to size, so to speak.

I ended up bringing home virtually the entire dish, which I discovered DH eating the following day. His comment was, "I see what you meant! I've used every type of cutlery we have!"

So that I don't either embarrass myself or leave hungry in the future at a restaurant that offers a similar dish, please provide your tips in the responses!

Thank you, one and all!

blufish bistro
130 N. Northwest Highway
Park Ridge, IL 60068
http://blufishsushi.com/index.html
(847) 720-4315

I'm not Japanese but I think in this instance, a similar standard of etiquette applies to most east asian cultures when tackling a bowl of noodles.* When I was but a wee bairn, me mum taught me that the polite way to slurp noodle soups was to hold the soup spoon above the bowl while your other hand wields a pair of chopsticks. The idea is that the soup spoon serves as sort of a way station floating in mid-air. Thus positioned, you can twirl a skein of noodles with your chopsticks and then suspend them halfway to your mouth, letting the noodles dangle on the spoon. You can blow on the noodles at this point to cool them down somewhat before spooling them into your gaping maw. Mother wong was pretty insistent that the spoon remain airborne throughout, not only for the sake of appearances, but in that unhappy instance should your noodles slip off your chopsticks (or during mid-chew (*gasp*)), and fall back into the bowl. If your spoon is properly aloft, then you stand a decent chance of catching the falling debris before it splashes into its liquid suspension, thus ruining your best cashmere sweater or favorite Wilco t-shirt, as the case may be.

Also, if you have bitten off more noodles than you can chew (ahem), you can return the uneaten portion back to the bowl via the spoon in a deliberate, genteel manner, without looking like you're actually spitting them out. You need not do this if you have apportioned your noodles correctly beforehand, but sometimes, you can be fooled by misjudging the length of the noodles, or in the case of udon, their thickness.

The spoon also serves as a convenient resting place for unwieldy pieces of meat, veggies, or as the example the OP uses, largish cuts of tempura. Most of the time, these items are sliced into smaller pieces out of consideration for the diner. However, when faced with an atypical cut of meat, say a whole porkchop (which nearly represents the very apex of chopstick handling skills), then you can rest the offending item on your upraised spoon, hold it in place with your chopsticks, and politely nibble away.

Hope this helps...


*I really dread making blanket statements like this one without proper citation but I'm pretty confident this custom holds true for those asian cuisines which use chopsticks. I'm aware that some southeast asians hew entirely to forks and spoons, but I imagine this fact ought not to present any difficulties for western diners, with the proviso that it is usually considered vulgar to bring the fork to one's mouth.

titus wong wrote:I'm not Japanese but I think in this instance, a similar standard of etiquette applies to most east asian cultures when tackling a bowl of noodles.

That is pretty much how I was taught to eat Udon by a Japanese friend many years ago. Japanese restaurants often provide those cheap pull apart chopsticks, which makes everything a little more difficult to manage, especially a heavy load of noodles. My friend would rub the sticks together to remove any splinters. I have also seen people rip the wrapper in half and use it as a protective sheath against the sharp wooden corners of the sticks. BTW, Really great description of the process, a very entertaining reply.

An awkward noodle slurping session:



Procuring udon at a Japanese train station:

Here's a random vid I plucked off of YouTube. Disregard the uncouth gents at the beginning of the segment but keep an eye out for the perky young thing midway through, displaying tolerably good form while slurping down some ramen.

(Frequent lurker, infrequent poster here.)

I just had to post this scene from Tampopo.

snk wrote:(Frequent lurker, infrequent poster here.)

I just had to post this scene from Tampopo.

Yeah, I ran across that scene myself just now and had a good snicker. Tampopo has been routinely lionized on this board and CH.

Loved the videos...learned something!

titus wong wrote:I'm not Japanese but I think in this instance, a similar standard of etiquette applies to most east asian cultures when tackling a bowl of noodles.* When I was but a wee bairn, me mum taught me that the polite way to slurp noodle soups was to hold the soup spoon above the bowl while your other hand wields a pair of chopsticks. The idea is that the soup spoon serves as sort of a way station floating in mid-air. Thus positioned, you can twirl a skein of noodles with your chopsticks and then suspend them halfway to your mouth, letting the noodles dangle on the spoon. You can blow on the noodles at this point to cool them down somewhat before spooling them into your gaping maw. Mother wong was pretty insistent that the spoon remain airborne throughout, not only for the sake of appearances, but in that unhappy instance should your noodles slip off your chopsticks (or during mid-chew (*gasp*)), and fall back into the bowl. If your spoon is properly aloft, then you stand a decent chance of catching the falling debris before it splashes into its liquid suspension, thus ruining your best cashmere sweater or favorite Wilco t-shirt, as the case may be.

Also, if you have bitten off more noodles than you can chew (ahem), you can return the uneaten portion back to the bowl via the spoon in a deliberate, genteel manner, without looking like you're actually spitting them out. You need not do this if you have apportioned your noodles correctly beforehand, but sometimes, you can be fooled by misjudging the length of the noodles, or in the case of udon, their thickness.

The spoon also serves as a convenient resting place for unwieldy pieces of meat, veggies, or as the example the OP uses, largish cuts of tempura. Most of the time, these items are sliced into smaller pieces out of consideration for the diner. However, when faced with an atypical cut of meat, say a whole porkchop (which nearly represents the very apex of chopstick handling skills), then you can rest the offending item on your upraised spoon, hold it in place with your chopsticks, and politely nibble away.

Hope this helps...


*I really dread making blanket statements like this one without proper citation but I'm pretty confident this custom holds true for those asian cuisines which use chopsticks. I'm aware that some southeast asians hew entirely to forks and spoons, but I imagine this fact ought not to present any difficulties for western diners, with the proviso that it is usually considered vulgar to bring the fork to one's mouth.

Oh Titus,

Thank you so much for your wonderful reply! It made me smile and laugh, and it was also instructive at the same time, without making me feel like an idiot. I now feel like I will be able to tackle this yummy foodstuff with alacrity the next time I am at an Asian bistro!

Thanks again!

d4v3 wrote:

titus wong wrote:I'm not Japanese but I think in this instance, a similar standard of etiquette applies to most east asian cultures when tackling a bowl of noodles.

That is pretty much how I was taught to eat Udon by a Japanese friend many years ago. Japanese restaurants often provide those cheap pull apart chopsticks, which makes everything a little more difficult to manage, especially a heavy load of noodles. My friend would rub the sticks together to remove any splinters. I have also seen people rip the wrapper in half and use it as a protective sheath against the sharp wooden corners of the sticks. BTW, Really great description of the process, a very entertaining reply.

I was really surprised that blufish offered the cheap pull-apart chopsticks, as the venue is quite elegant in its decor, and the other service pieces were quite nice. Do these restaurants hold nicer chopsticks in reserve, available only if you ask for them?

Cathy2 wrote:

An awkward noodle slurping session:



Procuring udon at a Japanese train station:

Thank you for digging up these videos, Cathy! They were both informative and entertaining! Also, your signature quote about discovering a new dish certainly seems to apply in this case ... can't wait to try udon noodles prepared the Japanese way again soon. (I don't think it's authentic, but I have used them to prepare dan dan sesame noodles. Delish.)

titus wong wrote:Here's a random vid I plucked off of YouTube. Disregard the uncouth gents at the beginning of the segment but keep an eye out for the perky young thing midway through, displaying tolerably good form while slurping down some ramen.

That was great! Now, I just need to perfect that young woman's style without spilling broth all over my clothing ...

snk wrote:(Frequent lurker, infrequent poster here.)

I just had to post this scene from Tampopo.

Right before I watched this clip, I was trying to think of foods that might mystify people who weren't of the same ethnic persuasion as the chef, so this was very amusing. Thanks!

In case anyone searches blufish in the future: I coincidentally happened to eat at Blufish last week in a larger party; special requests and sushi newcomers up and down the table were handled patiently, and it is a pretty space. I have to ding them thrice, though: extremely weak miso, oyster shooter unavailable at primetime on a weekend, and all rolls mentioning tako came with a creamed tuna salad-like concoction instead of nice pieces of octopus. The udon presentation was bounteous and artful but commented bland by several. The maki were very colorful, not particularly creative, and the drink menu had no savory notes, all double-sweet or neutral cocktails. A saketini with cucumber was at least refreshing. Overall a gracious and reasonable effort, but nothing sung.

Santander wrote:In case anyone searches blufish in the future: I coincidentally happened to eat at Blufish last week in a larger party; special requests and sushi newcomers up and down the table were handled patiently, and it is a pretty space. I have to ding them thrice, though: extremely weak miso, oyster shooter unavailable at primetime on a weekend, and all rolls mentioning tako came with a creamed tuna salad-like concoction instead of nice pieces of octopus. The udon presentation was bounteous and artful but commented bland by several. The maki were very colorful, not particularly creative, and the drink menu had no savory notes, all double-sweet or neutral cocktails. A saketini with cucumber was at least refreshing. Overall a gracious and reasonable effort, but nothing sung.

Thanks for the critique of the actual food and drink served at blufish, Santander!

My friend I went to lunch with got a dish (a Bento box, maybe? Not sure, as I wasn't paying attention when she ordered) that had a variety of items, including some California rolls. They were the only things she didn't polish off.

We also had dessert, something called an "ice cube," I think, but it was frozen so solid that it didn't have much flavor to it. Our beverages for lunch were only water and iced tea, so nothing to comment on there.

Service was very good.

In the FWIW department: A few years ago I read an article on what to do and what not to do in a Japanese restaurant, and on the list of don'ts was: Don't rub your pull-apart chopsticks together to "sand down" the splinters. Supposedly it is highly rude to the sushi chef and/or proprietor to suggest that he would give you chopsticks that had splinters in them.

I make no representation that this is true (except that it is true that I read it in an article in a seemingly reputable source).

I used to feel so rude an inadequate every time I ate asian noodle soups and I agree that udon and glass noodles are particularly challenging as they are harder to cut using chopsticks. What I have learned though is that the harder you try to eat the noodles politely the more awkward (and annoying to other people it becomes). I finally gave up insisting to use the chosticks and spoon method described earlier after I realized how annoying most of my asian friends thought that method was. Its like eating pizza with a fork and knife, ask an Italian how the feel about it.
I hate to admit this because I hate it when people make noise when they eat, but the best way to eat noodles is by slurping and drinking from your bowl. In the case of big pieces of meat or tempura shrimp you just slurp some noodles get a bite of your shrimp and drink some of the broth. As long as you dont spit food out, thats the way to do it. In cold winter days if you let go af western eating maners you will see that the more slurping the more enjoyable the dish is.

riddlemay wrote:In the FWIW department: A few years ago I read an article on what to do and what not to do in a Japanese restaurant, and on the list of don'ts was: Don't rub your pull-apart chopsticks together to "sand down" the splinters. Supposedly it is highly rude to the sushi chef and/or proprietor to suggest that he would give you chopsticks that had splinters in them.

I make no representation that this is true (except that it is true that I read it in an article in a seemingly reputable source).

This is echoed here (point #8). Though I can't help but wonder . . . if there actually ARE splinters in the chopsticks isn't it likewise rude to have provided them to me in the first place? In any case my own chopstick skills are so poor that I probably benefit from any additional adhesive properties chopstick splinters might provide.

FWIW, I always thought that rubbing the sticks together seemed more likely to cause splinters than eliminate them.

Kman wrote:

riddlemay wrote:In the FWIW department: A few years ago I read an article on what to do and what not to do in a Japanese restaurant, and on the list of don'ts was: Don't rub your pull-apart chopsticks together to "sand down" the splinters. Supposedly it is highly rude to the sushi chef and/or proprietor to suggest that he would give you chopsticks that had splinters in them.

I make no representation that this is true (except that it is true that I read it in an article in a seemingly reputable source).

This is echoed here (point #8). Though I can't help but wonder . . . if there actually ARE splinters in the chopsticks isn't it likewise rude to have provided them to me in the first place? In any case my own chopstick skills are so poor that I probably benefit from any additional adhesive properties chopstick splinters might provide.

At most places the chopsticks will be wrapped and there's no way to know how they'll break. Whenever I get splinters I just politely ask for a new pair.

As far as I know, other chopsticks rules include never place them on the sushi bar (rest them on something) and only use them to eat sashimi or maki (not nigiri).