Even Ninjas must eat

When I go to Kumamoto City I spend most of my time on the shopping arcade. Since we don’t usually take a car to the city it’s nice to have a large variety of things all along a pedestrian street and within walking distance of each other. During my first year here I was once again in the city wandering down the street in the early evening. Suddenly, I stopped because there in front of me was a ninja. He was bowing politely to people and bidding them to come through a small door that I somehow had never noticed before. Above the door was a sign proclaiming that the name of the establishment was “Ninja” (seriously, how did I miss that?). All I could see was a small staircase leading downward. But I was incredibly intrigued. Since it was closed the next morning when I passed by I assumed that it was a restaurant but was worried that because of its apparent awesomeness that it would be very expensive.



Next to McDonald's of all places

Upon further inquiry to my more knowledgeable friends I found out that it was indeed a restaurant, a rather upscale izukaya, which is a type of restaurant that caters to groups who will all be sharing the various foods ordered. It took a while but I eventually got to visit this wonderful restaurant.

When you go to Ninja the first thing they do is ask if it is your first time. If anyone in the group has never been there before, they get to proceed first down the staircase and try to decipher the secret of how to open the door into the restaurant. Once that task is completed, you are shown to your table by a ninja. Each table is located in its own little alcove walled on three sides for privacy. Before sitting, you remove your shoes and leave them just outside the alcove. As with many restaurants of this type, there is a button that you press when you want service. But being Ninja, the button is hidden under the table, and different tables have the button hidden by different seats. Once the waiter ninja has made sure that you know where the button is, they lower a screen to mostly close off the area. And for added awesome they say “Do Don!” while doing so, which is the sound effect for a screen being lowered. This makes me laugh every time.

The normal menu for the restaurant is a paper scroll, written in beautiful, but complicated kanji. However, since this restaurant’s awesomeness is evident, it’s very popular with foreigners and they have an amazingly helpful menu in English with pictures of their various dishes. This is of course the main event for the restaurant and the atmosphere and awesomeness continues to the food. Apologies for the pictures not being so great, but the restaurant is rather dark and my camera was not pleased.

First of all, prepared and waiting for you on your table are small shiriken shaped rolls. You can order more of these if you desire, and it’s always tempting, but you probably won’t have room with all of the other delights on the menu. They have fried cheese, which we always order two plates of at a time since the whole table immediately devours them. They also have fried garlic and fried money brains.

If you’re feeling adventurous you might want to try the Takoyaki bomb. This is a set of six takoyaki, which is octopus in a fried dough ball, with a twist. It’s Russian roulette; five of the takoyaki are tasty treats, but one is filled with spicy mustard that will make you cry. The only way to determine which one it is is by eating them.

One highlight for tastiness and fun is the magical fire sword shish kabob. As it sounds, this is meat and veggies served skewered on a small sword, which they bring to your table and SET ON FIRE.

They also have a “mystery box” and the picture on the menu is just of this very ornamental box. My friends have ordered it and said that, when opened, dry ice like smoke comes out of the box. But they weren’t impressed with the actual food that came in the box, and so we haven’t ordered it yet. We may have to at some point, just for the experience.

One of the most fantastic things about this place is the drink menu. And since we usually stay the night in the city, we are able to indulge in some unique alcoholic drinks. Several milk based drinks are served in baby bottles. There is a “love potion” that comes giving off mystical (dry ice) smoke. There is a drink that comes with a set of liquid filled capsules, one red and one blue matrix style. But my favorite is what we have come to call the mad scientist drink.

This wonderful little contraption comes as a set of test tubes, each with different colored alcohol in them, a small beaker of orange juice, and a pipette for mixing. Not only is it visually appealing, but its tons of fun. You can simply mix the orange juice into each different test tube, or you can experiment using your empty test tube. With this, you can be a fantastic mad scientist, even if you know nothing about science!

On some nights there is a ninja who will, for a small fee, perform magic tricks to show off his ninja skills. All in all, it adds up to an incredibly entertaining and memorable experience. If anyone comes to visit me, we WILL go to Ninja if at all possible. I don’t think I will ever get tired of this place.