My husband and I had been walking around Fukuoka for a little while, and we were hungry. We saw this restaurant, and had a peek inside. We were checking if (a) there were pictures or food mock-ups, or (b) an English menu. Unfortunately, we could see neither (a) nor (b), so we were not sure how to place our orders.
We loved the atmosphere of people slurping their food and chatting, and enjoying second serves… But we had no idea what to do.
There was a machine at the front door that takes orders.
When a man approached the machine, I saw what he did. He pressed one of the red 400 yen button, and a 100 yen button. I guessed the 400 yen button (most expensive) must be a main meal, but I had no idea what the 100 yen button would buy us. But I chose the same options for each of us. So after we paid, the machine gave us 4 tickets.
We went into the restaurant and did what everyone did. We placed our 4 tickets on the table in front of us. A waiter came to have a look. A short while later, two bowls of hot steamy noodles were placed in front of us, in exchange for 2 of the 400 yen tickets.
There were slices of pork and scallions on top of the noodles, served in a delicious broth.
We helped ourselves to picked ginger (the red one) and tea, and enjoyed our noodles.
A little later, a waiter approached us to find out if all was well. He spoke a little English (yay!), so we enquired about the 2 remaining tickets. We had ordered 2 additional servings of noodles, each costing 100 yen. We did not want more noodles, so we exchanged our tickets for additional meat.
It was a memorable meal. We took a chance and got a delicious lunch here, plus a wonderful experience.
