Korean BBQ, Japanese style

Back home we have Korean BBQ all the time, but I've had it quite like this.  We went to a chain that specialized in pork (pork is the main meat here in Japan), and we were led to a smoky room.  (My one huge complaint about restaurants here is that they are all smoky!  My goodness, I'll probably have lung cancer by the time I leave this place.)

Here are huge slabs of bacon, being put on a flat griddle.  We were given bibs to wear to protect ourselves from the hot oil.

Here they are finished and ready to eat!

This is the Korean pancake that we got.  I tried to get something like the pajeon, which is what I always want.  This one was different, more eggy and less chewy.  We still enjoyed it.

My bi bim bop.  I always get this at Korean restaurants.  This one wasn't as good.  They mixed it up for me and made it too spicy.  :(  The other dish that everyone got was a stir-fried rice dish.  They just dumped all this rice on the griddle after the pork was eaten, and you could add extras on it, like rice and egg.

At dinner, though, we met some interesting people.  There was a well-dressed couple sitting next to us.  The man, of course, was puffing away.  Anyway, they found out we were American and were super excited!  They kept asking us (in very non-understandable English) if we knew about pretzels.  "Sure, we like pretzels," we replied.  Well, after a lot of beating around the bush, it turns out the man is very wealthy and about to open a branch of Wetzel's Pretzels in Tokyo!  It was pretty hilarious.  Dan had never even heard of Wetzel's Pretzels, but Kevin and I confirmed to him that they sold good pretzels.  :P  (I prefer Auntie Anne's though, sorry!)  The best part was that he was super drunk, so he kept buying us beer and tea as well.

Interesting dinner experience!  :)  Watch out for Wetzel's Pretzel's in Japan!