Hotel Fine, I Just Can't Get Enough

Well, I added a few more points to my Hotel Fine members card a little bit ago. I'm well on my way to that Nintendo DS!

Thankfully, Hotel Fine had all the amenities I remember. They still had some free snacks and water in the fridge, free Tsubaki shampoo, and free breakfast. Did I forget to mention free alcohol? Because I got a pitcher of beer and some umeshu just for myself, and it was all included in the 9000 yen price. The normal price for this particular room was around 10,500, so it really pays to be a member (membership is free).

The breakfast was actually MUCH better than I remember too.

Even if you are a veteran to love hotels, Hotel Fine is a great place to spend the night. It's reasonably priced, but has spectacular service.  It was, however, a bit different from what I remember.  For one, I actually had to speak to a real live person, face to face, to get the key to my room...how am I supposed to remain anonymous when I have to talk to real people??  The last time I was at Hotel Fine, I walked in, saw which rooms were lit up (signaling that they were available) on the wall and picked one.  The room number is printed onto a receipt and lights guide you to your room which is already unlocked.  This past time, all of that happened, except when I pressed the button for my room, a lady came from around the corner to give me the key....weird.

Thankfully, not everything changed and they kept the vibrator and ridiculously complicated alarm clock next to the bed...I'm not sure where I was going with this.  I guess my point is that Hotel Fine is still a quality hotel, with a lot to offer.  I would rate Hotel Fine among the top things to check out in Osaka; right behind Hep 5 mall, but before Osaka Castle.  

Japanese Food

Japan and I have always had our disagreements when it comes to food.  It is delicious and healthy, but since its hard to fight thousands of years of tradition (did I say hard, I meant impossible), I have let  my vegetarianism slide a little in Japan for the sake of convenience and my sanity. To give you some idea of what I have to deal with, products still advertise, in bold letters, that they cook with lard.

But once you get passed the fact that meat is in everything, you'll see that it is only in small quantities and Japanese food is very vegetable heavy.  If you order curry or even a steak in Japan, the meat is generally just a small portion of your dinner (an issue many American visitors complain about).  Friendly note; a hanburg steak (ハンバーグステーキ) is not a steak, its a hamburger patty.

Speaking of veggie heavy, the vegetables actually taste like vegetables!  Vegetables in Japan are tasty and satisfying.  The first time I ate a tomato in Japan was a life changing experience.  I think this has to do with Japan using less chemicals to grow food (at least the food they have imported uses less chemicals; Japan only grows about 20% of its own food), but veggies are considerably more expensive as a result.  Japanese cooking is all about bringing out the natural flavor of the food, not covering it in sauce or spices, so it really helps that the ingredients taste like they're supposed to.

Unless I'm doing the dishes, I don't have a problem with home cooked Japanese food.  Since a lot of Japanese food has to do with presentation, a TON of dishes are used, but it looks pretty.  Even when you're not eating at a tapas style restaurant, which is also really popular in Japan, meals still tend to have many plates instead of just one large one.

Now for the gross stuff.  Yakiniku places (korean bbq style restaurants where you cook your own meat) often have Horumon on the menu.  Horumon (ホルモン) are cow and pig entrails and the Japanese word is actually derived from the words 'throw away' and 'thing'.  Other garbage parts of the animals include chicken hearts, which are common at Torikizoku.  For some reason, I'm more okay with these animal parts than with katsuobushi, かつお節.  Katsuobushi is dried bonito fish skin flakes that dance around on your food when your food is hot....and they put this stuff on EVERYTHING... 

However, Japan has Caesar Salad Doritos and Ham and Cheese flavored Pretz, so all aforementioned problems are forgiven. 

Japan's creativity for eating disgusting parts of animals is only exceeded by their creativity in combining foods, that are individually delicious, into works of food art.