To catch everyone up, the last time I described the Mild Honeymoon, the Mild Wife and I had decided that we had actually had more champagne than we wanted. To be clear, it was a good problem to have, and we were lucky that the folks around us were so nice. It was just a bit much. So, we decided to keep our alcohol intake down. We would have a glass here, but we weren't about to have a ton of anything.
That plan worked great until we decided to have Japanese food one night.
See, we usually appreciate a bit of sake with our meal, so we figured we'd relax our alcohol limitation for that meal. After all, you can usually get sake in a smaller portion, so even if you drink, you can enjoy a relatively small amount. In fact, some of the sake bottles you buy are only about 300 milliliters. A regular sized wine bottle is usually 750 milliliters, so you're definitely not drinking the same volume.
With that in mind, we figured we'd order the sake. It'd be a nice, small portion, and it'd go well with the other food we were ordering. And, hell, it was our honeymoon. Where was the harm in celebrating a bit? So, we politely asked the waitress for sake:
Mild Wife: "Can we have the sake, please?"
Waitress: "Sure. Do you want ... the bottle?"
Me: "Sure, that sounds good."
Waitress: "Great."
Me: "Oh, can we have it hot, please?"
Waitress: "Sure."
I should note that this particular waitress was probably a bit more comfortable with French than with English, so I think she was trying to remember the word for bottle. Neither the Mild Wife nor I thought much of it, since we were in a place that primarily spoke French. We were the weird ones in that setting, not her. The least we could do was brush off any language weirdness when someone was nice enough to speak a language that wasn't native to them.
We happily chatted away, but the first sign of hilarity came when the waitress came back. She placed this on the table:
However, it was empty. There was no sake in the carafe she placed on the table. She explained that "the bottle's still heating, but it'll be right out." Well, that was different. I don't think I've ever seen that before. In fact, as soon as the waitress was out of earshot, the Mild Wife and I immediately commenced a discussion about how differently things were done in Canada. Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So, we chatted along and continued to enjoy our meal.
When the waitress came back, however, we noted that she hadn't been kidding about "the bottle." The Mild Wife and I had both expected one of those smaller sake bottles. Instead, we were presented with this:
Yeah, that's not a little bottle. That's a regular-sized one. We didn't even think that was possible to order from a restaurant. To the best of our memories, neither of us has seen that on a menu in the States. Yet, here it was. And they'd gone to the trouble of heating up the whole darn thing. It was no wonder that it took a long time. That also explained the pragmatism behind bringing out the carafe before bringing out the bottle. It simply takes a while to heat that much liquid.
Well, we had a decision to make: do we send it back and try to get a smaller portion? Or do we just have the whole thing? I mean, the mistake was on our end. The waitress asked if we wanted a bottle, we said yes, and she presented a bottle. They'd likely understand if we explained it as a language issue, so it was more a matter of how we wanted the night to play out.
Ultimately, we decided that we were celebrating, so we might as well make the most of the goof. Years later, we'd have a story to tell. Also, we didn't have super far to go to get back to our hotel room, so it seemed like an amusing way to add to the experience. We kept the bottle.
I should also note that sake is traditionally stronger than your average wine. So while we were drinking the same volume as other nights, we were probably consuming more alcohol. We made sure to drink plenty of water and had our fill of food to avoid any embarrassing situations, but let's just say that the evening involved rosier cheeks and a lot more laughter than expected.
Oh, and the next time we stopped in to a Japanese restaurant, we did not ask for a bottle of sake.
That plan worked great until we decided to have Japanese food one night.
See, we usually appreciate a bit of sake with our meal, so we figured we'd relax our alcohol limitation for that meal. After all, you can usually get sake in a smaller portion, so even if you drink, you can enjoy a relatively small amount. In fact, some of the sake bottles you buy are only about 300 milliliters. A regular sized wine bottle is usually 750 milliliters, so you're definitely not drinking the same volume.
With that in mind, we figured we'd order the sake. It'd be a nice, small portion, and it'd go well with the other food we were ordering. And, hell, it was our honeymoon. Where was the harm in celebrating a bit? So, we politely asked the waitress for sake:
Mild Wife: "Can we have the sake, please?"
Waitress: "Sure. Do you want ... the bottle?"
Me: "Sure, that sounds good."
Waitress: "Great."
Me: "Oh, can we have it hot, please?"
Waitress: "Sure."
I should note that this particular waitress was probably a bit more comfortable with French than with English, so I think she was trying to remember the word for bottle. Neither the Mild Wife nor I thought much of it, since we were in a place that primarily spoke French. We were the weird ones in that setting, not her. The least we could do was brush off any language weirdness when someone was nice enough to speak a language that wasn't native to them.
We happily chatted away, but the first sign of hilarity came when the waitress came back. She placed this on the table:
 |
| I'm going to call this a "carafe." If there's a better word for it, I'm not sure what it is |
When the waitress came back, however, we noted that she hadn't been kidding about "the bottle." The Mild Wife and I had both expected one of those smaller sake bottles. Instead, we were presented with this:
 |
| Pictured: more than 300 milliliters |
Well, we had a decision to make: do we send it back and try to get a smaller portion? Or do we just have the whole thing? I mean, the mistake was on our end. The waitress asked if we wanted a bottle, we said yes, and she presented a bottle. They'd likely understand if we explained it as a language issue, so it was more a matter of how we wanted the night to play out.
Ultimately, we decided that we were celebrating, so we might as well make the most of the goof. Years later, we'd have a story to tell. Also, we didn't have super far to go to get back to our hotel room, so it seemed like an amusing way to add to the experience. We kept the bottle.
 |
| All 750 milliliters of it |
Oh, and the next time we stopped in to a Japanese restaurant, we did not ask for a bottle of sake.
Comments
Post a Comment