1 July 1999 – Our last dinner in Japan was the best meal we ate there. We picked a teppan-yaki restaurant, which served Omi beef – reputedly as good or better than Kobe.

We began with small portions of grilled flat fish, sea bass and a seafood cocktail in a mayonnaise sauce. Then the chef grilled Omi beef along with garlic chips, bean sprouts and a couple of green peas. The meat had three dipping sauces – soy, sesame and vinegar. We asked for our rice when the meat was served (the Japanese serve rice at the end of the meal). Along with the rice came the entire rice set of steamed rice, miso soup, pickles and wasabi (which is a form of horseradish) for the rice. Then the chef grilled and served the final course of Omi beef and it was just as tender and delicious as the Kobe beef we ate with my parents 10 days ago in Kyoto.

After we finished eating, the waitress directed us to another seating area with armchairs and a sofa where she served tea and melon garnished with one grape. The melon was the ripest and best I’d ever eaten. The second best was a few weeks earlier at lunch in Nara.