Rise of the Machines

I went out for Japanese food last night with some friends. We had conveyor-belt sushi. I've had this once before in the U.S., and I think it's incredibly cool. All the tables are situated along this winding conveyor belt, and the sushi chefs make small plates of sushi and place them on the belt. Rather than ordering, you just take what you like as it goes by you on the conveyor belt. The plates are color-coded by price (ie 1000 won for a red plate, 2000 won for a blue plate, etc.), and when you're done, the waiter just looks at all the empty plates on your table and calculates the bill.

The meal was incredible, and my two dinner companions were delightful. There were only two slight drawbacks. One was that, because the Korean system of finding buildings is so confusing (see my initial entry), it took us for-EVER to find the restaurant. Basically, the way you find places is to drive to the neighborhood and ask people for directions until you move progressively closer to your destination. It's sort of like trying to find your way in Boston.

The other drawback was that the restaurant attacked me. Allow me to explain. Because space is at such a premium in Seoul, most restaurants don't have their own restroom facilities. Rather, several restaurants in one spot will share a communal bathroom. So to use the facilities, you have to go outside the restaurant and usually walk up a flight of stairs or something. I didn't realize that the front door to our restaurant was automatic, and it shut on me as I was walking out. Fortunately, the only bruises sustained were to my ego.