Day 55: Izakaya Part II - Nomihodai

I just wanted to say that today was horrible. It was hot today and I felt so sticky and gross. Does not help knowing that it's only going to get worst. -_- But tonight, I went to an izakaya to meet some Japanese students (you know, make new friends and all that jazz) and so I've decided to make this post an izakaya 2.0 post. I actually wanted to go into a certain aspect in particular, and it's called nomihodai.

Nomihodai is basically an "all you can drink". An "alcohol buffet", if you will. Not all izakayas have this option, but most popular, or large, chain izakayas will have nomihodai. In a nomihodai, for a set price for each person, you can order as much drinks as you like from a separate fixed menu (from the regular non-nomihodai menu) usually for a time limit of two or three hours. There's also an option of tabehodai, which is "all you can eat." It follows the same guidelines as the nomihodai except with food. I believe most izakayas will have an option where you can do a combination of the tabehodai and nomihodai.

There's an izakaya in Umeda that I've started to take a liking to. I like the music they play and the ambiance is an interesting mixture of contemporary and traditional. I can't remember the name of it right now so some pictures will have to suffice.

 

The only problem with this place was that downstairs, there weren't any legitimate barriers between non-smokers and smokers. For someone like me who can't stand smoking, it becomes a bit of a problem. However, if you're seated upstairs, there are curtains that you can use to separate yourself (and keep the smoke out) from other tables.

 

Usually you'll get a complimentary bowl of edamane. 

 

If you're a heavy/strong drinker, then I feel you would really get your money's worth with nomihodai. But if you're a weak drinker like me, it's a bit less so. However, I think playing drinking games is most definitely the cheapest with nomihodai.