We somberly stroll away from the Peace Park still a little dazed but as we get around more people and start exploring the mood brightens. We pass by that fantastic Caffe Ponte again back towards downtown. Really is a beauty day.

We find ourselves under a covered walkway. Reminds me of that crazy strip from Dotonbori in Osaka.

We find a place on a side street just off the main drag of shops with some outdoor stools to have a beer on. Oh wait, they have limoncello here and homemade ginger ale w whiskey. Yep! Wow, tastes great, nice b

Hangout

Oh aren’t we also on a secret mission?! I check back to our Watering Hole notes. We are pretty close to a craft beer spot they recommended called Hangout. We’re on the case! It’s down a small side street nestled into a corner by itself. Tough face goooooo!

It just opened for the day and we have the whole place to ourselves. It’s a long narrow bar with just a couple of small tables up front. Looks cool. The bartender speaks English well, he drops off some menus and suggests a few beers. Peruse the list Ohhh this place looks killer.

We start things off with an African pale ale (from Japan) and Queenie gets a refreshing Apple Tea beer. It comes in a Green Flash glass. Both are great. Light. I like the selections at this place. Will have to try that sour too.

The food menu has a wealth of tasties on it. We put in the sausage plate and it rocks. Mortadella, chicken and pork sausage with some sauerkraut and mustard. Some tasty dumplings help fill the snack gap.

A few more people trickle in and the seats mostly fill up. The din of conversation fills the space and there’s a light, fun atmosphere now. The bartender is super personable and talks with us about our trip for a bit. He says we should definitely get to Naoshima to see the art. Double recommend! Gotta do it.

A couple more pints my good man.

Hangout checks out. Another great recommendation. We give it the one eyed duck gun!

That was great. We thank our server and he walks us out. This courtesy is becoming one of my favorite things in Japan.

We decide to head back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and chill for a bit. On the way we pass a place that really really likes Jagermeister. It’s God’s sports bar? They drink a lot of jager in heaven.

We also pass by a place called 8-bit Bar. It’s closed right now but the sign says you can play nintendo and snes at the bar on your own console. Whaaaaa? That sounds dope. We’ll have to come back and check it out later.

Okkundou Mazemen

We get back to the Sunroute and notice a place called Okkundou Mazemen basically next door. It’s a dry ramen place. Just do dinner right now while we’re here? Yep. It’s another small izakaya kind of place. We sit at the bar in front of the chef as is our norm now.

This looks wicked

Everything sounds super good and so we end up ordering way too much. Can’t help ourselves, food is too awesome in Japan. We post up a feast of onion rings, fried chicken, pork chasu and a cold mazeman with pork and cheese. Based on the servers reaction I drop my spice ambitions to a Mazemen spice level 3 (and again, like at coco curry, I could have gone 4, 5 or 6 easily).

This.is.the.shit.

These ginko nuts mixed in the rice is fantastic. Such a strange strong taste.

I thoroughly inspect the sesame delivery device. I don’t want another seasame avalanche in my ramen like I did back in Roppongi. Seems fine this time.

The mazeman is scrumptious. We mix it all up and gobble down. So damn good, it’s unreal. Noodle perfection and the seasoning on the pork fffffffffffffffttttt

Another amazing meal in the books. But yeah, we over did it and can’t finish everything (doesn’t help that we snacked at Hangout not too long ago). The server asks if we want a package. A package? For the leftover food. Oh, of course. Yes please, one to go package. We pack up the dry ramen.

We get back to Sunroute and head up to the room. It is a fucking sauna in there! What the hell? They closed the window. Did they also turn on the heat? We can’t figure out how to stop the heat. It’s unbearably hot in the room. We call down to the front desk and they send someone up. He looks at the thermostat but has nothing more to offer than what we already know. There is no AC. Don’t turn the heat on. Ok, We didn’t. And we left the window open when we went out. Now the window is closed and the heat that we didn’t turn on is blasting into our room even though the thermostat says it’s off? Kinda sucks.

We decide the room is too uncomfortable to be in right now and go down to the bar area to grab a nightcap and catch up on some blogaroo.

There’s an old American lady down here that wants a shiraz but the bartenders don’t speak English very well. “You know, red wine. Shiraz!”, ok tone down the attitude missy. They don’t understand. “Or a cab sauv?” They still don’t understand, of course. Even worse, she’s treating them like they’re stupid and getting all frustrated about it. She’s speaking in English abbreviations for wine and expecting them to understand her. The girl server maintains her politeness and offers that they have a Grenache. Ok, the lady asks for a glass to take to her room. No, hotel policy is drinks first floor only. The lady just turns and stomps away in her bitch boots. She throws “Goodniiiight!” like a snarky snatch over her shoulder. So I Bird Up and drive my foot up her entitled ass! KO!