the wacky wombat weblog

*disclaimer: Au Yong says he’s too busy/tired/lazy (please choose one) to provide the update, so I’m doing it instead.

A couple of weeks back, it was Au Yong’s 26th birthday. But since he was always busy/tired/lazy, so me and my friend yuri had to put off our ’surprise’ birthday plan x number of times. Finally on a Saturday, we all managed to meet up, on a pretext of just hanging out (when we actually have a surprise dinner thingy in stored).

Lunched at Kua Aina Burger, a Hawaiian burger joint, that serves avocado burgers on kaiser rolls (my favourite!)

As you can see, it’s HUGE, and I have some trouble stuffing into my mouth. It was quite a sight, with the avocado sliding out of the burger every few minutes and me breaking my jaw trying to open my mouth bigger, thus there will be no photo evidence here to illustrate that.

We hung out, played Wii (almost taking out each other’s arms and eyes with the Wiimote), took a stroll at the nearby temple — a lazy Saturday.

Dinner was in a little izakaya in a small alley of the back street of another back street at Shibuya. The walk there was confusing and I do not remember where it is anymore lol. The whole place is run by women - chef, staff, everyone. Very interesting. Rarely see female chefs.

The place was loud, noisy and friendly. And food was good. Chicken gizzard, chicken hearts (!), and chicken ass (!!) yakitori. Raw fish seared by blowtorch. And eel rice in a stone bowl (tastes fantastic when the green tea was added in later). And a lot of plum sake for me. :p

For the finale, the lights were dimmed and a BIG loud announcement was made about Au Yong’s birthday (in japanese - so we both don’t know exactly everything they said) lol. Followed by a dance to an anime song by the entire staff (all cooking paused), and then a birthday song and a nice birthday ice cream with candles for him. It was a good thing he wasn’t made to give a speech (like what they do in TGI Fridays restaurants back home). The fun thing was that the entire restaurant joined in, cheered, clapped, and was very sporting (unlike at home where everyone will just mind their own business and not join in).

And here’s one for the album. wooo~