 Though some might not agree, I ain't no gambler.
OK, so riding a motorcycle TAXI during rush hour or jaywalking on Sukhumvit might be considered "gambling" (and a dangerous one at that), but I tend to play it safe:
- I stick to normal, boring, "unsexy" investments like energy, medicines and food (meaning: no tech stocks for me; my heart just can't take the roller coaster ride~!!)
- I bring an umbrella if it looks like it's gonna rain (I mean, you can practically smell the water droplets in the air~!!) and - I don't make eye contact with weirdos on the street if they look like they're high on yaa baa (literally means "crazy drug", referring to methamphetamines/speed)~!!BUT...
This recently opened, unassuming Japanese restaurant in Thonglo 2 called "Hokkaido" was JUST TOTALLY ASKING FOR IT~~!!!!The first time I checked it out, I noticed that the eatery specializes in dishes from Hokkaido (the chilly most northern part of Japan), namely gigantic, bright red taraba crabs.
Now, despite their monstrous looks, they're actually mighty tasty (or so I'd heard). But at 390 baht per creature, I'd thought I'd save the dish for a special occasion....UNTIL I WAS TOLD ABOUT THIS:
The restaurant has a unique policy of letting customers gamble their payment for each dish by playing janken (paper-rock-scissors game) with their waitresses.
The rules are:
1). You order a dish
2). When the dish arrives, you do janken with the waitress once (if it's a draw, you do janken again 'til there's a winner)
3). If you lose, you pay the full price of the dish. But if you win, you pay only *HALF* the price~!!THIS OFFER IS SIMPLY TOOOOO TEMPTING (eventhough I can tell that the policy is designed to make people order the more expensive dishes and then leave everything to fate/luck)...
So one night, I and two other dining companions decided to test our fortune and ordered the famed taraba crab dish (we thought hey if we lost, at least the price would be SPLIT into three, riiiiight~?!).
Now, I SUCK in janken, so right away I declared that I should NOT be the one responsible for deciding the fate of our wallets.So this noble soul volunteered to carry the (oh-so-heavy) burden:
We sucked in our breaths, called the waitress and ordered the taraba crab. Fortunately, when it came, it was already cut into more manageable pieces so we didn't have to wrestle with the beast anymore (what luck~!!).
The moment of truth came.... And I noticed that the waitress was intently watching Noble Soul's face (perhaps looking for some "physiological clues"~?! "Ack, she seemed like such a PRO~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I thought in panic).
NS (Noble Soul) and W (Waitress) singing together: Shaishoku, janken pon~!!
NS: Rock~!!W: Rock~!!!
NS and W singing together: Aikodesho~!!
NS: Paper~!!W: Paper~!!
NS and W singing together: Aikodesho~!!
NS: Rock~!!
W: Rock~!!
NS and W singing together: Aikodesho~!!
NS: Rock~!!W: Scissors~!!
**YEAAAAAAAAAAA~~~~~~!!!!!!!**
**WE WOOOOOOON~~~!!!!**
The waitress' face fell and she quickly scurried away, leaving us three to bask in our good fortune.
The taraba crab was raw, fresh, cool, soft... and with a lil' bit of soy sauce... it was heeeaaaveeeenlyyyyy~~~~~
 
Unfortunately, the ~*~high~*~ didn't last very long. In under five minutes, all that was left was the crab's spiny, deadly-looking shell.
 
And we were still hungry.
Buoyed by our earlier victory, we decided to gamble some more. I dunno whether it was the adrenaline or endorphines pumping through our veins... or perhaps it was the damn crab's pheromones (???)... but we decided to throw caution to the wind and ended up ordering:
- 2 zaru udon (150 baht each)
- 1 tendon (180 baht)
- 2 katsudon (180 baht each) - pictured right
Well, Lady Luck was with us... All but ONE dish was halved~!! And believe it or not... even I managed to score a janken victory as well~!! Mwahahahaaaaa (* evil laugh *)
This is how our bill looked when it was time to pay (red arrows and happy face added by me):
- 2 katsudon (180 each) became only 180 baht for both
- kani mori/taraba (390) became only 195 baht
- tendon (180) remained 180 baht
- 2 zaru udon (150 each) became only 75 baht each
PRE-janken bill (including service charge and VAT):
1,439.1 baht
POST-janken bill (including service charge and VAT):
826 baht
Amount saved:
613.1 baht (which means we saved about 200 baht each~!!)
YEAH, BABY, YEAH~!!!!
streetsmartsukhumvit@gmail.com
Disclaimer: Street Smart Sukhumvit does NOT condone nor encourage the evil, illegal vice of gambling.
At least not before you do some major ass-kissing to all the deities in the cosmos (and make sure that the odds are in your favor)...
 and I'll share some of my lucky mojo with 'ya~!!
 sukhumvit  bangkok  thailand
 | Congratulations :)))
Great, I wish I had your luck, hehe.
I had once a crab in Singapore and it wasn't cut.
Had to change clothes after the meal.
|
 | ahahaha that wass so funny...
and heyy that was a really nice and pretty unique concept tho...ahaaha if i was the owner dang i would probably be declaring bankruptcy by now..ahahah |
 | CONGRATULATIONS ON A HAPPY DINNER. |
 | hahahaha! that was a happy one! congratulations! :) |
 | How big a tip did you leave? |
 | And the waitress gonna pay for another half ????? Hahaha Just wonder, who's gonna take this responsibility. ieieieie Poor restaurant hehehe ... |
 | You were so lucky!! Congratulations!!! :D |
 | Lucky you! With half the price, the food must have tasted doubly delicious:))) |
| I want to try but I don't want to go to Sukhumvit. :P |
| I'll tell my cousin to try first. He lives on Sukhumvit. :)) |
 | ohh...interesting ah..i would probably try once!!! |
| Hey, is it permanent to gamble? |
 | That sounds totally awesome for diners. I hope this restaurant survives on this novice idea. |
 | Yes, YOU Sukhumvit-disser/hater haha~~ |
| I mean is it a permanent policy of this restaurant to let customers gamble their payment? Or just a promotion period?
And guess who want to try when I told everybody? My nephew! Hope we can go there when we visit our aunts. (to make sure we need not to pay....hahahahaha...) |
| There's only one weekend left! I don't know his karma is good or not but he's really lucky to be the only child in this family....hehehehehe...... |
 | hahahahaa! hey i wanna check this out too! |
 | "jack en poy
holi holi hoy
sinong matalo ...
syang unggoy..."
and yes only a handful of your readers can understand that... |
 | wish me Chok Diiiiiii =) i'm gonna go try my luck next time round :P which soi is it on again? hehe. |
| |
I had once a crab in Singapore and it wasn't cut.
