Wednesday

Last weekend we went to a new sushi restaurant. Well, it was new to me. Sunshine had eaten there once during some work thing. Usually Sunshine wants sushi once for every five times I do; so weeks passed before we got around to trying this place together. I don't remember the name, but it's in the northern part of District One between Hai Bà Trưng and the canal, a leafier and more interesting area nearer to our apartment than my standard sushi-lined street. We walked to the restaurant in the pretty tropical rain. My reason for bringing any of this up is because someone was recently telling me all about "the rule of four". According to this somebody, diners can expect accurate service for up to four items of any order. When ordering more than four items, the diner can usually count on the excess plates being problematic: wrong, late, or totally disappeared. I often scoff at generalizations like this, especially here, halfway though my blog post about them. That night, we ordered six things at this new sushi restaurant: pickled plum rolls, a rainbow maki, tempura udon and miso soups, thinly sliced boiled octopus, and spicy tobiko. I'm not sure drinks are included in the "rule of four", so I'm not counting ours. Of these six dishes we only received the first four. This was a good thing, straightening out my tendency toward excess in a new sushi joint. Frankly, that rainbow roll was way bigger than any I've swallowed before. All the food was wonderful. When we received the bill, the two missing items, octopus and wasabi-ed roe, had already been scratched off. At the end of this blog post I'm still skeptical about this weird dinner "rule", but this certainly seemed premeditated at the time. [Cavin]