Dear guests, dear friends,
ようこそ友人 – you must be surprised that I start with Japanese characters. They are pronounced Youkoso Yuujin and mean something like Dear friends, only it is more welcoming: Welcome friends! Yes, welcome to the beautiful time of Advent! I greet you from the capital of America, from Washington DC and ようこそ友人 is the name of a Japanese restaurant on 14th Street NW, but maybe it is just a board for their Drag Branch Christmas party. It was noon and we were looking for a place to eat. We were attracted by the hustle and bustle of this place – the door was open and out of curiosity we joined the cheerful people inside. Well, tell me, wouldn’t you join too?
I didn’t expect to get good food, because the place looked more like a bar, but we were surprised – their The Japonais roll was great and so were the grilled shrimp with hotate oil. I guess I’m obsessed with hotate, because the roll also had hotate made as tempura. We’ll try to make it at Miyabi and offer it to you. As for the Drag Branch program sure I will not make it in Miyabi. That’s good for America where people with all kinds of backgrounds and interests live and with ease they sit next to each other, and for that moment of party, they enjoy friendship. In that restaurant all people looked happy and we were happy with them. We weren’t offended or anything, but rather admired that everyone has the opportunity to present themselves to others for who they are and even turn an anomaly into an advantage. Thanks to yesterday’s Drag Branch, I have a strong theme for this year’s Advent – it’s unconditional love for others and sincere generosity. Yes, exactly in the spirit of the beautiful Welcome Friends!
While here I receive messages from Miyabi that we have a full house every day and that this year’s Christmas obento is a success. Great! I changed the potato salad with wasabi a little so that I could use gobo and renkon in it. Renkon is typically winter and is said to help with running nose. Potato salad is a very popular dish in Japan and, just like in Czech, every household or restaurant in Japan makes it a little differently. I enriched the datemaki egg roll with chestnuts and chose shrimp wrapped in almonds as a fried dish. This year, the sashimi shaped in rose pickled in dill is made from butter fish and the Christmas sushi roll just for this obento is with smoked salmon and roasted beetroot. Come and try it!
The restaurant is decorated with beautiful calligraphies by Petra Vitásková and if you are interested, you can buy. There are also smaller works that can be great as a Christmas gift. And as a Christmas gift for your loved ones, you can also choose beautiful vouchers designed by the Studio Činčera in price values of 500 -1000 -1500 -2000 -3000. We cooperate with this studio since the very beginning of Miyabi, means almost thirty years. Jan Činčera is the author of all versions of Miyabi menus.
Advent is a time when it is nice to enjoy Christmas concert or to visit Christmas markets with large Christmas trees, but it is also beautiful to go to some fine restaurant with friends and sit and chat. Office Christmas parties are also popular in Czech and Miyabi can offer an unusual atmosphere of distant landscapes without traveling. Reservations are filling up, so it is better to call as soon as possible. Japan – it’s busy there right now, as restaurants and hotels are fully booked for drinking bounenkai – parties where people say goodbye to the year that is about to end and try to forget everything that went wrong. The parties are mostly wilde drinking gatherings, yet completely different from the Drag Branch parties in America. But ultimately, all parties – drinking parties, those on the edge or pleasantly peaceful parties – all should be gatherings with the same goal: make everyone feel welcome and loved.
ようこそ友人! Youkoso Yuujin! Welcome friends!
I am sending you best greetings and am looking forward to seeing you soon in Miyabi,
Your Miyabi Darja
