Binbiya

There were so many little struggles that first trip to Japan. One of them was Japanese portion sizes. I think the world always assumes that Americans eat the most, but we were all having a little difficulty comfortably finishing each meal. When I arrived at Binbiya, an izakaya in Osaka, I made it through the language barrier by asking for omakase. But after the first few courses, I was starting to see the red haze of urgent fullness and had to pull the emergency breaks on this meal. There was nothing I could do to ease my discomfort, and I reluctantly had to try to communicate with the staff that I couldn’t eat any more. It remains one of my biggest regrets from that first trip.

Date: March 2015