When you’re on a beautiful island and you’ve explored almost every nook and cranny possible, you would think you would be low on funds as the vacation comes to a close. That wasn’t the case while my cousins and I were in Phuket. The conversion of US dollars to Thai baht worked in our favor and the price of food and activities was incredible. Add to that, we were hooked up with discounts on various activities thanks to a few locals and our wallets were holding more cash than we thought we would have at this point. That’s when Alicia made a great suggestion: “Wanna go to Bangkok?” The answer was a unanimous: “YES!”

One flight later, we stepped foot into Bangkok. We were ready to get an adventure on, and little did we know that the next few hours would be just that. Here’s the problem: as a whole, we are very frugal people. So much so that instead of catching a taxi to get us from Point A to Point B, we decided to walk not realizing how far those points are from each other. I can appreciate the “scenic route”, but it quickly became a 5-mile trek that would soon turn into an unbearable quest for food. It was at this point, that we decided to eat. Thankfully, we found a busy shopping center and made our way in to get food. Brittany and Alicia went with KFC, and I split from the pack and went to Yayoi Japanese Restaurant. Was it the most Thai specific restaurant? No, it was clearly Japanese. But it was also something I’ve never had in the states and edible which made it a sound choice.

Cruising into the restaurant I could see that there were a good number of people eating. That showed me that even for a mall, this should be a decent lunch. I was greeted by the hostess and while there was a slight language barrier, I let her know that I wanted to dine in. Once I sat down, I took a look over the restaurant. It was clear to see that had a primary color choice with all the brown and tan, but they also incorporated large paintings that lined the walls.

Diverting my attention from the interior I took a look over the menu and ordered based on the pictures alone. “What looks good? What looks like something I would like?” I asked myself. After flipping back and forth between the pages, I made my decision. I ordered the Shrimp Tempura Bowl (190 baht, $5). It was so basic, I know you don’t have to tell me. In my defense, I was so tired of walking and I just wanted something I could enjoy after almost loosing my ankles from that expedition to get here. With that said, I was content with my choice. A few moments later my food was handed to me in a to-go bag. My face dropped to express my disappointment as I wanted to eat in the restaurant to get the full Yayoi experience. The hostess smiled and waved goodbye as an indicator for me to go and I pouted as I walked to meet my cousins at KFC.

At the Thai version of Kentucky Fried Chicken, I unpacked my lunch. In the bag was the tempura bowl, a side of miso soup, and a packet of vegetables and sauces. Because a factory sealed version of corn and cherry tomatoes doesn’t seem ideal, ever, I didn’t even open them.

Instead, I started with the soup. After stirring the broth for a few seconds to get a balanced mix, I went in for the kill. The dried kelp, tofu, and stock were ok but they tasted a bit saltier than I would like. Maybe I’m just sensitive when it comes to things tasting like it’s full of sodium chloride in it’s original form, but it was salty. That being said, I ended up eating the kelp and tofu and left the majority of the soup in its container.

At this point, I was ready to eat the main attraction: the tempura bowl! About six pieces of fried shrimp and friend veggies (specifically sweet potatoes) were placed on top of rice and strips of seaweed and it was all drizzled with a ginger soy sauce. I took down all the tempura pretty quickly due to that fact that I burned so many calories just trying to get basically, anywhere! The shrimp and veggies were nicely fried and the sauce on top of it gave it a pleasant accent of flavor. Add to that, the shrimp were a good size and tasted juicy. Yeah, I said juicy. The only part of the bowl that I didn’t care for was the rice. It was a bit sticker than I liked and clumped together too much for my preference. Even when I added some of the sauce in the packet to the rice, the sticky issue wasn’t alleviated. Pretty sure I made it worse. It became too much even after I stirred it around to try and loosen the rice up a bit. Because of that, I left the majority of the rice in the bowl–but the tempura? It was like a Ben Affleck movie, Gone Girl.

Eating at Yayoi was good, but there wasn’t anything drastically memorable about it. The restaurant served food that tasted nice and helped fuel me. After walking for what felt like an eternity, I was glad I stumbled upon this restaurant. And I literally mean “stumbled”, by the time we got there my ankles, calves, and shins were gone and I had to pull myself to the table. It was worth it though.

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