All-you-can-eat restaurants

This all-you-can-eat restaurant includes the Japanese
treat of Yakiniku (cook your own meat at your table).

There seems to have been a growth in all-you-can-eat restaurants in Japan. I like the Japanese terms for this type of restaurant, they roll off the tongue faster: tabehoudai or baikingu.

Or maybe it is just that we're at a stage in life when those kinds of restaurants are particularly suitable to our needs. Our boys can eat a lot and at these restaurants we sure do get our money's worth. On the weekend we had a birthday celebration at a local Indian restaurant with a small buffet. It cost about AU$12.40 per person!

Last month we celebrated two birthdays, both also at all-you-can-eat restaurants. Mine was a pizza restaurant and our youngest son's at a local Japanese restaurant. Both were a little more expensive than the above, but it was worth it.

This is some of the fare at a
local Japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant.

They're very popular with families with younger children, especially the last one I mentioned above. I really understand that: when you eat off a buffet you get a lot more choice for your money and fussy kids aren't such a problem.

And dessert at the same restaurant as above:
including make-your-own waffles.

This is the dining room at the conference hotel we'll be at
in three weeks.

I'm very thankful to be in a place where we have so much choice. It's easy to dwell on the negatives of living where we do, but much better to think about, and be thankful, for the great things about it.

We don't actually eat out very often as a family, but we do eat out more often here than we do in Australia, simply because it's cheaper here. How often do we eat out at a proper restaurant (not counting when we're grabbing a meal before/during/after a sporting meet)? Maybe once or sometimes twice a month?

I'm looking forward to our mission's national conference in Hokkaido next month. We're there for five days with all the breakfasts and dinners all-you-can-eat meals. Understandably it's quite popular with the teens! In fact it is the largest buffet-style restaurant I've ever been too, it is a little mind boggling. We were at the same hotel three years ago (the hotel has "faded grandeur" which is why our budget-conscious mission goes there, we get great rates). In addition to great food is a water park in the basement and a large choice of Japanese baths in the basement and at the top of the building. Oh, we will be doing some work too, but there'll be an element of fun too, I can't wait.