Taste of the World Restaurant
1:12p.m.

{Jonathan}

        The shade man... and yet, so true.
Moving on... we've arrived to this restaurant, Taste of the World, that he proclaims to be good. He parked his bike just a few steps away from the entrance of the restaurant. We got off the bike and kept the helmets away. I began glancing around. The environment is really lively. There were certainly a lot of people there, different ages and colours.
        "You ate here? In this kind of environment?" I asked. "Yes. Why?" He ask, shoving his keys into his pocket. "Oh nothing, nothing... there's a lot of people here and I thought you weren't the crowd type." I said, trying to not offend him. "I'm not." He said, walking pass me, and towards the restaurant.
        "So, that just happened." I said under my breath. "Relax. It's a long story on how I ended up eating here in the first place. Come on." He said while walking ahead of me. I walk fast and caught up with him. It wasn't long before a proper dressed lady, approached us.
        "Welcome to the Taste of the World restaurant gentlemen. I'm Linda, and I'll be your hostess today." She said with a perky voice.
        "Hey, uh... table for two." Damian said. "Certainly, please... follow me." She said, as she took two sets of menu and guided us to a table. As we follow the hostess, I got distracted by the restaurant's surrounding. There were many people's from many different cultures. The scent of mouth watering food began to fill my nose, from deep fried goodies to baked potatoes and many more. Not only that, jazz background music filled my ears, causing me to sway my head along with the music.
         From all the distractions around me, I bumped into Damian. "Oh sorry!" I apologised, which he completely ignored.
         "I think this table should be perfect." Linda said. The table was shaped in a rectangular form. It had two chairs sitting opposite of each other. Just like every other restaurants. I took a seat on one of the chairs and Damian on the other. The hostess then stood next to the table.
          "So, what are we having today?" She asked. Her red lips smiling down on us. "What kind of cultural delicacies would you like to try? We have, Italian, Chinese, Indian, French, Malaysian, Japanese, and the usual, Americans." She continued. "I've tried the Chinese food here before... so I'll go with Indian, today." Damian said. "Alright then, here's the menu for the Indian Delicacies." Linda hands Damian a menu. "And how about you, young man? What would you like to try?" She looked at me. Honestly, when I first got here, I already knew I wanted Italian food... but when Linda said that there was Japanese food here as well, I couldn't decide.
        It took me like a couple of seconds or more to decide, but in the end, I've made up my mind.
        "Ok, I'd like to try the Japanese delicacies please." I said. Well, since I've tried Italian food such as pizza and pasta, I'd guess I can skip Italian for now and try something I've never tried before.
        "Sure. Here." She said, handing me a menu this time. "I'll be back in a minute to take your order." She gives a smile and walks away.
        Okay, I have no idea what any of these dishes are going to taste like. There are choices such as Gyudon, Okonomiyaki, Miso Soup, Yakitori, Onigiri and many more.
         "Oh Rao.... they serve live frog with dipping sauce??!" My eyes widened with horror. Damian overheard me and scoffs. "I'd recommend not trying that if you have a weak stomach." He said. "Trust me. I ordered it once, and immediately regretted it. I mean, they chopped it's body into pieces, but then the head was placed in the middle of the plate as decoration. It taste ok, but I could not eat the whole frog because it's vocal sac were still moving. It just disturbing." He laughs.
        "Poor frog... imagine how Gar will react if you tell him that story..." I said, while viewing the menu again. "He will for sure, cry." He said. "No kidding." I replied.
        After looking through the whole menu, I decided to try a bowl of Ramen and my usual drink, green tea.
        "I'm ready to order... you?" I put the menu aside. "Yeah." He said. Just in time, because he comes Linda.
        "So, ready to order?" She asked, pulling out a PairPad. "Yes, I'd like the Dosa... extra crispy, and also a cola. Thanks." Damian ordered. "Got it." Linda said, typing down the order in the PairPad.
        "And I'd like the Ramen, and a hot green tea please." I said. "Got it" she said. "Now, before I order your foods, would you both like to know what you're about to eat?" She asked. I didn't waste anytime saying yes because I'm worried that there might be live things... in the Ramen.
       "Okay, you're gonna eat Ramen. It is a bowl of wheat noodles served in a miso soup mixed with many kinds of ingredients such as sliced pork, green onions, seaweed and egg. Is that okay with you?" She asked. "Yes. As long as there are no live animals in there, I'm good." I chuckle. "Oh no worries, that's a different meal. This is a one hundred percent cooked meal." She assured. "Okay then." I relaxed.
         "How about you?" She turned to ask Damian. "Sure." He replied. "Okay, Dosa is a cooked flat thin layered rice batter. It is somewhat similar to a crepe in appearance. It's main ingredients are rice and black gram ground together in a fine, smooth batter with a dash of salt. And it comes with three different gravy. One is calle sambar, one is chicken curry and the last one is chutney. Is that okay with you?" She asked. "I've been wanting to try Dosa for a while now so yes, I'm okay with it." Damian replied.
         "Alright boys. Give about five minutes, and your orders will be here by then." She said, just before turning around and walking away.