Jon Siegel / ジョン 米岡

Took Waki out for a VERY fancy Xmas dinner tonight. Not sure how to tell this tale, but I’ll leave it up to you to pass judgment on our main course, which was an adventure, if not a sort of “challenge”.

Waki and I have had our fair share of exotic cuisine, only recently did I do whale which was quickly followed up with deer. In our travels we’ve both experienced an even more diverse array of meats and vegetables that would stir the imagination. Anyhow, prior to it’s arrival, Waki and I had a fun and light discussion about French and Japanese cuisine and their mutual stress on the importance of presentation. In fact, regardless of the ingredients or the type of dish, presentation is a key element of any fine dining experience.

As per tradition, our waitress explained that we would be splitting a whole pigeon for the main course. I’ve experienced pigeon in Chinese cuisine, so to have it in French sounded quite interesting. Waki was a little more skeptical, but agreed that it would be a good experience to try something new. The keyword here is “splitting”. Now, without further ado, behold:

As you’ll notice, we were presented each with half a deconstructed pigeon, with the head as a centerpiece. The point is, the waitress wasn’t beating around the bush when she said we would be splitting the pigeon. You see, the head was split with surgical precisely down the center, all goods inside fully intact. Waki was quick to flip hers over and try hiding it, I tried brushing mine to the side but still couldn’t stop from STARING at it. We did our best to maintain good manners, but just couldn’t keep from outright laughing at the absurdity of it. I just kept thinking of how I wouldn’t have been able to do it, cut that suckers’ head in half like that. This meal also turned out to be in the top tier of expensive meals I’ve had in my life, and it was easy to tell the restaurant was pleased with my business. On our way out the entire kitchen and hall staff along with the owner and his wife stopped what they were doing to wish us a good night and hold the door for us. Thanks for the decapitated pigeon! and a Merry Christmas to all!