Ota Horumon

A few months ago Karl taught his junior high school students what a dive bar is.  This happened because every Monday at the JHS, Karl gives a mini speech called,"My Fantastic Weekend," during which he teaches the students new English vocabulary and sentences while telling them what he did over the weekend.

Wikipedia gives an explanation for dive bars which you can read here. Well, in our quaint little town of Ogawa Machi, we have our very own dive bar called Ota Horumon.  And it's amazing. If you are from my area, think the Anchor. But, hmmm, how can I say this...the Anchor is a bit less gritty than Ota Horumon.  You'll see why.

Here it is...in all it's dive-ish glory.

In Japanese "horumon" means intestines.  Yum.  You can definitely get all sorts of interesting things on the menu, but there is regular meat too.  The owner, fondly referred to as Papa-San, loves it when our group comes in.  He has been known to clear the reserved room for us. (Even if it was previously booked!)  Also, ever single time we go, he brings us a present.  A delicious, deep-fried present.

 

I mentioned the menu above...here it is:

 

Yup. The menu is simply pieces of paper stuck to the wall with thumb tacks.  Classy.  But hey, it's gets the job done, right?

This is an eggplant dish that we order every time we dine at Ota Horumon.  After eating this, you don't need anymore more salt.  For the rest of your life.

So the food is great and the people are great.  That is why we go to Ota Horumon.  We do not go for the decor.  The ambiance definitely has...character, we'll say.  If you are easily grossed out, keep two things in mind: 1) Do not look up. This is why:

 

This is an air conditioner. And it actually does work. 2) Do not go to the restroom.  Hold it. I do not have photographic evidence of the raunchy restrooms, but I think that you can take my word for this one.  They are "squatters" and the smell is....well...I prefer not to think about it. 

Despite that, we do love going to Ota Horumon.  As I said, the food is great and the people are very fun.