Valentine’s day, prawns, and high-tech toilet
February 20, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in Everything else Tags: Japanese high-tech toilet, sushi
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I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s day and President day!
I realized I hadn’t blogged this week! O_O It feels like time flies even faster when you have a long weekend and a full-time job.
My boyfriend and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s day. But it was Sunday so we decided to go to IKEA (romantic, isn’t it?). We failed to get the furniture we wanted, but succeeded to get Swedish meatballs and “prawn cheese spread.” We’ve been trying to get a certain piece of furniture from IKEA but it hasn’t been very successful… My boyfriend did a comic about it on his site, so check it out!
After we came home, we just played video games. He played Batman: Arkham Asylum and I played Okami for the Wii. At night, we made sushi and watched District 9 on Blu-ray. We had tuna, salmon and shrimp. How appropriate to watch District 9 while eating shrimp (prawn), right? =D
It’s so easy to prepare shrimp for sushi. Also, it’s easier and cheaper to get fresh shrimp in the U.S. than fresh salmon sashimi or tuna. So if you’re fan of shrimp sushi, you should try making it by yourself. I’ll do a quick how-to prepare shrimp for sushi soon. Probably this weekend.
I made two un-flattened shrimp to make a heart, so it was a very romantic Valentine's after all. =D
On Monday (President’s day), it was really nice out so we decided to go into the city to try out a Japanese restaurant called “Hasaki”. We picked the place because I’ve read that they have one of those super high-tech Japanese toilets. (Hasaki is located on 210 East 9th Street, between 2nd 3rd ave)
There’s a side story to this which is our quest to review restaurants with high-tech Japanese toilets. When we went to Curry-ya (a curry restaurant) in the East Village, they had a super high-tech Japanese toilet. (My boyfriend also did a review for Curry-ya, so check it out here.) I was so happy at this little surprise that I did research when I got home and made a list of restaurants in the city that have the high-tech Japanese toilet. Most locations are fancy up-scale Japanese restaurants, but Hasaki was affordable and had very good reviews for the food as well.
I ordered the Twilight Dinner, my boyfriend ordered grilled salmon. I was pleasantly surprised when they brought me my meal. It was a lot of food, and all for $20!
the Twilight Dinner - Salad
the Twilight Dinner - Main course, From top left (clockwise): Kinpira gobo with shiitake, vegetable & fish cake (real fish cake!) & shrimp tempura, grilled fish, Hijiki, Satoimo (Japanese sweet potato) O_O;
the Twilight Dinner - It also comes with either sashimi or sushi!
the Twilight Dinner - Dessert was assorted fresh fruit
It didn’t fit in the picture, but it comes with a bowl of rice and red miso soup. Did I mention all this is just for $20!!! Yes, salad, the whole plate, and desert. The only catch is that the Twilight Dinner is served only from 5:30 PM~6:30PM. Thus the name “Twilight.” Not a reference to the movie 
I’m not good at reviewing restaurants, but my boyfriend did it on his blog. So you can read his detailed review of Hasaki here!
If you want to try different kinds of authentic Japanese cuisine, this is well worth it. The portions of each dish is pretty small but everything was very carefully prepared and seasoned just right. I ordered sashimi, so it came with a bowl of rice. But if you order sushi, you don’t get rice separately. The rice bowl is pretty small, but don’t feel embarrassed to order another bowl of rice if you want. Oh another thing, the miso soup here is pretty unique. They use fresh red miso and it’s very robust, so don’t be alarmed by the distinctive aroma.
Of course, we both went to the bathroom to check out the toilet. The lid opens when you get closer, washes & dries your bottom and flushes automatically afterward. Oh and the seat is heated!! Many people think that it’s just another wacky Japanese invention, but this high tech toilet is a lot more ecologically friendly than using paper.
The black part on the seat is a motion sensor, so it opens when you get closer to the toilet, and flushes when you move away from the seat.
The control panel on the wall. "Front" and "Back" on the right of the display screen is to change the angle of water. The one on the left is to change the pressure.
A simpler version is on the top of the control panel. The three buttons on the right is to close the lid, open the lid, and lift the seat.
Only one stall for each men and women's bathroom, but it is very roomy, clean and calming.
My parents house and my brother’s place in Japan have it. It’s very common thing in Japan now. Unfortunately only the women’s room has a super high tech toilet, the men’s room isn’t quite as high tech. (The seat is still heated, and you can control the pressure, and it washes your butt!) My boyfriend looked very sad when I showed him the pictures of women’s bathroom though. He thought it wasn’t fair.
Anyway, the amazing deal on the Twilight Dinner and the super high-tech toilet aren’t the only reasons to visit Hasaki. The interior was tasteful, the service was also very attentive, and they also have a sushi bar as well. We will definitely go back there again!
You can check out the restaurant reviews and see more pictures on my boyfriend’s blog!
Curry-ya in East Village
Hasaki in East Village
Comments»
Lovin’ the heart shape shrimp rolls.
When we were in Japan we became obsessed with Toto toilets, a brand of toilets that do pretty much all you’ve listed in your post. The also would make sounds of water running when you sat on them so as to avoid pee-sound embarrassment. Super awesome.