Beware of Ninja!

Themed restaurants have become a fascination, if not a bit of an obsession for Jonathan and me. When the dining experience is just as memorable as the food, it makes for a very good use of money. We heard about Ninja, a themed restaurant inside a ninja lair and staffed by ninjas, from several of Jonathan’s coworkers. From the excitement in their voices, we knew that a good time was to be had at Ninja and so we saved the experience to share with Katie.

When we all three arrived at the restaurant, we were shown into a dark room with a single podium. A woman behind the podium announced our names and then told us our ninja was hiding somewhere in the little room. We nervously looked about hoping to spot this hiding ninja, but…no luck. Just when we were about to give up, THE NINJA JUMPED DOWN FROM THE CEILING! It was amazing. The ninja moved quickly. He simply whispered, “Follow me into the ninja lair.” And then he disappeared. We tried to keep up with him through the black and narrow cave-like corridors, but he always maneuvered out of our sights. Just when we began to become anxious that we were lost, the ninja would reappear out of the darkness and beckon us forward. It was very intense, but very fun. At one point on our way to the ninja lair, we came to a place where the floor had dropped out. Where the floor should have been, a small river was running instead. The ninja told us to stand back. He chanted his ninja code, waved his hands, and with a loud pop and a puff of smoke a small drawbridge fell perfectly into place. Ninja Magic! I could barely contain myself. Finally, we reached the ninja lair, which looked like a little underground village with ninjas running around everywhere serving drinks, bringing food, and doing tricks.

We were brought to our own private dining area, where our guiding ninja was replaced with a serving ninja. Our serving ninja was obviously still in training, and although she tried very hard, she was seriously lacking the ninja mystique that was so apparent in many of the other ninjas around the lair. We tried to boost her confidence… It must be hard coming to age as a ninja.
We ordered the chef’s surprise course, which was probably a mistake. Although I’m sure it’s very tasty to the Japanese palate, a fish flavored, creamy jello block disguised as tofu isn’t exactly an American’s dream food-- probably more like an American’s food nightmare. Ten courses followed that little beauty of fishy goodness. There were sea snails, rock soup, tempura, some kind of salad with fish flavored foam dressing, and more. Although some of the food certainly wasn’t appetizing, it was all very cool to look at. Not to mention we were being served by a ninja, well, ninja in training.

After dinner, a senior ninja came to visit our table. He was there to show us just how mystical and magical a ninja can be. He explained that he has travelled to distant lands to learn the many mysteries of the world in order to complete his ninja training. That’s when he coughed up an entire bagel and apologized for not chewing his breakfast the way he should’ve. The next fifteen minutes were filled with one amazing magic trick after another. It’s always been my dream to go to a magic show, and I wasn’t disappointed. Even Jonathan was taken off guard with the magic that this talented ninja performed. Always skeptical, Jonathan was completely in awe of the ninja and had no idea, even to this day, how the ninja could out wit us so thoroughly.

When the magic was over, our serving ninja came in and told us she would have to take us back to the street. We made our way through the maze of corridors back to the door we originally entered. Just as we were walking away, a ninja came running out to unveil a small scroll that said, “Come visit Ninja Again” then he disappeared back into the lair.

For the rest of the night, one of us would yell “Ninja!” and we would all stop in our most intimidating ninja pose. I could never quite get it right.

We had a wonderful time.

Our Ninja beckoning us towards the Ninja Lair.
The Ninja used his secret ninja code words to make the bridge fall over the river.
The dark and mysterious ninja lair.
Dangerously tasty ninja star appetizers.
Jonathan's ninja pose.
My first attempt at a ninja pose. Like I mentioned, ninja poses are not my forte.
This is as good as it gets for me, as far as ninja poses go.
Fish-flavored creamy jello. Katie actually gagged out loud. It wasn't pretty.
Sushi rolls.
The entree. Steamed fish in seaweed with asparagus.
Tuna and avocado.
Alcohol-free cocktails! We were very excited.
Sea snails. You can see by our serving ninja's face that she is definitely still in training. She was trying to perform some kind of fire trick here that didn't go as planned. She was embarrassed.
Sea snail. This was actually very tasty.
Tempura vegetables with fish foam dipping sauce. We avoided the foam.
Rock soup ingredients. The white rocks are extremely hot, and were used to cook the soup.
Here the soup is being made in front of us.
One of our desserts. So cute.


Ninja Magician.
He played this card trick on Jonathan. Jonathan was so surprised when it worked out. I've never seen a look like that on his face before.
He later made two lemons fall out of that little vase into my hands.

The ladies all dressed up.