I think I mentioned that I MC'd the JETAANY career panel last month, which involved several successful former JETs (may seem like an oxymoron, I realise) talking about their experience so as to help out other recent returnees. Now, JETAANY reckons to thank those who help it out with a thank-you dinner, and as luck would have it, one of the panelists in October was a guy called Norman, who by funny coincidence happens to be the manager of both branches of a super-upscale Japanese place called Megu in New York. The kind of place that's listed as $$$$ (Very Expensive) in all the guidebooks.
So this evening, dinner was on JETAANY at Megu in Trump Tower on 47th St and 1st Avenue. And the food was simply nothing short of phenomenal. Try wagyu beef so good, we had a minute's silence to give it the contemplation it deserved. Or asparagus deep-fried in kaki-no-tane (yes, the same thing served as beer snacks in Japan), Kobe beef cooked on stone, toro tuna with daikon and spicy miso, and a yuzu chocolate cake so good I think I might actually consider marrying it. Seriously, this was the best meal I have had since I came to New York and possibly ever.
The best bit was not that I didn't pay anything for it (though that was good...), but that Norman (he's an ex-JET) and I got on like a house on fire, carrying on where we'd left off just shooting the breeze at the reception. So now he's going to hook me up next time I need to impress. Consider the scene - Kate's birthday. I walk into Megu - the manager shakes me by the hand, asks how I'm doing, greets Kate like a long-lost friend. "OK, so we've got your table ready for you - just the way you like it. Don't bother with the menus, we'll sort you out and take good care of you. You just relax and enjoy yourselves". Now that's classy. Nothing quite like turning to your date and saying, "Yeah, the manager's a good friend of mine".
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3 comments:
Either that or Norman fancies you himself!!!!!
Will you manage to see any of the cricket over there or it too complicated for an American audience?
Entirely possible. He is, after all, only human.
Sadly, the greatest of all sports is not to be found anywhere here - there might be some money in broadcasting India and Pakistan games in some parts of Queens', but not England. I think I'll just have to make do with the internet.
Nice, very nice. Cultivating gourmets is one sure fire way to become a gourmand.
Incidentally, not a great day for your lads down under. But then, who am I to talk? Greg Chappell's ground my boys to dust.
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