On Conveyor Belts and Sushi

Sushi is the traditional Japanese equivalent to American fast food. It's quick, convenient, and neat. There are the standard condiments, specialized restaurants, and even a number of popular franchises. In Chicago, sushi is a more American experience. Typically the restaurants are upscale and in trendy neighborhoods. The food is ordered from a server who then relays your request to the chef. The food comes after a wait and then you eat and pay a check that's been tallied according to prices on a menu.



In San Francisco I learned about a whole new way of eating sushi. Conveyor-belt sushi! It is common in Japan and elsewhere in southeast Asia, but not so much in the American mid-west. The idea is the chef is always preparing whatever he feels will be popular or whatever he likes to prepare, and puts it onto colored plates and onto a conveyor belt that snakes its way around the entire restaurant. As the plates pass the tables, diners grab what they like and enjoy. The prices are set according to the colors of the plates, so once you're done eating you go to the register and they tally your bill.

Sushi Train (Click for larger Photos)


This is SO convenient! I am not sure it will ever be particularly popular among Americans because of the way most Americans appreciate having personal service and regardless of the reality, they want to feel their food is as fresh as possible. The idea of eating foods that may have been on a conveyor belt for an untold length of time concerns people. The conveyor belt is actually refrigerated and the plates have plastic covers to keep everything fresh, and I ate conveyor belt sushi several times each week while I stayed in Sydney with no ill effect.

One thing I really like about this is the small size of the portions, so you can just pick what you want and not waste anything. Also the fact that you are seeing the food before you "order it" makes it a no-guess operation. I really enjoy trying new things and the conveyor belt leading from the chef to me brings me not only the things I like, but the things THE CHEF likes... and this is fantastic!

Sushi Roll (Click for larger Photos)




I tried raw scallops, seared scallops, different preparations of oysters, a few different desserts made from bean paste, and lots of miso soup. There were so many different conveyor belt restaurants in Sydney it was impossible to try them all. Just on Pitt Street near my hotel I found four different restaurants in short walking distance. I really started to like Sushi Train because of their adorable decorating and the apparent popularity (the place was always busy) .. I also like Sushi Roll because they had sake (a Japanese rice wine) on the menu, the perfect thing after a long day of work.

Australian Museum

In May 2008 I went to the Australian Museum during my second trip to Sydney and took a thorough tour of the museum and had lots of photos. I had taken lots of photos from the last weekend that I was in Sydney but hadn't copied them to my laptop. Then I left the camera and the memory card on the back seat of the taxi home from the airport. That was a small disaster and I lost all the photos... BUT now it was 110F / 43C in November and this was a perfect day for being in a nice cold museum.



Matt and I took the train to St. James station and then walked to the Australian Museum. We would only be able to stay for an hour before they had to close, but that was long enough to see some cool things. We tried to focus on things that would be particularly Australian like the Surviving Australia exhibit. We walked quickly through some bird exhibits and the Dinosaur exhibit and finished up being chased out of the Indigenous Australians exhibit by a security guard wanting to finish his shift for the day.

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Manly and North Head

On Sunday, November 22nd I didn't have to work, so I decided to go with Matt across Sydney Harbour to see the beach town of Manly and take a walk to North Head. The ferry trip was only about 15-20 minutes but was very scenic. We passed close by Fort Denison and were able to see North and South Heads from the ferry. The heat was already making the air hazy and we were expecting the day to get hotter!

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Manly is a small town on a strip of land between the North Shore area and North Head, a rocky outcrop that guards the north side of the entrance to Sydney Harbour. The beach was already fairly crowded despite a dangerous current and fierce waves. We had a quick breakfast and then started walking up the cliffs.

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It really started heating up and our thermometer read 43C / 109F by the time we reached the top of North Head. We were drinking a ton of water and sweating it out just as fast. I was frequently distracted by the exotic plants that decorated the area. There was a park museum at North Head where we stopped in to ask where we should hike, the rangers seemed very concerned about the heat. It did feel hot, but we were determined to finish our hike!

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After walking back into Manly we caught the ferry in the nick of time back to Sydney. On the way back I really started to feel the heat! We got back to Circular Quay and ducked inside the Quayside Brasserie for some cool air. I ordered a beer and regreted my decision within minutes. The day was still pretty young so we decided to go to the Australia Museum where it would definitely be air conditioned!

Company in Sydney

November 21st, 2009

Matt, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Being in Australia puts you into a time zone that makes talking to friends back home slightly inconvenient. The morning in Sydney is the evening in Chicago and evening in Sydney is the middle of the night in Chicago. I end up chatting with friends through instant messenger during the early hours of the morning. One morning I was chatting with Matt and suggested that he take Thanksgiving week off and come visit me in Sydney. I could show him around the city and he could get some sun.



Matt lived in the suburb next door to where I grew up. We've been friends for almost 15 years now. When Matt booked his trip to Sydney I was a little bit surprised but mostly excited to see my friend again and share what I love about Sydney and Australia with a like-minded countryman.

I got up early to take the train to the airport to meet Matt and help him get his bearings. We got a taxi back into the city and he dropped off his luggage at his hotel. We took the monorail to Darling Harbour for breakfast at Nick's. The air conditioning on the monorail was not working and the city was starting to heat up... the temperature inside the monorail cars was at least 90F/30C.

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We walked around Darling Harbour for a while since Matt was waiting for his room to be ready. After being on airplanes for 24 hours, all a person wants to do is take a nice shower. After stopping back at the hotel we were ready to do some sightseeing. We walked to Circular Quay and past the Opera House. Then through the Botanical Gardens and back into the CBD. We went up into Sydney Tower so we could see the city from above and I could point out where we'd walked and where I've been. After that we went back to the Circular Quay for a quick dinner and then called it a night. The next day we would be going to North Head for some hiking so we wanted to be well rested.

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Sydney Tower

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Dinner at the Quay

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