Where would you go on a date on December 31st...

[Des Esseintes]

Hi,

I've met this girl last week and much to my surprise she does not have any plan during the whole oshougatsu period.

She seems to like me and we agreed to meet as much as possible during the holiday break, starting on Saturday 31st.

Only I didn't think that it's probably going to be a real nightmare booking a table anywhere on new year's eve and it's still too early in the relationship to invite her to my place (she seems very friendly though so I can't completely rule out that she might say yes).

What would you do in my place? I've tried calling a few places but unsurprisingly, they were full...

 

[Soapysoap66]

Tell her all places are booked and invite her for dinner at your place! Either that or McDonalds. Hehe.

 

[User#8628]

Go to a new years party that has food.

 

[static]

Be honest and tell her the truth. "Hey, I tried to book us a restaurant, but they're all full. Let's cook dinner at my place."

She understands, and if she likes you, she'll probably say yes without any real qualms.

 

[Ken1988]

I know a Tunisian restaurant which serves the best couscous in Tokyo. If you are interested in, google "Brasserie DJERBA" and call the restaurant. They speak French.

 

[Exnocomment]

Stop phoning places and use OpenTable instead. There's also gurunavi, etc. Use the phone as a last resort when trying to book upscale in case of cancellations.

Or, as everyone said, cook. I wouldn't say do it together.. Cooperating is hard. Look up a simple fish recipe or do seared scallops with bacon. Risotto can also be quite forgiving if done patiently and slowly.

 

[static]

Or, as everyone said, cook. I wouldn't say do it together.. Cooperating is hard. Look up a simple fish recipe or do seared scallops with bacon. Risotto can also be quite forgiving if done patiently and slowly.

No way, cooking together is great fun as long as you're not a control freak in the kitchen. Some of my best dates involved mashed potatoes ending up on each other's clothing, then eating half naked while her clothes were washing since she had to wear em for work the next day.

You can even have her bring stuff along too, anything from a bottle of wine to a side dish or whatever, make sure she feels involved in the date rather than you doing everything and making her feel bad.

 

[Exnocomment]

@static - It CAN be fun.. if you're playful. It depends on neither of you being controlling and both of you having a similar skill level.

It is also not conducive to actually making food that tastes good!

 

[static]

@static - It CAN be fun.. if you're playful. It depends on neither of you being controlling and both of you having a similar skill level.

It is also not conducive to actually making food that tastes good!

You can usually get around that by doing a little bit of prep ahead of time. My soy sauce chicken is pure awesomeness (Guys should have at least one dish they can cook well, and allrecipe.com is fantastic! ), where all you have to do after that is throw it either in a fry pan or on a grill (george foreman grill for the win!). Pasta is really hard to mess up, as is a really simple fettuccine sauce, have her bring the salad with a bottle of wine.

With a pre-marinated soy sauce chicken, get a ziplock back with Panko, parmasean cheese, pepper, garlic and throw in two chicken breasts, oven to 220C for 30 minutes, throw it over pasta with some meat sauce / tomato sauce for a simple chicken parm. White rice is also just a throw it in and push a button. You plan your meal ahead of time to ensure minimal chance of failure and maximum fun. You can pick out dishes that are fun like mash potatoes with a potato masher from the 100Y shop. Put em in a small tupperware and work the masher together (over the shoulder, hands together mashing potatoes), sky is the limit!

Pick out movies ahead of time, music, play lists, etc.

It's really no different than planning any other date going out with a girl, scheduling restaurant, choosing a path that takes you on an adventure from the restaurant to a game center to baskin robbins back to your place, with alternate routes to adapt to her wants and needs. As with any date, the better you prepare, the better your chances of success.

 

[Exnocomment]

Agree with your date premise..

(Guys should have at least one dish they can cook well, and allrecipe.com is fantastic! )

Definitely agree with this.. but..

DEFINITELY disagree about pasta being hard to screw up. You can overcook pasta super easily! You want a perfect al dente.. That's going to be hard with a dry pasta. And a good sauce is the stuff of heavens.. A good alfredo sauce can be foreplay itself! A bad one ends up with everyone trying to find the nearest toilet.

 

[Des Esseintes]

Thank you all for the suggestions. We haven't quite reached the "naked potetosarada fight" stage of the relationship but hopefully we'll get there in time.

I found a restaurant thanks to Exnocomment's website (I used to use tabelog but it doesn't tell you if the restaurant is full or not, or maybe I missed that feature) — but she said she wants to come to my place anyway so it looks like I'm getting the best of both worlds since we won't have to cook and we'll end up at my place afterwards. I thought it would be more difficult somehow.

 

[Jbagz]

Some random ideas...

What about just getting a good bottle of champagne and going to someplace like Skytree to ring in midnight?

Maybe just go to a izakaya earlier in the evening and offer to go with her to a temple (if she is in to that sort of thing).

Pack a backpack with party supplies like stupid blinky light hats, sparklers and noise makers. Take lots of pics in scenic places.

Tell her that you want to have a spontaneous night and use a coin to decide what places you go.

Even if you end up in one of those old school karaoke pubs like in Ueno where the mamasan and customers are over-the-hill, I bet you could make it fun. That probably is dependent on your personality and hers though.

If you have her over to your place to cook, have some kind of game or activity related New Years for you to do.

You could try getting out of Tokyo that afternoon for an onsen type place if she is up for it.

Bust out the credit card and get yourself into a fancy restaurant or party, don't give a damn about the hassle of getting into someplace nice, you still have time.