Having spent the day doing a lot of walking, much of it involving stairs and sloping paths, leg weary but not overly famished (the lunchtime oysters had left a little room in the stomach, but not enough to require a significant refill) seated in a crowded eatery on a stool that had my knees uncomfortably close to the eating surface. Every thirty seconds or so something said to my immediate left had me automatically turning my head in that direction (coincidentally, the one from which the food would be coming) every thirty seconds or thereabouts, and I wasn't keen on what I'd seen in preparation.
The meal, when it arrived, turned out to be a sort of pancake turned into a parcel containing noodles and whatever theme ingredient (beef, chicken, pork, tofu or, in this case, oysters) the diner chooses, with a healthy serve of a variant on soy sauce that is apparently widely enjoyed in Japan, but has very limited appeal as far as Hughesy is concerned.
Madam suggested if I didn't like the sauce, perhaps I should try a bit of this hotter variety, considerately adding some of the aforesaid variety to the platter. Fortunately, I chose not to respond to the the suggestion, since the response would probably have contained variations on four-letter expletives and the desire to get the sauce out of the dish rather than adding any more.
The addition, as it turned out, was a Chilli enhanced variation on the other one. The same flavour profile, but a bit more heat.
And the oysters were small, with the taste overpowered by the sauce.
There were places where we could stop for a drink on the way back, but I'd had enough. We passed two wine bars where the offerings seemed to be aimed at the segment of the market that was disinclined to spend and was after effect rather than taste, and while I could have weakened I want to drink something interesting in the wine department.
If I can't there's always beer, but in this case I wasn't inclined that way either.