So they had restaurants where you could grill your own meal? That’s a pretty cool concept. The least fun parts of cooking are the prep and the cleanup. This way it’s just the fun part, plus you know it’s cooked how you like it, and it’s probably less expensive since you supply some labor. Did they hand you a plate of ingredients and then you cooked it on sort of a community grill? Or did you have your own little grill at your table?
These restaurants were identifiable by the price being posted outside in neon numbers, such as Y1500 (I don’t have a yen sign on my keyboard.) But for 1500 yen or whatever the price was, you’d be seated at your own table. Against a wall near the kitchen was grated shelves with diffrent cuts and strips of meat. You just went up with a plate and took out what you wanted to cook. There was a hibachi built into your table and you brought your meat back and put it on the hibachi and grilled everything to your satisfaction. Seasonings were at the table or you could ask for something if it wasn’t there. You could order side dishes as well and delicious Japanese beer.