A Pinoy in Tokyo: Gonpachi, The 'Kill Bill' Restaurant

                          (Gonpachi from the street)
Heading off to dinner, Jaqi, Jennifer and I took a cab and headed off to a restaurant. They didn't tell me though that it was one kind of a restaurant!  

Upon entering the place, Jaqi asked me, "Do you recognize the place?"  It was a little dark, a little noisy but I still got the picture! Literally!

It's the Kill Bill restaurant!

Gonpachi, a restaurant in Nishi-Azabu (a short taxi ride from Roponggi), inspired Quentin Tarantino for that bloody fight scene in his Kill Bill movie.

In Kill Bill, Uma Thurman flew to Tokyo to hunt down Lucy Liu, and found her at Gonpachi having dinner! Well, at least not in the actual Gonpachi, but in a restaurant whose architecture was inspired by Gonpachi. Perhaps, Señor Tarantino had been there and loved the atmosphere, architecture and the food like I did that night.

In the movie, Uma finished off Lucy Liu's Crazy 88 bodyguards in a sword fight so bloody that the Red Cross people must have cried over the spilt ABO blood types.

But that night, we didn't see any spilt blood, only delicious kushi-style skewered delights, tempura and of course, sushi!

The whole place was spacious with an open area in the middle filled with more tables, customers and Japanese chef. Private rooms were at the sides and on the second floor, where probably, O-Ren Ishii and her entourage were having dinner!

                                  (inside the toi-re wa)
And as I wanted to find out if they were actually up there, I went up and checked. No O-Ren and no Crazy 88 bodyguards. Only a great view of the whole place and the 'toi-re wa doko desu ka'. Ha-ha-ha!

Arigato gozaimasu to Jaqi and Jennifer for the treat at Gonpachi. Its authentic Japanese setting was a delight, its Japanese staff very friend, and the skewered delicacies very oishi-desu!