Buffet at an art museum

 
I had my first buffet in Takayama at an art museum, giving me a chance to unleash my pent-up appetite for unlimited good food, its manifestation so apparent that my friend, horrified witnessing my devouring one plate of food after another, went so far as to describe me as a monster which gobbles up everything that meets its eyes. The buffet is quite reasonably priced, offering a nice selection of relatively healthy dishes, with fresh vegetables as the main draw. I was most impressed by its pumpkin soup, and salad, though its bread, whether home-baked or not, also deserved some praise. Unlike Hong Kong’s buffet battlefield, with limited seats and few guests there, we were mercifully spared the hassle of vying with each other for food and of keeping a nerve-racking and close watch on the kitchen door, from which, if it were in Hong Kong, a waiter might emerge anytime with a fresh plate of oysters or lobsters. Adding to its appeal is the absence of time limitation, meaning you can theoretically enter with an empty stomach at 11.30 am, the starting time, and launch a three-and-a-half-hour marathon of punishing non-stop eating, or a more humane one with regular breaks, until the waiters, forcing a smile and making a mental note of putting you on the blacklist, politely ask you to leave. The museum currently offers this lunch buffet only on Tuesdays, but a waitress hinted at the possibility of introducing it on other days as well as in the future. I will definitely come back again.