On my trip to Japan, one of my most anticipated stops was to Luida's Bar, a restaurant devoted to all things Dragon Quest, located in Roppongi. Luida's Bar is a small, quaint place where the spirit and essence of Dragon Quest is alive and kicking. It's like being in a tavern from the games. But before I get ahead of myself, I should warn those who want to visit: You should try to get a reservation ahead of time. It only seats about 20 people. The restaurant is tight on space, but it provides an intimate experience, like being able to watch the staff make the food devoted to popular monsters in the universe.
As you can see above, the restaurant isn't huge, but once we arrived, I couldn't wait to open the door and take in the atmosphere.
The bar is lit up with plenty of Dragon Quest-related drinks to buy.
This was the big drink they kept advertising. I didn't order it, but I at least wanted you to see what it was all about.
However, I may have tried this one. It looked delicious and it was. It actually tasted like a cross between wine and champagne. Stirring in the cream at the top made it all the better.
I took a picture of the spoon that came with it to show this place is all about Dragon Quest right down to the spoon. These are important details after all!
This cool sword display was behind where I sat. Right now, the restaurant is heavily promoting Dragon Quest X, probably due to its recent release on 3DS. Some more salt in the wound for me. After all, America never got to experience the Dragon Quest MMO.
Hey, swords and shields are essential to Dragon Quest, so they're all around, too. Kind of makes me want to fight. Thank goodness, I have all these distractions around me.
This is the view from my seat of what's in front of me. Not a bad display to look at.
Here's a better look at the chef preparing our food in front of us. We had some great seats. There were tables behind here to sit, but I liked seeing everything being made up close. The entire restaurant is standing room only, however.
The restaurant may not be big, but Dragon Quest remnants are all around.
Of course this extends to slimes in every nook and cranny! Praise the king slime!
You can even eat them! But we'll get more to that on page two!
Up next: We finally order the food! Click on the next page to see your favorite Dragon Quest monsters become edible.