Culinary: Special meals and sets

Another culinary post, this time about set-meals and some of the more expensive dishes I enjoyed.
I will give you an description and some pictures, so lets get this started:

Oil-Yaki

A DIY-meal where you are served pieces of meat and different vegetables and cook them up in an oiled pan (hence the name). Oil-Yaki goes side by side with Sukiyaki and Shabu Shabu and is pretty much as pricey as them.
The place I went served multiple courses and the first piece of meat was done by a waitress donned in a kimono to show how it's done. Three qualities of meat can be chosen, I went for the one in the middle. Needless to say that it was extremely delicious.

Oil-Yaki sign and price

By the way, one can save some money by going to expensive restaurants for lunch and not for dinner, there are lunch-specials and discounts pretty much everywhere.

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Sukiyaki (Ryokan/Inn dinner)

Sukiyaki - Closeup

Got this at the Turtle Inn in Nikko for dinner, another must-try. Sukiyaki is a pot-dish that cooks up nicely in front of you. This one had lots of veggies at the bottom of the pan and thinly sliced meat on top. You turn the meat once, tip every bite in raw egg (or, if you don't like that part, cook it up in the pan to cover the whole thing) and dig in.
This actually was only a part of the whole meal, there was also fish and some sides.

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Steak/cutlet set
Not really a steak but they called it a Steak Set nevertheless. Not much to say about this one except that the restaurant I ate back then had an interesting mix of Italian, French and Japanese atmosphere.

Steak-set sides

Steak set

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Tonkatsu set

Tonkatsu-set

I am pretty sure I already wrote about these, but the set with Miso soup, cabbage and rice and free refills was really nice.

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Ramen and Gyoza

Ramen set

These two go together as a classic set and most Ramen-shops serve them both. You enjoy your Ramen and nibble on the Gyoza on the side.

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Gyoza and Ramen

Gyoza and ramen set

In Utsunomiya and Gora things are a bit different, as the Gyoza are the main part and the set I had made the Ramen a side-dish. These areas are specialized in Gyoza and offer a wide variety.

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Yakiniku

Yakiniku - Gettin' fired up

Similar to Oil-Yaki but still different. Here you order your meat by plate and grill them at your table over flame. The grill is a griddle over an either gas or charcoal fueled flame. There are all kinds of beef and toppings, I had two types one of which had garlic on it. Originally a Korean dish, it is often accompanied by Kimichi.
Also I tried their high-grade beef nigiri. Again, not cheap but incredibly good.