They reached the restaurant. The place was old and the entrance was located in a back alley. In fact, unless someone knew it was there, they wouldn't be able to find it. Hiroyuki discovered this restaurant's existence when he had complained about expensive restaurants to Ono. Ono recommended Hiroyuki take his girlfriend to some cheap restaurants. On the list of Ono's recommendations, this restaurant became one of Hiroyuki's favorite.
Inside, they self-seated and waited for the waitress to show up. The restaurant only had one server and one chef in the back. The restaurant was owned by a husband and wife couple. They were both gray haired. They opened this shabu-shabu restaurant many years ago.
The husband was the chef, while the wife was the waitress.
When the waitress showed up, Hiroyuki ordered the items that were the best pricing for the amount of food.
Shabu-shabu or sometimes known as hotpot, is a dining experience where a pot of broth is brought out. The pot of broth cooks on the dining table, and when it boils, the restaurant goer puts uncooked food into it, to cook.
Hiroyuki chose a mushroom flavored broth. It was cheaper than the chicken stock. However, Hiroyuki ordered two plates of chicken meat, so the mushroom flavored broth would also have chicken flavor once they cooked the meat in it. Chicken meat was the cheapest meat, while beef was the most expensive. Depending on the pig part, the pork dish could be relatively cheap. Hiroyuki chose a plate of pork snout. He also ordered a plate of squid. Squid was cheaper than fish or crab or clams. This should be enough protein for a growing boy. He also ordered a plate of daikon radish, because it was both cheap and filling. The mushroom broth came with mushrooms in it, so Hiroyuki didn't plan on ordering any more vegetables.
Strictly speaking, Hiroyuki and Jiro didn't eat much meat. Because meat wasn't often discounted. Every now and then if they were lucky they'd find a tray of meat with a discount sticker on it. Plus, meat could be frozen in the freezer, so many people would buy it on sale and store it for later, making it so that it hardly went into the discounted section.
He also ordered a small pot of rice. That way, they would be full.
Then, because he was on a splurging spree, Hiroyuki also ordered a small bottle of heated sake.