A business contact in Tokyo once thought I was "that guy". On the first of our two days working together he promised all morning long he had chosen "an appropriate local restaurant" for lunch. He wouldn't name it even as we were walking there... until we rounded the corner and he pointed to a Denny's. My equally gaijin-looking colleague who spoke fluent Japanese diplomatically explained that we were familiar with Japanese food and wished to eat truly local food. We ended up at a stand-up soup counter where we bought meal tickets from a vending machine. Our customer stared at us with a look of disbelief (in between mouthfuls of noodles) the whole time. Good times!