SRF Cafeteria

Rating: Not great
Meal:  Lunch
Price:  $6.50
Payment:  Cash only (dollars or yen)
Dishes:  Chicken Green Curry set
English Menu:Yes

Smoking:No

Welcome to another unfortunate place on base, the SRF (Ship Repair Facility) Cafeteria!  Actually I really like the space up here on the 4th floor of an anonymous building on base.  It's a huge area with lots of tables and even some couches in the back, and a little mini-mart in the corner.  I've gone through phases where I would go there to eat lunch and then sit on the couch and read for the rest of my lunch hour.  It's only about 5 minutes walk from where I work.

However I ended up stopping my frequent visits there after I finally gave up on their being able to make food that tastes good and doesn't make me feel bloated.  It's amazing really, it doesn't matter what I eat there, or how little of it I eat, I still feel gross afterward.  Again I think it comes down to the cheapest of ingredients that are filled with chemicals and other stuff that my body recognizes as "not food."  I find when I eat at the actual Japanese restaurants off base, I never have these issues and feel quite genki afterwards.  It's a pity really, because there's no reason good ingredients couldn't be obtained to make the mostly Japanese items on the menu here.  But the rice...it just doesn't taste right.  It's not local rice, of that I'm certain.  There's probably some drug deal where they have to purchase and use ingredients that get shipped over from the US.
There are some dishes there that seem to be really good at first, but over time it kind of sours on you and you realize they really aren't all that great...for example the tonkatsu (breaded fried pork) which tastes all right at first, is actually rather tough and nasty and it gets covered up by the breading and deep fri-edness of the dish.

I added the spices...still not much flavor

They do a pretty good job of rotating different dishes on different days, and the specials of the day are always presented out front with covered sample dishes.  And there are certain mainstays that you can get all the time, like curry and soba/udon.  They don't mind if you bring your own lunch, it is a cafeteria after all, so lots of people bring theirs over there to eat and chat with friends.  There are two TVs and one is supposed to be tuned to US shows and the other to Japanese shows (it is a shared facility), but today there was some sports thing monopolizing both of them.  I actually enjoy catching a few minutes of Japanese TV since we don't have any broadcast television at home.

It's been a long time since I've been to the SRF cafeteria and I was surprised to see a chicken green curry on the list of specials for the day.  It was...ok I guess, but not particularly tasty.  The salad that comes with each meal is heavy on the cabbage and I've never cared for it much.  I usually refuse the miso soup but forgot to do that this time.  It's some of the worst miso soup I've ever had.  I always try to doctor up the meal with the various things they have but it never ends up much better.  I'd say the food they make is made for people who think food is merely fuel.