Tsumugi

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  1500 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Wagyu teishoku
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Met a friend in Yokohama again at the new Antenna America under Yokohama Station in the Food and Time Isetan food court area last night.  Afterwards I looked around for something to eat and settled on Tsumugi.  It reminds me of a slightly more upscale Ootoya.

I ordered a steak teishoku, but it looks like they have some amazing kakigoori (flavored shaved ice) options as well.

The meat was kind of tough and not that great.  The little salad was tasty, as was the egg.  The miso soup was particularly good, but not good enough to raise the rating past an Ok.

Ryoubi

Rating: Not great
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 10,200 yen (!)
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Meats, soup, some drinks
English Menu: No
Smoking: Not sure

My son and I went looking for a new spot to eat in Yokosuka.  Had to walk around for quite some time.  Ryoubi is a yakiniku restaurant that replaced something called "Daddy's Kitchen" that I had never gotten around to reviewing.  We decided to try it.

The people were friendly enough, though the menu is all in Japanese.  I ordered for us mostly.  Got some beef dishes, some pork, two soups.  I had a couple of drinks, he had a coke.  I think I ordered a couple more meat dishes later.  It was all pretty normal for yakiniku, nothing special.

We went up to pay and I expected something like 40 or 50 thousand yen.  Instead it was 10,200!  I was a bit taken aback, and there was no itemized bill.  Not wanting to make a stink I paid, but I think I may have had my one and only (so far) instance of being taken advantage of.  I'm not 100% sure, but as I think back on what we ordered it's really hard for me to believe it added up to $90+.  Oh well, definitely drops this place from an Ok to a Not Great rating in my mind at least.

Nihonkai

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  3000 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes:  Various sushi/sashimi dishes
English Menu:Yes
Smoking: No

After church yesterday we wandered around looking for a place to eat and ended up at a sushi-go-round called Nihonkai.  Unfortunately, the sushi wasn't going 'round, maybe because it was sunday lunchtime.  You had to order for yourself by calling it out.  This was stressful as there were quite a few people there and I was ordering for the 3 of us so I felt bad ordering all at once.  We ended up not quite getting what we all wanted and feeling quite flustered by the whole experience.

My son's usual selection

The sushi itself wasn't great for the price, and I felt the rice on the one nigiri I got wasn't up to par.  Overall, just an Ok spot.

My wife's choice

Sashimi for me

Toripuro

Rating: Nasty

Meal:  Dinner
Price:  518 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Light and dark chicken, liver, chicken skin
English Menu: No

Smoking: No

Wow, the evening just kept getting worse.  Not pleased with the pizza options, I turned to a nice looking yakitori counter.  I've had good luck with this type of place in the past, a good way to get some decent yakitori at a decent price.  I ordered four sticks of my usual favs and sat down to try them.

Wow...hard, flavorless, nasty.   Maybe because it was getting late?  Don't know...don't care...I'm never touching that place again.

Spontini

Rating: Not great
Meal: Dinner
Price: 680 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Slice of pizza with a sausage
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:No

Feeling a bit peckish still after having some ramen nearby, I spotted a pizza place called Spontini in the underground Isetan food court at the southern end of Yokohama station.

I just wanted a small taste so got the smallest slice of pizza with a sausage.

It was definitely not great, with the pizza being the big fluffy kind with an almost deep fried crust, flavorless tomato and cheese topping.  And the sausage was super chewy and completely tasteless.  I wouldn't try that again most likely.

Busou

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  880 yen
Payment:  Credit Cards accepted
Dishes: Ramen of some kind
English Menu: No
Smoking: No

I met a friend at the new Antenna America in Yokohama Station which is located underground just south of the station in a newer area called Isetan.  After talking and having a couple of beers I crossed the path and ate at Busou, a ramen spot.

Usually I don't have issues with the menus anymore, but this place was...different...and confusing.  I honestly don't know what exactly I ended up ordering, but it was ramen.  There wasn't much in the way of meat or egg (I could probably have ordered more), and the broth was oddly tangy.  The noodles were thinner hakata style.  There was a black oil on the top too, possibly sansho pepper oil.

It was pretty good, but overall just ok.

Keep and Touch

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price: 2100 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Chicken steak, taco rice, roast chicken with rice
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

After church yesterday we went out to eat with some other members.  As we wandered around Ueno looking for an open restaurant, we eventually came across an odd place named "Keep and Touch" which claimed to have american and asian cuisine.  We were curious, so we gave it a shot.

Chicken steak

The lunch menu that we saw seemed to be mostly "American" food, but definitely as seen through a Japanese lens.  I didn't see anything very Asian, but maybe that's on the evening menu.  I grabbed the  chicken steak as I'm wont to do these days, my wife went for the taco rice (again, same dish last week), and my son had a roast chicken with rice dish.  I only had my own dish and a taste of my wife's.  I'm not a big taco rice fan, so it wasn't my thing, but I was pretty impressed with my chicken steak.  It was nicely cooked with crispy skin.  They fries were surprisingly tasty as well.

Overall, a pretty good place that I wouldn't mind revisiting at some point.

Ichibal

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch
Price:  1080 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted (probably...I paid cash)
Dishes: Chicken steak teishoku
English Menu: No (didn't ask)
Smoking: No (don't think so)

Yet another restaurant has opened in this spot.  I believe this is the third since I moved to town.  The previous one was called Yakitori Standard and I quite liked it.  Never got to back though.  The new spot is called Ichibal, and it is also an izakaya style place, but also a bit more modern in feel compared to the millions of chain izakayas all over the place.

They menu seems to have lots of different meat dishes, with a smattering of sushi/sashimi as well.  The lunch menu is quite affordable and comes with set meals (teishoku) that izakayas typically don't have.  The evening menu is possibly different.  I opted for a chicken steak teishoku, and was given a choice of sides.  I picked the intestine soup (yum!).

The food was decent, especially at the price, but not terribly remarkable.  Perhaps if I ever get back and try some other items I'll change the rating later.

Chicken Place

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price: 2200 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Quarter chicken plate with mini curry, chicken taco rice, blue cheese and honey "pizza"
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:No

After meeting with fellow church members we were recommended to go to a nearby chicken place for lunch.  I asked about the name and was just told "Chicken Place."  I searched for it and sure enough...that's the name!  They do rotisserie chicken, a bit unusual here, and their lunch specials are cheap and delicious.

Quarter chicken plate

We walked down (my son is home again now) and got in just before it got crowded with lots of people and small kids.  It's got a pretty cool vibe, but the shrill and loud kid voices on either side of us nearly drove me out.  I must have had low blood sugar or something because after getting some food in me I felt a bit better about the noise.

Chicken taco rice

Anyway, my son for some reason didn't like the look of anything and ended up getting a blue cheese and honey "pizza" (in quotes because it was more like a tortilla shell and very tiny).  My wife got the chicken taco rice, which she said tasted pretty good, but I wasn't too impressed with in the bite I took.  I got a quarter chicken plate which came with a salad and mini curry (half the rice please).  The curry was really, really good, and I wished we had just gotten the curry dish.  That would be my recommendation if we go back, along with just getting half a chicken.  Also, the salad was surprisingly robust compared to the usual little side salads, with delicious hearty romaine that actually took some chewing to get down.

Blue cheese and honey "pizza"

Overall a pleasant surprise!

La Toque

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch for 2
Price:  2300 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted
Dishes:Chicken combo plate, ala carte chicken piece and omelet
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

My wife and I had to drive to Narita Airport Terminal 2 on Saturday to pickup my son coming back from school in the Philippines.  We arrived in time to grab some dinner and so settled on La Toque, which proudly displays that they are a Halal kitchen, a rare find in Japan.  However they serve chicken based curry and other dishes, nothing Middle Eastern.  But the methods and ingredients they use are certified Halal.

Chicken plate combo

My wife ordered the chicken combo plate which came with a salad and rice.  I just ordered some chicken and an omelet ala carte to avoid the carbs.  These are usually meant to be add-ons for the curry dishes, but they allowed me to order them independently.

Just Chicken

It was actually pretty good, if nothing special.  It worked find for a quick, fairly cheap, low carb dinner.

Fuwafuwa omelet