Takemotoya

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price:  4960 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  5 types of offal, extra chicken hearts, duck skin, bibimbap, cold sake, coke, 3 types of namul
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

My son and I were out looking for dinner the other night and came across a spot I've long meant to go to, but hadn't had the chance yet.  It's a Yakiniku restaurant specializing in horumon (offal) cuts.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of intestines!

They are a cut above in that they use actual charcoal instead of gas, and of course the selection is pretty unique.  They have an English menu, digital and analogue, and they weren't freaked out by gaijin coming in.

Namul

My son is not so adventurous, so he got a bibimbap, but he did try the hearts and duck skin I ordered and quite liked those.  Not knowing much about offal (even in English), I went for the 5 types selection, along with extra hearts and duck skin.  I was surprised by a couple of the meats (pork small intestine and abomasum - the 4th cow stomach) which were deliciously soft and fatty, while some of the others were what I've come to expect:  chewy as all get out.  The hearts were delicious, as was the duck skin.

5 types of offal

Overall, it made for a nice change of yakiniku pace, and honestly I wouldn't mind returning to try out some of the other interesting things on the menu.  Also, the price wasn't bad at all for yakiniku.  Still, I just don't enjoy the process of sitting there cooking my own food, so I can't give it much beyond an Ok.  And the chances of getting to come back are slim as no on else in my family is likely to appreciate it.

Bibimbap and duck skin

Koufuku Gyouza Sakaba

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price: 4060 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Lamb sticks, Fried rice set, Boiled dumpling set, several additional dumpling orders, green beans
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

Lamb sticks

Our church rents a dance studio room and the dance studio moved locations recently.  It's not far from the previous spot, but it feels like a completely different section of town with a whole new set of restaurants to check out.  This was the first Sunday after church where we didn't have other plans, so we took advantage and found a restaurant to eat at before heading home.

Green beans

We spotted a Chinese restaurant with signs advertising gyoza specials and popped in.  It was quite smoky, so if you can't take that, this place probably won't work.  However, everything we ate was quite tasty, more so than usual for a Chinese restaurant in Japan.  The language coming out of the kitchen was Chinese, so that was a good sign, and they had several pages of different types of gyoza, from typical fried types to boiled dumplings, to soup dumplings, to a baked/soup dumpling combo.  They even had an all you can eat Gyoza menu item where you get a couple of standard items plus as much gyoza as you can eat from all the types they serve.

Fried rice set

Anyway, I was quite impressed with the gyoza I had.  It was absolutely delicious, bursting with flavor.  And I think we only had about 4 different kinds, there were more available.  Even the mabotofu that came with my wife and son's sets was tasty, and I usually don't like it.  I'm definitely please to find a good Chinese spot as that is quite rare.

Soup dumplings

Boiled dumplings set

Ryuushouhanten

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  2060 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  Cashew chicken, small rice, dimsum, sake
English Menu: No
Smoking: Yes

The weather is finally cooling down and becoming less humid, so I finally ventured forth to locate a new restaurant to review.  I took the train down to Horinouchi station, which is just past Kenritsudaigaku to the south of Yokosuka.  The Red/Green lines go there direct without stopping.  I was thinking Horinouchi would have more restaurants in the area than Kenritsudaigaku, seeing as it's  more of a major stop, but I was wrong.

Just around the corner from the station is a Chinese restaurant I've always meant to eat at.  I stopped by and sat at the counter.  The other seating is all tatami mat, so no thanks.  The place is pretty typical Japanese Chinese food, so I ordered a cashew chicken dish, a small rice, some dimsum and cold sake.  All of it was just ok, nothing special.

Afterwards I walked around the area to canvass for future restaurant reviews.  There is really very little, and I had to walk all the way to 16, the main drag, to find more candidates.  There is another Chinese restaurant, a Korean restaurant, and a Ramen restaurant.  After that, I'll head further down the line towards Uraga.