Moaimo

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch
Price: 900 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes: Kimchi Pork Rice Bowl
English Menu:Yes

Smoking:No

Tried to get in here today but it was full (Golden Week!).  Looks like they have some interesting tacos and burgers...looking forward to trying it some day!

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Finally got back here and looks like I was wrong about the theme.  It's a kind of Okinawan restaurant, though most of the real Okinawan dishes are only served at dinner (so I'll be back!).  The lunch menu only has Okinawan soba, which isn't my favorite.  I went for the kimchi butadon set, which included soup and a salad.  Both of which were pretty decent.  The salad was small but dense with real leaves (not just cabbage), and the soup while thin was flavorful with what smelled like bonito flakes.

The pork bowl was quite good and I liked the large chunks of negi (green onion) that were liberally mixed in.  If you want, you can spend some extra yen to upsize your dish (which I didn't) though I don't know if that only increases the amount of rice or if it extends to the main meal too.

Decent enough, I am looking forward to coming back and trying the more Okinawan fare for dinner some time.

Ohana Aina

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch
Price:  1000 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Minced chicken with red and green peppers and pineapple
English Menu: Yes

Smoking: No

Hawaii is big in Japan, and there are numerous little Hawaiian themed restaurants scattered around.  One of the ones nearest the base is Ohana Aina.  It's a small place, and they are big on "slow food," so much so that they warn you on the first page of the menu that it will take a while to cook your food.  You have been warned!  Actually it didn't take all that long, but it wasn't too busy, so your mileage may vary.

 We're in the middle of Golden Week here, a series of holidays that all string together to make approximately one week of tourist madness.  Since Japanese don't like to take vacations because of the perception that they are letting their co-workers down, when the entire country *has* to take vacation, they *all* take vacation.  Even little Yokosuka gets its fair share of Japanese tourists wandering around and generally looking like Japanese tourists anywhere do.










I tried two other places before stopping here but they were either full or clearly too busy to be bothered getting to me.  The menu is mainly Hawaiian inspired and filtered through Japanese tinted glasses.  I've never been impressed with what the Japanese have done with Hawaiian "themed" food myself.  I kind of think of Hawaiian cuisine like Pacific Northwest cuisine...it's too young to have any defined shapes.  In Oregon, it's "pacific northwest" if it has salmon in it.  For Hawaiian, it seems to run in the "has pineapple" in it, or "put an egg on it" direction.  Now, I'm all down for an egg on everything, and I like Thai food so I went for their one and only thai dish, minced chicken with vegetables and an egg on.

Of course it had pineapple too.  And a scoop of a brownish frozen banana mush that I was told to mix in with everything.  This I dutifully did, and it was...ok I guess.  But otherwise the chicken was kind of tough, not truly minced, and the flavors were very singular and one-noted (typical with Japanesification of most foreign food).  While it wasn't terrible, it wasn't great either, meriting an OK from me.  It was also kind of expensive for the small quantity of food.

Juraku

Rating: Not great
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  2000 yen
Payment:  Cash Only
Dishes: Chicken and regular fried rice, cashew chicken
English Menu:Yes

Smoking: Possibly

Needed to grab a quick and cheap lunch while out today and bring it home.  Chinese restaurants are usually good bets when it comes to being able to take stuff out here, but it's still rare at the majority of places.  Decided to try this place again.  It's one of 3 chinese restaurants along a single block of the road, one right after another.  None of them are very good, but it's cheap, fast, and did I mention delivery?

English menus are present, and usually there is some English spoken as these folk have had to learn Japanese anyway, might as well add some English.  Helps when there's a US Navy base nearby supplying lots of customers.

The food was as expected, not great, but it went down ok for a quick lunch.

Hananoya

Looks like a kid drew their sign...

Rating: Excellent
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  2700 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Chorizo and Mustard sauce chicken
English Menu: Yes

Smoking: No

French isn't a cuisine I know much about.  Generally I haven't been impressed, but then again I've never eaten at truly good French restaurants, so what would I know.  Tonight I cast about for a new place to eat and came across Hananoya, a French restaurant I've seen before but never eaten at.  It's small, and there is just the chef and one waiter.








I was drawn in by the menu outside which had chicken in a wine mushroom sauce.  Unfortunately, this wasn't on the actual menu, replaced by a chicken with mustard sauce.  Since the other options said they were for 2 people, I decided to go ahead and try the chicken.  There was a chorizo appetizer that looked good too.  And then I saw a glass of pinot noir wine and since I am from Oregon, I felt it my state patriotic duty to try it (it was a French pinot noir, but still).





The chorizo came with a basket of sliced bread that was quite good.  The chorizo itself was very thinly sliced and while nice, not amazing.  I wouldn't get it again.  The wine warmed up and became excellent over the course of the meal.  When the main course arrived, it was roasted chicken with a light mustard sauce, arugula and deep fried potato wedges.  Nothing special to look at.  As I took bites however, I was blown away by the flavors and how well they combined together.  Quite the surprise!  It makes me want to try the other dishes.  I think I know where I'm taking my wife for our anniversary dinner!

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12/14/2015  Update:  My wife and I went back this spot last night.  Wow...it really is that good.  We had a pork and foie gras terrine, buttered lobster and lamb with madeira sauce.  Everything was delicious.  I'm glad to report that Hananoya continues to deserve the rating I gave it originally.

Sagamiya

Rating: OK
Meal:  After Dinner Snack
Price:  640 yen
Payment:  Cash Only
Dishes:  Chicken, chicken balls, chicken tails, pork, pork liver, pork heart (8 sticks total)
English Menu: Yes

Smoking: Probably not (it's outside)

The famous "standing" yakitori stand that most everyone has seen at one point or another in Yokosuka is called Sagamiya.  It's down one of the tiny back alley ways that are inside one of the blocks beside Blue Street.  The cool thing about this place is that they have a yakitori roasting machine that churns out yakitori and keeps the trays filled, and the prices down (80 yen a stick as they proudly declare).

Personally, while I enjoy yakitori, it's not a favorite.  Chicken on a stick can be very good, but yakitori is usually a bit plain tasting to me.  I like middle eastern shishtawouk (yoghurt marinated chicken) for my pick for best roasted chicken on a stick ever.  Unfortunately shishtawouk is somewhat rare in my life now, so now and then I decide to go for some yakitori.   When we lived in Kurihama, there was a yakitori stand in the market outside the train station that sold cheap yakitori late at night and I would sometimes stop by there and grab some on the way home.  I especially like the alternating chicken with garlic cloves.  But sadly there doesn't seem to be an equivalent in the Yokosuka area, so you actually have to go to a yakitori restaurant and eat there to get your fix.

Sagamiya has the benefit of being a standing yakitori stand.  There are seats inside, but they are usually full.  But outside there is a counter with several types of yakitori (not just chicken) just sitting there for the eating.  You sidle up, pick a spot in front of one of the little cups, and start chowing down.  As you eat, you put your used sticks in the cup.  When done, you gather the sticks up and hand them to the guy at the end who tells you how much you owe.  Pay him in cash and keep walking.

It's an ok spot, and there is certainly better yakitori in town.  But nothing quite so convenient.

Karucheratan

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  1500 yen
Payment:  Cash Only
Dishes:  Tuna, squid and tamago don
English Menu:No

Smoking:Yes

Karucheratan means "Latin Quarter of Paris" or something strange like that.  No idea why it's named this as there isn't much Parisian to the place.  It's very Japanese.  I've passed by numerous times and said to myself "someday, I will eat there," but the time has waited til now.  I was on my way home from meeting a friend in Yokohama and I stopped in to see what the deal was.


I was somewhat surprised to experience my first near refusal for service.  They saw me and were a bit panicked, saying they didn't speak any English.  To which I replied in my limited Japanese that everything would be fine and I'd figure it out.  They relented and let me sit at the bar, in between a slightly inebriated couple finishing up and an older gentleman who had probably had several drinks already.  This place is an Izakaya (Japanese bar/pub) and it was pretty obvious.  Someone was smoking nearby.  Yuck.  Oh well, comes with the territory.

The menu was completely devoid of English as promised, and unfortunately lacking in pictures too.  I ended selecting one of the few items with a picture, a tuna sashimi bowl.  I ordered some sake too as I felt it was expected (one of the things I dislike about Izakayas).  Not being able to make heads or tails of the drink menu I asked for a daiginjo nihonshu of some kind (translation:  very good quality sake).  If I'm going to have some, it better be good...and it was.  I did not include this in the price above as normally I would not order drinks, I'm more interested in the food.

The sashimi was ok, pretty typical.  The chopped squid was fine, but it's never great.  Tamago was ok.  Nothing really amazing, though the miso tasted good.  The little "gift" appetizer they always give you when you sit down was sliced octopus topped with grated ginger.  Octopus is fairly flavorless and chewy, so I can't recommend it.

The best part of the evening was when the old guy next to me decided to try chatting.  Between our poor grasps of each other's languages we had fun.  He taught me the proper way to pick up and put down my chopsticks, eat my tuna (no soy sauce, just wasabi), and fold the paper chopstick holder into a hashioki (chipstick rest).  Apparently, I had been doing it all wrong.  I once had a friend who told me the best way to practice Japanese was go to an Izakaya with old geezers and just start talking.  The alcohol helps with everyone's shyness and it's a win-win.  That's not really my scene, but I see his point.

Overall, I can't really recommend this place above a meager "OK".  There's nothing spectacular to motivate one to overcome the difficulties.  On the other hand, if you want to a nicer upscale Izakaya to practice your Japanese at, it might be the ticket.

Ikeda Ramen

Rating: Nasty
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  800 yen
Payment:  Cash Only
Dishes: Spicy Ramen
English Menu:No

Smoking: Didn't notice

This is some of the nastiest ramen I've ever had.  Stay away.  It's gross.  On the other hand, if you want something spicy and don't care about the food itself, this is pretty hot.  The spicy noodles have a 5 level scale, and I got #4 and was sweating.  The sauce is turgid, the noodles not much better than instant ramen.  There's nothing under the spice, it's practically flavorless goop.  Again, stay away.  There are much better places.