Tofuro

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 4040 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Yakitori, deep fried tofu, meat wrapped rice, meat wrapped avocado, cheese tsukune, coke, ginger sour
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes, but rooms are isolated

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Update 10/12/2017

This restaurant has been replaced by Sakura no Mon, which is apparently much nicer, at least compared to how I felt when I re-read this review.
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Surprisingly everything had English also

Time for another father/son Izakaya review!  We're starting in on a tall building on Blue Street that houses several Izakayas (chains most likely) that I've never bothered to try.  We went to the top floor (8) and tried the first one:  Tofuro.

Verdict:  Eh...it's ok I guess.

Biggest complaint:  Food took forever and we were shut up in a hot and stuffy little box while we waited.

Biggest surprise:  The cheese chicken tsukune was quite delicious.

Nothing particularly stand out about this place...moving on.

Yakitory and meat wrapped rice

Meat wrapped avocado and cheese tsukune

Himal

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch for 2
Price: 1500 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Curry-don, two curry set, free chicken tandoori
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Probably

The latest Nepali/Indian restaurant to open in Yokosuka is Himal.  I hope they have better success than some of the other new ones that have already closed.  I went with a friend from work to try them out the other day.  I had a cheap (550 yen) chicken curry-don (on rice) with an egg on top.  He had the two curry set with naan.  Verdict:  Meh.  I am interested in the whole fried chicken that's on the menu and will be going back with my family soon.  But I'm pretty sure it won't make a distinctive mark on the scene here.  I could get on my soapbox about flavors and standing out, etc... but no one is listening so I'll just shut up.

Free chicken...always nice

The proprietor was nice enough to give us (unsolicited) a two piece order of tandoori chicken that was tasty enough, but very one dimensional.

Two curry set

Chicken curry-don...it's cheap!

Ichiryu Bekkan

Rating: Excellent
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  4860 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes: 3 orders of Seolleongtang and accompanying dishes
English Menu: No

Smoking: Yes

Ox bone soup

We had to go to the US Embassy in Akasaka last weekend to renew my son's passport.  I was told be 2 of my friends at work (whose taste I trust) that I had to try this Korean restaurant nearby.  Apparently this Korean lady opened up several years back and eventually a bunch of other Korean restaurants opened up in the same area, such that now it gives "Korea-town" (Shinokubo) a run for it's money.

All of the fixins

This particular restaurant specializes in Seolleongtang which is Ox bone soup.  It's a milky white, mild broth with chunks of meat and some clear noodles in it.  Along with the soup, you get a spread of little Korean dishes including several kinds of kimchee and stuff you may not be able to identify but is delicious.  And the requisite small bowl of rice.  All of this was just assumed and brought to us.  The lady in charge speaks excellent English and was delighted by our general delight in the food she brought us.  A bit surprised too, but I guess we weren't the usual clientele.

Wow...it was such a delicious meal.  The best korean we've had in Japan so far!  Very simple really, but all those little dishes really make the meal.  The broth itself isn't spiced at all really, and there was a big container of salt on the table indicating we were to salt it to our preference.  As we finished up some of the little dishes, they were automatically replaced, so you might want to not finish something if you didn't really like it!

I'm so glad we finally found some good Korean food in Japan, though it's a pity we have to go so far downtown to find it!

Zenobia

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner
Price: 5150 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Shishtawouk, fattoush, 3 dip set (mutabel, yogurt, muhammara)
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

We were on a roll this last weekend with several Very Good restaurants, so we were hopeful the trend would continue as we looked for a place to eat dinner near the New Sanno hotel in Tokyo.  There is a road near Hiroo station that we call "restaurant row" as there are lots of restaurants all up and down.  We happened to find Zenobia, an arabic restaurant, and we had to try it.

Fatoush salad and dips

It was nice enough down the stairs to the subterranean area, the decor reminiscent more of Moroccan, but hey, who cares?  The prices were definitely up there.  We were hoping this meant quality ingredients.  Since we weren't terribly hungry, we shared a shishtawouk (grilled chicken pieces) and got a salad (fatoush) and the 3 dip set, choosing mutabel, yogurt and muhammara.  See the links above for more info on anything you don't recognize.  We had to order individual pieces of bread, a "thin" and "thick" variety.  This was not at all proper as bread should just come with your meal...but oh well.  The thin bread was basically a bad tortilla shell.  The thick one was a real piece of arabic bread, hot and puffed.  Pity it was so expensive.

Shishtawouk

The tawouk was ok, a mixture of white and dark meat.  The dark meat was good, the white was dry.  The fattoush was disappointing in its consistency and size.  The pita croutons were weird, like they had been deep fried and soaked in oil.  Most disappointing of all was the muhammara which was very weaksauce and had a strange consistency.  The mutabel could have come from a can.  The yogurt was...yogurt...it was fine.

So pretty disappointing, but not terrible.  If it had been cheap, I wouldn't have minded so much.  As it is we can only give it an Ok.

440 Broadway

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  1200 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  Pork taco, chicken taco, quesadilla
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: n/a

My wife had heard from a friend that there was an actual mobile Mexican restaurant just like we used to have on every corner in the US located near the New Sanno Hotel.  Since we were going to be staying there one night this last weekend we decided we had to check it out.  Turns out it's located in front of a fancy supermarket called National Azabu.  We parked in the valet (!) parking lot and went inside to buy some stuff to legitimate our presence.  Then we went outside and ate delicious and cheap tacos!  Not being hungry enough we didn't go for the burritos which were quite large.  They have pork, chicken and fish and it's run by one japanese guy.  It must be a passion project, and we are grateful.

Other than the tastiness and cheapness, not much needs to be said.  Eat there!  Oh wait, I should mention the hours are weird.  Looks like they are only open from 11am to 6pm Monday through Thursday.  Good luck!

Pork

Chicken

Bill's

Rating: Very good
Meal: Breakfast for 3
Price:  8700 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Corn Fritters, French toast (?), chicken fat fried rice with vegetables, lots of sides, and 3 drinks (coffees/hot chocolate)
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Corn fritters with bacon

Bill Granger is an Australian celebrity chef who has opened a number of restaurants in Japan for some reason.  I had eaten at Bill's Odaiba before, but wanted to bring Kerri back there, and since we had spent the night in Odaiba, it seemed like the perfect place to eat breakfast on Monday morning.  Of course they are open all day, but for some reason I've had this place pegged as a breakfast joint.  It certainly isn't cheap, but the food is pretty good for the money.  We didn't find any of it amazing, and compared with the only other Excellent breakfast I've reviewed (The Wholesome Table in Manila), it didn't really hold a candle.  Thus I had to give it a Very Good, but it's pretty high up there.

Dessert or breakfast...  Why pick?

My wife got the corn fritters with bacon, my son went for some kind of dessertish looking thing (I was reassured it was actually breakfast of some kind), while I got the chicken fat fried rice with vegetables.  We also ordered a bunch of sides because they all looked so good.  Plus we were concerned it wouldn't be enough food.  And we were glad of the extras I think.  I'm pretty sure mine was the best tasting of the lot, but that's just me...

I think my wife and I both agreed the best thing we ate were the mushrooms.  Anything with mushrooms in it is probably excellent there.

Chicken fat fried rice with tasty vegetables

Extras:  Mushrooms, avocado, bacon,  roasted tomatoes, grilled haloumi cheese

Khazana

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  6010 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Vegetarian curry set, chicken curry with tandoori chicken and kebab set, lamb biryani, paratha
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: On the balcony

Last Memorial Day weekend we decided to stay up in Tokyo for the long weekend.  The first restaurant we ate at was Khazana, an Indian restaurant located in the Decks Odaiba mall.  It was some of the better Indian food we've had in Japan, but still not as good as Royal Parasol down our way.  Still, we enjoyed it and would recommend it if you are in the area.

Vegetarian set

I had a lamb biryani, which was quite decent.  Though I didn't run across any whole spices, I definitely got a whiff of cloves and cardamom which are essential to the flavor of a good biryani.  My wife's vegetarian curries were all right, but my son's chicken curry was the most disappointing, the sauce being pretty similar to Campbell's Tomato soup (without cream added).  The naan was very good and not sweet like it is down here at most places.  The tandoori chicken and kebab were both good.  And we got some paratha which while decent, was a bit disappointing and not what I was hoping for.   Needed more ghee.

Chicken curry with tandoori items

Still, it was a decent kick off to the weekend!

Paratha and lamb biryani