Tekka Tuna Koukeimaru

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Dinner
Price:  2000 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Miso marinated seared swordfish, one piece fatty bluefin tuna, 6 pieces bigeye tuna nigiri
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No (there's an area behind the shop you can smoke)

I am pleased to review a new restaurant in the neighborhood:  Tekka Tuna Koukeimaru.  Opening up where an older style vegetable stand used to be, it has apparently been open for a few months but somehow I missed it.  I hope it does well, because it fills a niche here in Yokosuka that should be attractive to the many americans living here:  un-intimidating sushi!

Fatty tuna nigiri

It has a wide-open feel, an excellent and simple English menu, and a very welcoming proprietor who speaks very good English.  I was the only customer last night and we spoke for a long time with each other about various things.  Apparently a large seafood freezing company owns to boats that go out and fish for tuna.  They sell some of their catch in the local Yokosuka Port Market shop, but now they also have this restaurant outlet as well.  All the fish is locally caught and quite fresh.

Miso marinated swordfish

I had purchased a tuna roll the other day to supplement a meager lunch (which was very good by the way) so last night I wanted to try the other offerings.  Although they specialize in tuna, they also had swordfish on the menu which I was interested in.  I went for the regular miso marinated (as opposed to the sweet Kyoto miso) and it was a nicely seared piece of fish I ended up receiving that had excellent flavor and texture (no bones).  I was going to all out and get the 6 piece nigiri set of fatty tuna, but he was out of fish and I had to settle for a single piece.  It was amazing though.  Instead I ordered a 6 piece nigiri set of mid-fatty tuna (bigeye) and it came with two different cuts of fish.  I was given an interesting tutorial on the different places on the fish that the meat comes from.  Also, free of charge, I was given a cooked piece of inner skin lining (no scales).  This was an interesting change of texture, not bad, but not very flavorful either.  I am looking forward to returning for lunch some time to try their tuna bowls that look very tasty.

Tuna nigiri

Overall I was very pleased and hope to tell many people about this place.  I hope they are doing well enough to stay open!  Definitely a solid Very Good.

Different cut of tuna nigiri

Inner tuna skin

Cafe de la Paix

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch
Price: 890 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Meat spaghetti, salad coffee
English Menu:Yes
Smoking: Yes

Cafe de la Paix is not too far from Womble Gate, but a bit of a far walk from where I work on base.  Today I had my bike so I went out looking for something new and noticed this little Japanese western style cafe (kissatten).  Definitely a mom and pop joint, it's quite classy inside with very nice decor and pleasant vibe.  I was offered the customary ash tray (kissatten are havens for smokers) but no one lit up while I was there.  The deliciously hot towel I was given was the perfect remedy to freezing cold hands from riding my bike there.

The menu is limited, so don't expect a big meal.  I opted for the meat spaghetti which turned out to be a slightly sweet sauce, so I wouldn't eat it again.  Maybe the cheese toast with an egg next time...  The salad was much better than the usual, with big chunks of tomato, some cucumbers and a pleasant oil and vinegar dressing.  The coffee was nothing special though (perhaps if I ordered espresso or something?).

I might be tempted to rate this place a Not Great, but honestly the ambience elevates it up to an Ok for me.  I kind of want to take my wife back there as it's the closest of this type of place to us.

True Soup

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner
Price: 1080 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Vegetable soup with a sausage and salad and rice
English Menu: No
Smoking: No

I found myself at Yokohama station for dinner last night and was perusing an underground selection of restaurants in an area called "JoinUs".  It was cold outside there were long lines, so I opted for warm food and no lines and picked True Soup.

Sadly, the soup wasn't all that amazing for the price, so maybe the lack of a line should have been my clue.  But oh well, now I know.  If I ever eat there again I'll try something creamy or hearty.  The soup broth for my dish was very thing, with not much flavor to it.  The vegetables, while pretty, weren't incredible, and the sausage was downright disappointing.  The mochi mochi rice was tasty however.

With so many other options nearby it's hard to see eating here again.

Royal Host

Rating: Not great
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price: 3700 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Sandwich, oven hamburg, garlic toast
English Menu: No
Smoking: No (there is a smoking room but no smoking seating)

It's become something of a New Years tradition for us here in Japan to eat at one of the many "western style" diners that sprinkle the country.  We usually stay away from them or opt for our favorite (Denny's) as we don't particularly care for the food they make.  However on New Year's day, everything except this type of restaurant is closed.  We were going for the Hungry Tiger sign we've seen from the freeway for years and years, but it was also closed.  So we opted for a place called Royal Host that has beckoned with its rather depressing sign for a long time but we've never eaten at before.

It pretty much met our expectations, which were low.  The food wasn't great, and it was expensive to boot.  Probably won't be eating at one of these again if we can help it.

Pizzeria Bar Napoli

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Lunch for 2
Price:  2100 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Pizza and pasta with 2 soup/salad sets
English Menu: Probably (the one we saw had no English)
Smoking: Allowed on the porch

Finally something new opened in the old Bravo Yokosuka spot:  a pizzeria!  The downstairs is almost entirely kitchen with bar seating for about 4, while upstairs they have seating both in and outside (for the smokers).  I assume when the weather is nicer they will also seat people on the available pavement.  It is entirely staffed by Japanese, and they seem to know what they are about.

I tried ordering pizza for take away twice before, but they were too busy.  So today for lunch I met my wife there and we gave the lunch menu a try.  It is very nicely priced, with many pizzas available for just 500 yen.  The pasta dishes are a bit more, but there are 4 options available.  There are 3 levels of sets available from just a drink up to drink, soup, salad and dessert.  We opted for drink, soup and salad.

The pizza was pretty good for the price (and we added the cherry tomatoes), though I did ask for some salt to help the crust.  You'd be hard pressed to get a pizza, salad and a drink for about 800 yen anywhere in town.  The pasta was thicker than spaghetti and had that "fresh" pasta feel, not overdone.  It was pretty decent.  We both ordered coffees that turned out very nice, and the salad was a step above the usual shredded cabbage fare.  The soup was delicious cream corn and perfect for a cold day.

Overall we were very pleased and looking forward to return for dinner to try the rather extensive full menu.  Nice to have a new place to eat so close by!

Kappa Sushi

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  4273 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Lots of sushi including clam miso soup and dessert
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:No

Kappa Sushi is our favorite "100 yen" sushi joint.  There are lots of them around and usually they aren't very good.  Kappa is a bit better than most, which is why I'm giving it a Very Good rating in comparison with other "100 yen" places.  We used to eat at Kappa a lot more when we lived in Kurihama and it was a convenient stop (with a parking lot) on the way home.  Also, my son likes "sushi" in that he likes tamago, inari and tobiko, so he is very easy to satisfy with 100 yen sushi.  But it's Christmas Eve and he's home for the holidays and hasn't had any sushi in quite a while, so we decided to make a trip of it.

Kappa, like SushiRo, has a kiosk at the front where you enter how many people and whether you want a table or bar seating.  Then you get a ticket and wait for your number to be called.  It was not busy today so we went right in.  The two main reasons I like Kappa better than the rest are that the quality of the food (all of it) is just a bit higher and I love that their "special delivery" comes on a train track above the main sushi track directly to your table.  No chances of someone stealing your special order or kids getting their grubby hands/germs all over it in transit.  We availed ourselves liberally of the English digital menu to special order all sorts of things.

Since it is Chrizmas, we also allowed ourselves some dessert, something we rarely do.  I got a Japanese style custard which was quite tasty.  Oh, also we had some clam miso soup and a chawanmushi (egg custard with seafood). 

Nice place, and while I always feel full afterwards I rarely feel nasty, which is more than I can say for the other joints.

Guu

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner
Price: 1570 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Omelet with pork inside, delicious soup of some kind
English Menu: No
Smoking: Yes

Guu is down some stairs and the sign looks a bit fancy, but inside it's very humble.  Looks like its been there a while and an older lady and someone who might be her son were running it.  There was also a kid hanging around too, so probably a family affair.  I was the only customer and they were a bit concerned that I might not speak Japanese but I indicated I could get by.

The menu was a bit difficult to parse, but I ended up pointing at some things that looked good and I was pleased with the result.  The pork omelet thing was smothered with mayonnaise, but that didn't bother me.  The soup dish was amazing, full of bits of (probably) offal, carrots, gobo root, konyaku and the broth was a like the concentrated deliciousness at the bottom of a sukiyaki pot near the end of the meal.  I also got a small bowl of rice to make it a meal.

I needed to eat quick and simple, and it hit the spot.  I was tempted to give them a Very Good, but it wasn't quite in that territory.  Definitely satisfactory though.