Cafe La Vida

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 3900 yen
Dishes:  sausages, sandwich, roast pork
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Not sure

Sausages

My wife and I stayed at the New Sanno Hotel in Hiroo over the weekend.  We set out to find a spot to eat and ended up at a Cuban restaurant called Cafe La Vida.  They were going to have a band play that night but we promised to eat and be out of there before they started, so we avoided the extra charge.

Sandwich

We are not familiar with Cuban cuisine at all, so it's hard to tell if this was a good example of it or not.  My wife ordered a pork sandwich and I ordered the roast pork.  Her sandwich was a bit small, but came on a huge bed of fries.  The meat was nicely spiced and the pickles were good too.  I had also ordered some sausages, which were small, but also had good flavor.

Roasted pork

The roast pork was very tasty, with excellent flavors.  I wasn't sure at first, but by the time I was done I was very interested to try more things on the menu.

Aama

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 3
Price: 4700 yen
Payment: Cash only (at the moment)
Dishes: Chicken biryani, two curry set with naan, malai tikka, garlic chicken tikka, pork tikka
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes (saw some ash trays available)

Yet another nepalese Indian restaurant opened up not long ago.  Of course, we had to check it out.

I am only eating meat at the moment, so I had to bring my son and wife along to try the other dishes.  The chicken biryani is their special, and its claim to fame is that it is made with actual basmati rice.  My son and wife both said it was very good, with whole spices and complex flavors.  Definitely the star of the show.

My wife tried a couple of curries which were about what you'd expect from this type of place, in other words, not that great and slightly sweet.  Same with the naan.

I had several tikkas, which were ok, but had some batter and the marinade was a bit on the vinegary side.  One interesting item is the pork tikka, quite unusual, and it was quite good.

Overall, while nice to have a real biryani option, there isn't much else to make this place stand out.  Sadly, we won't be surprised to see it close like several other attempts have done.  The fact of the matter is that Yokosuka is already over-saturated with mediocre nepalese Indian restaurants, and the better ones have already captured the best real estate.

Rio Grande Grill

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 2
Price: 7776 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

My wife and I were in Yokohama last Saturday looking for lunch.  We wandered around an area we hadn't seen before, a kind of open air mall called Bay Quarter next to the Sogo department store, east of Yokohama station.  We spied a Brazilian BBQ restaurant and hesitated a moment before going in.  Brazilian BBQ is always expensive, but we figured lunch had to be cheaper than dinner (it is), so we might as well give it a shot.

Salad bar

I stuck to the meat, while my wife also had some soup and salad.  Once the servers started swinging by the meat began to pile up.  They had a lot of good stuff, and both of us commented that the flavors were good and the meat nicely salted (which was good as there was no salt on the table).  The salad bar was a bit disappointing however, and the soups were quite flavorless.

Chicken and sausage

I didn't bother getting photos of all the meat, just a couple, along with my wife's salad.  Buffets are hard for pictures.  Overall I enjoyed it, much more than the other one I ate at in Roppongi a while back (Barbacoa).  That being said, the expense means we are not likely to eat here often.  I hear there is another Brazilian BBQ that is a bit less chain-like in another are in Yokohama that I'm looking forward to trying out.

Some kind of beef or lamb

Sakanaya Doujou

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price: 3487 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Grilled chicken, sashimi, avocado and salmon carpaccio, sake
English Menu: No
Smoking: Yes

Went looking in Yokosuka again for a spot I hadn't eaten at before and am reduced to izakayas for the  most part.  This one is in an area full of 'em and I just haven't had the desire to try them in the past.  I guess I can get through them for the sake of completeness.

Grilled chicken

This spot is pretty much your typical izakaya, specializing in seafood.  It claims to use local Miura Peninsula ingredients.  Who knows?

They advertised Dassai sake, one I quite like, so I tried a couple glasses (they were small) of the 50 and 39 varieties.

For food I just ordered a grilled chicken, some sashimi and an avocado and salmon carpaccio.  It was all good, but just ok.  I forgot to take pictures of everything...guess I'm out of practice.

Halal Sakura

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch
Price: ? yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Halal Sakura is not far from where we meet for church, and I'd been wanting to try it for some time.  We finally got the opportunity last week, along with several other church members.

Halal Sakura is interesting in that they bill themselves as entirely halal, but they food they server consists of a mixture of typical Japanese dishes (ramen, teishokus), hotpot and yakiniku, and lastly (the part I'm most interested in) Uyghur cuisine.  Meanwhile, our waiter was from Uzbekistan, so...interesting.

I tried some lamb sticks and a beef tongue salad, my wife had some chicken sticks and a cucumber salad, while my son had polo, a kind of lamb rice pilaf.  Others ordered similar dishes, and overall it was pretty good, though I am looking forward to returning and trying more items.

Salma Tikka and Biryani

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner
Price: ? yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu:Yes
Smoking: No

I met some friends at this Indian restaurant near Shinagawa station the other week.  It's related somehow to the other Indian restaurant in Ueno that my wife and I tried a bit back and enjoyed.  The menu format looks identical as well.  The flavors here are definitely stronger than you usually get at a Nepalese run place.

Hot masala chai

It was a while back, so my memory is a bit fuzzy.  I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Tandoori chicken

Lamb rogan josh

Hase ya

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price: 2300 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  Gyusuji daikon, grilled fish
English Menu: No
Smoking: Yes (I think...not too sure now, but izakayas usually permit smoking)

Last night I braved the rainy weather and finally went in search of a new place to try.  I took the train down to the Keikyu Ohtsu station and wandered around.  I didn't find much.  Actually the only place I found was Hase ya, a small izakaya.  I was the only person there and there was only one person behind the counter.

Hot sake with mandatory appetizer (tofu and fishballz)

I deciphered the items on the wall available and ordered a gyusuji dish with daikon and some grilled fish.  I figured that even though everything would be slightly sweet (sugar is the devil), at least I would be getting some meat.  I also ordered some hot sake, as I was chilled to the bone.

Gyusuji with daikon

The food was tasty, as expected, actually better than expected given the remoteness and smallness of the place.  But pretty much your typical izakaya fare, nothing spectacular.

Grilled fish

Since this is the only place I could find near the station I'll be moving on to Maborikaigan station next.  Hopefully the weather will be nicer.