Kyouka

Rating: Very good
Meal:  Dinner
Price:   1000 yen
Payment:  Cash only
Dishes:  Pork and cabbage fried in miso teishoku
English Menu:No
Smoking: No

I had to hunt a bit farther than usual last night to find dinner.  I don't get over to the Shioiri area as much, but there are several restaurants over there I have yet to review.  I ended up at this chinese restaurant called Kyouka.  They have a corner entrance and an interesting looking round sign carved into wood above the door.  It was getting late and I was worried they might be closing, but they were still open.

The prices were a bit higher than usual for a Chinese restaurant, but no indication of being snooty either.  I went for one of the specials, a fried pork/cabbage mixed with miso teishoku.  I usually like this dish and it's a good test of the ingredients and flavors of a new place.  Admittedly it's probably more of a Japanese dish than Chinese, but at least I'm not as disappointed if it's terrible.

 But I was in for a surprise!  I tried the little scrambled egg cake and it had some good flavor to it, as did the little dish of cold cooked veggies.  Even the tsukemono (pickled veg) was popping, and the soup was simple but tasty.  The main dish was a bit oily, but it was very tasty and I ended up eating every last bit with great satisfaction.  I look forward to returning and trying some of their other stuff.  It's still Japanese Chinese food, but it's pretty good.