Sakanashokudou

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 1800 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:Kaki fry don, karaage fried chicken teishoku
English Menu:No
Smoking:  No

I asked what the name of this place was and was told "Sakanashokudou" which means...Fish Cafeteria...   But on the menu cover is "oshinagaki" so who knows?  There are actually two (possibly 3) different restaurants in this L shaped building.  The top part of the L lies against the main road and contains a "make your own bento" shop, along with a small seating area if you want to eat it there.  As you travel away from the road towards the short part of the L, through a nice looking Japanese garden and path, there is an entrance right where the two L parts come together.  When you enter you are asked which restaurant you wish to go to, and if you choose Sakanashokudou, you'll be seated right there.  The other option is a yakitori restaurant which is upstairs.

We aren't too into fishy dishes (that aren't sashimi or sushi), but we found some nice looking options in the menu regardless.  My wife saw the kaki fry don, an unusual dish of deep fried oysters mixed with the sweet egg and onion sauce usually reserved for oyakodon or katsudon on rice.  It had to be hers.  I saw an interesting looking take on karaage (deep fried chicken bits) which seemed to be an entire large piece of chicken deep fried similarly and then sliced.  It came with the typical teishoku (rice, miso, etc...).  Neither of us liked the pickles there, they were a bit funky tasting, but the miso soup was good (red miso) and each of us really enjoyed our individual meals.  Best of all, the price was 1800 yen, quite a good deal for dinner.

We really enjoyed this restaurant and wouldn't mind coming back for more of their more "fishy" dishes some time.