Restaurant #58: Tokuju, Sapporo

(Visited in February, 2011)

Tokuju (徳寿) is a Japanese Yakiniku (BBQ) restaurant based in Hokkaido. They serve high-quality Wagyu (Japanese beef) and delicious desserts. Their customer service is quite good. Near by my home, there is one branch of Tokuju, so my friend and I went there for Yakiniku lunch!

My friend ordered Yakiniku Sagari lunch (770 yen).

I ordered Manzoku Set A (1080 yen).

First, steamed rice, wakame soup, salad and kimchi were served. Soup was alright, but kimch was good. I believe that refill of rice was free.

Sagari

Beef Sagari (サガリ: hanging tender) was so tender, slice of pumpkin and onion gave us small happiness.

Sagari, Jingisukan and Tontoro

It was quite long time ago since I ate Jingisukan (ジンギスカン: mutton barbecue) last time. Jingisukan is a Japanese grilled mutton, and it is very popular food in Hokkaido. Tontoro (トントロ: fatty pork) is one of my favorite Yakiniku item, but I usually eat with salt, not with sauce. In lunch time, it seems that all meats are served with sauce. It was tasty, but wanted more tender.

Their décor was simple and easy to use.

As a lunch, I thought their lunch menus were in reasonable price, and quality of meat was quite good. I would like to come back here again for dinner, and definitely want to try their Beef Tongue and other items.

Total: 1850 yen (for 2 people)

Tokuju: Japanese BBQ restaurant

http://www.tokuju.com/html_e/index.html

Restaurant #48: Amataro BBQ restaurant, Sapporo

I went back to Sapporo in November!!! Yes!!! Although I mostly stayed home during the trip, I couldn’t resist going to Japanese BBQ. There are several good BBQ restaurants in my area, and this time I choose this restaurant. Their specialty was not only BBQ, but I thought their meat was not bad all. Amataro, 甘太郎, is a Izakaya-style Japanese restaurant. BBQ and Shabu Shabu are available for all-you-can-eat, and other various dishes. All-you-can-eat was a bit too much for us, so we ordered some BBQ and side dishes.

The décor was quite interesting. Once you entered the restaurant, I only saw dark brown partitions. They made small rooms for each table, instead of just setting tables on the floor. So customers have some privacy. We also took off our shoes.

The workers were friendly. They always smiled and energetic, but they occasionally served items slowly. We ordered Pork Skewer as an appetizer, but it came quite after the main dish… (^^;)


There was a small electric panel on the table to order dishes. Interesting!

Special Mixed Plate and Horumon

At First, Special Mixed Plate (特選盛り合わせ) was served, included Tender Beef Sirloin (やわらかサーロイン), Premium Kalbi (上カルビ), Geta Kalbi (ゲタカルビ), Beef Lion (牛ロース) and some veggies (1468 yen). Pork Horumon Intestine (豚ホルモン) (313 yen) was also served.


I haven’t eaten beef for more than six months, so I was hungry for steak! Their Tender Beef Sirloin was very juicy and tender. Special sauce was covered over the meat, but I could also enjoy it purely with salt. It was flavorful~!


Horumon Intestine was a bit hard than I expected, but still juicy enough. Yet, I ate better one before, so this was alright.

Kimchi

Kimchi came as Otoshi (お通し: Appetizer).

Pork & Negi

We ordered Pork and Onion Skewer (豚串: Butakushi) (??? yen) from their today’s special menu.

Fresh Kotchori Salad

Fresh Kotchori Salad (新鮮！チョレギサラダ) (418 yen) is supposed to be a Korean style salad, but it was only used Korean style dressing (sesame oil & soy sauce) on regular green salad. It was still tasty, but was a little bit salty for me. Negi on the top gave me a bit of bitter taste.

Rice

Don’t forget to order steamed rice! (208 yen)

Sirloin Steak

Hmm… I needed to eat more beef! I ordered extra Tender Sirloin Steak (やわらかサーロイン) (523 yen). It was only $5. It was cheap, but the taste was much better than US beef. (I know Gyu-Kaku charges more…) The meat was melted once I put in my mouth, and it was appropriately oily. Delicious!

Pork Liver

Some people might be surprised that some Japanese eat sliced liver. Sorry the picture would be a bit grotesque, but I like it! In Taiwan, people eat liver soup with noodle. (Well, they even eat blood jelly… Awww…) Some people eat liver sashimi (レバ刺し), which is also delicious. Anyway, this time my family member ate it. It was 313 yen.

Harami Skirt Steak

We ordered Chicken Harami Skirt Steak (鶏ハラミ) (313 yen). I ate Gyu Harami before, but it was first time to eat Tori Harami. Personally, I liked Harami better than Horumon intestine.

Premium Kalbi

Premium Kalbi (上カルビ) (523 yen) is a popular item in most BBQ restaurants. No need to explain. Go for Kalbi!

Gyu-Tan

Gyu-Tan (牛タン) is thin sliced beef tongue, which is also pretty popular in Japanese BBQ. Unfortunately, their Gyu-Tan was dry and didn’t have much oil. So it was overcooked easily… 523 yen. This was the only disappointment for that day.

Mixed Sausage

Five different sausages were fun to eat, and one was extremely spicy!!! Japanese sausage is always flavorful. I once tried Taiwanese sausage, but it was sweet. If you like meat, please try some sausage dishes in Japan.

Roasted Salmon

The last item that I ordered was Roasted Salmon with Salmon Roe (炙りサーモン いくら添え) (523 yen), which was in good price. Aburi (炙り) means roast, and it didn’t grilled completely. So the inside of sliced salmon was perfectly raw. Salmon didn’t have extra seasoning, so I tasted a bit too much of onion. You may like it, or maybe not.


Oh my... I ate too much! I was more than satisfied our meal and precious time with my family. BBQ is a great meal for a family. Eat, drink, talk and have fun together~! (^^)/

Total: 9080 yen (for 4 people, including some drinks)

Amataro: 手作り居酒屋甘太郎
http://www.amataro.jp/

Restaurant #22: Teppachiya, Yokohama

I used to live in Kanagawa province for about a year, due to my job. So I have some friends in this area. Luckily, I could meet up with one of my friends in short notice. She took me to Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant, called Teppachiya (てっぱち屋). Some of you may imagine something like Benihana, but actually, our teppanyaki style is quite different than Benihana. Either customers cook by themselves or the stake chef cook quietly and elegantly in front of you. Not that much entertainment as Benihana. Although I like Benihana style, this restaurant was the place that you enjoy “teppanyaki” with your friends.

Teppachi Tamagoyaki

“Teppachi Tamagoyaki with Ground Chicken and Cheese” (てっぱち玉子焼き　鶏そぼろ＆チーズ) (730 yen) was a fantastic item to start with. My friend and I could cook, but we asked the waiter to do teppanyaki for us. He quickly beat some eggs, and put onto the heated Teppan.


Cooked ground chicken, shredded cheese, sprout and green onion were added immediately.


Right after he put all ingredients, he started wrapping it with Tamagoyaki.


Then cutting in four…


There you go. It’s done! Delicious Teppachi Tamagoyaki! Taste was fine. I liked the taste of cheese, though I thought that the ground chicken was a bit too sweet. They probably used the sweet soy sauce. Tamagoyaki (玉子焼き) is a type of Japanese omelet, usually made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg.

Fresh Cabbage

Fresh Cabbage (ばりばり塩キャベツ) was 330 yen. Don’t forget to eat enough veggies!

Tomato Pork Maki

Six pieces of “Tomato Pork Maki” (トマト豚巻き) (530 yen) looked cute and was fun to eat. Petite tomatoes were wrapped with slices of pork and Shiso.


Put the stainless cover on it and wait for about 10 minutes…


Beautiful Pork Maki is ready! Because tomatoes were small, Shiso taste was pretty strong. If you like shiso, then you should try this item! Tomatoes became hot, and pork slices were juicy with rich flavor of Shiso. Three different tastes were magically mixed.

Kujo Negi with Pork

“Kujo Negi with Pork” (九条ねぎまるごと豚巻き) (690 yen) was a dynamic item! We enjoyed cooking this. Loooong Kujo Negi was wrapped with slices of pork. The waiter grinded the fresh salt and pepper in front of you.


It was a simple item, but fun to cook and taste great. Just need to cook the pork, so negi was still fresh and even close to raw. The pork was juicy. I loved the contrast of the firmness. I also thought that the color of the head of green negi whetted my appetite.

Avocado with Red Wine and Shoyu

Last item we chose was Avocado with Red Wine and Shoyu (アボガドのワイン醤油焼き), 530 yen. The waiter brought us some slices of avocado, butter and red wine. He told me to put the butter on the Teppan first, cook avocado for five minutes or so, and then pour the red wine right before we eat it.


Red wine gave the accent at the last. Slices of avocado were so tender and melted in my mouth. Especially with the butter, I felt the avocado had much richer flavor.

I really enjoyed their Teppanyaki style. I hope that there are some restaurants with similar style of Teppanyaki in Sapporo. Workers were friendly enough, but could be possible to work faster a bit. Hmmm maybe it was just because we sat at the side of the room. I would like to go back there and try some other items if I have a chance.

Total: About 4800 yen (for 2 people)

Teppachiya, Yokohama
2F, Masuni Daiichi Bldg
2-4-6, Shin-Yokohama Kohoku-ku
Yokohama
045-470-6488
http://www.teppachi-ya.com/index.html