Steakhouse Yoshino

 

 

If you’ve been to Misawa for more than a day you’ve probably heard of Steakhouse Yoshino which is more commonly referred to as “Yoshino’s” by the Americans.

Yoshino’s is a hibachi style restaurant located in Misawa. You must make a reservation before coming and children are not allowed.  There is also a fee of 1,000 yen for each person that doesn’t show up.

This is a popular place for a “special evening out.” The prices are about the same as hibachi style in the states. (About 2500 yen for a dinner set).

 

Dinner sets include an appetizer

 

a salad

 

your main dish, which may be either steak, steak and seafood or chicken:

and spring roll ice cream for dessert

 

If you would like to try Yoshino’s please call 0176-53-5649 for reservations.

Tony Roma’s

 

If you are an American living in Misawa chances are you have heard that there is a Tony Roma’s restaurant in Aomori. ITT even offers a tour where you will stop and have lunch at Tony Roma’s. Now, I have never been to nor heard of Tony Roma’s while I was living in the states but everyone here really raves about it.

What I was really surprised about is that it is inside a hotel! (I believe it was called Richmond hotel). I was really just imagining it as a free standing restaurant. Anyway, the other restaurants surrounding Tony Roma’s looked great too!

The atmosphere was definitely not what I was expecting. I thought it looked pretty swanky with its low lighting, dark furniture and black and white photos from the original Tony Roma’s.

Now let me get to the important part, the food! I had the onion loaf and flame grilled strip with garlic green beans. I liked the onion loaf starter. My meal was pretty good too. The steak was 220g and really thin. I ordered it medium rare and it came well done, but that was the only problem. It came with some kind of soy sauce mixture which I really liked. The garlic green beans were great too. The meal also came with a tiny side of cole slaw. I really liked it and I usually don’t even touch cole slaw!

I also got to try the ribs and grilled swordfish. I wasn’t overly impressed with the ribs but the swordfish was nice and juicy. The side was garlic rice and it was delicious!

Here is the complete current menu from Tony Roma’s. I think if you are already in Aomori doing something else you should try it out. I thought it was  a little bit expensive, but I did enjoy my meal.

American Sweets Event with Aomori Bank

 

 

Since I work at the Misawa International Center I was asked if I like to cook. I said yes and talked about my in-home business "Kawaii Keki". I was informed that the folks at Aomori Bank wanted to do an event which involved learning how to make American sweets. I agreed to do it.

After some planning I decided to do a class on baking cupcakes. I figured we would have enough time to make a batch of vanilla, a batch of chocolate and buttercream icing (all from scratch, of course!). Before we began, it was brought to my attention that the ovens were really small and the cupcake pans may not fit inside! Luckily, at least one fit! I then decided to scrap the chocolate cupcake idea and only make vanilla.

 

We had some technical difficulties with the oven. The timer refused to work, it didn’t stay hot and we had to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius. Finally, someone found the manual and all was well with the world. We made two batches using the same pan.

Despite my worries, the cupcakes came out splendidly and everyone had a great time decorating. Take a look!

American Sweets Event with Aomori Bank VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Bikkuri Donki

Bikkuri Donkey (translated: Surprised Donkey) is a chain restaurant similar to Coco’s. If you like Western themed restaurants with nostalgic stuff on the walls, have a hankering for a ground beef plate and only want to listen to The Beatles while eating, this place is for you.
 
Like I said, the food at Bikkuri Donki is similar to Coco’s. I think the price of the food is slightly better. I ended up getting spicy fried chicken and French fries. Many of my friends got desserts. (they looked delicious!)

 

This particular Bikkuri Donki was in Hachinohe. I apologize for not having directions, I will update in the future.

Coco's

beef hot plate with croquettes

Coco's Restaurant in Misawa is great because they are open really late.(from 10 or 11am until 2am). I love coming here for the drink bar and dessert! Their menu is mostly American style. A lot of hot plates, pasta, and ground beef dishes. It can get a little pricey if you are here all the time but it is great to go to if you want to hang out and chat with friends. You can also use debit/credit card here or yen. I'll update with a picture of the outside of the restaurant at a later date.

icecream parfait with flower

green tea "fondant" cake

a hotplate meal with a set

green tea ice cream, mochi and coffee jelly

fruit parfait

Directions to Coco's: From the main gate, go straight and take a right at the second light (at City Office). Go through. You will go through 3 traffic lights and at the 4th light bear left. You will go through 2 more lights and directly after the second light is Coco's. (Across from McDonald's).

Cocoshe. Its like a waffle with icecream and syrup