Café Fuku

We often pass Café Fuku on our way to Towada and have always wanted to drop in, so we did ! The seating style is mostly Japanese but I love that the seats on the floor have backs to them. I find that very American friendly.

This café’s specialty is soba noodles (cold or hot). At certain times during the day, I believe you can go to the building next door and either watch or help soba noodles being made!

A free service here is inari filled with not only rice but soba noodles as well. Everything here is delicious!

The menu is in Japanese so I advise bringing someone who can read Japanese, or if you know common soba dishes’ names you can probably ask for it and they most likely will have it.

 

Directions: From POL gate, go straight all the way into Towada (Route 10). Café Fuku is on a hill on your right. You will see a sign peeking out from a hill. I will have to get back to you on the approximate distance.

Ootoya

 

Ootoya is a chain restaurant located in Hachinohe. They serve Japanese style dishes. There is also an Ootoya located in New York!

I apologize for not having directions or hours, but if you are in Hachinohe and happen to go by Ootoya, why not try it out?

Website: http://www.ootoya.com/

Japan: where 80s has-beens become stars once again.

 

Okay so I’m going to get a little nostalgic here so bear with me. I don’t know what happened to the toy market in America, but it is awful. I see new toys on the shelf every holiday season and think to myself “Would I even WANT this for Christmas?!” I must say we had the best toys and I think Japan has noticed and is making bank on them!

I went to MG Plaza recently and they have rearranged the store. I noticed a lot of toys that I grew up with for sale and the characters splashed on towels, keychains, notebooks, pencils an anything else you could think of.

Some of you may not remember the Yum Yums but I do. I think the toy came out first and then they had some cartoon afterward. (I actually didn’t know about the cartoon until looking for the toy commercial on YouTube with no luck). I actually had the Peppermint Kitty. All of the toys have a scent on their tummy.

And now along with the toys you can get yum yum notebooks, folders pencils, pillows, towels….etc!

An even more popular toy in the 80s (and one of my favorites) was the popple. I had a few of them but my favorite being the large pink one (pictured). Popples also came out with a cartoon after the toys.

If you don’t know what a Popple is, check out the commercial below. Heck, even if you DO check it out. I remember going to the toy store looking for one! (BTW the price for these Popples at ¥4200 is astronomical! That’s about $50 USD! (Maybe more)

Popples commercial USA

Popples and Yum Yums are just a few examples of old cartoons reviving to a Hello Kitty status in Japan. I’ve also seen Raggety Ann and Andy! I forget which character it was, but I noticed one of my Japanese friends had a keychain or something of an old 80s toy. When I inquired if they knew what it was they just responded with “I just got it because it is cute.” Touché Japan, touché. Mattel must be making a killing. I just imagine them in a conference room deciding what to do with all these toys from the 80s and how they can still make a profit on them. “Send it to Japan, hell… they’ll buy anything cute or weird.”

It’s a shame they don’t sell (and advertise) these as new products in the States (without having to go to Spencer’s Gifts or Newbury Comics) so that American children can have access to toys worth asking Santa for!

 

Dohtonbori

Dohtonbori is an okonomiyaki restaurant in Towada. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake, but savory instead of sweet. Okonomi means “what you like” and yaki means “grilled”.

All tables come equipped with a grill (they have chair seating and “Japanese” style seating but there is room for your feet underneath the table so you are actually sitting up anyway).

You can choose from a variety of bowls that contain meat, vegetables, egg, cheese and a type of rice crispy looking thing.

Mix the ingredients in the bowl thoroughly and scoop out onto the grill. 

Next, flip the pancake over and grill the other side

 

This one looks ready!

Finally you can put your toppings on top of the pancake. First “paint” the sauce on the pancake and add mayonnaise. Then sprinkle anori (dried seaweed) and katsuobushi (smoked bonito shavings) on top. This part is cool because the bonito shrivels up on top of the okonomiyaki!

the dried bonito shriveling up

Now it is ready to eat!

This was my first time trying okonomiyaki and I thought it was great! It’s a good place to go with a few friends. Enjoy!

Directions:
- From POL gate, head towards Towada City.
- At the fork, follow the road left.
- After passing the Homac/WonderGoo/Hard-Off Plaza, turn left at the next traffic light.
- Turn right on the seventh traffic light.
*The traffic light near the giant Torii Gate is #2.
- The restaurant is on the right at that corner.

Hibiki Restaurant

 

Hibiki Restaurant is located in Towada near the Jusco Aeon shopping center. I only have partial directions so I will have to update again later.

 

This  restaurant is actually on a farm. They use their own crops to make the dishes. We went at lunchtime and I believe their menu changes depending on what is available. There were only three or four dishes to choose from and we all chose the same set:

 

Surprisingly, this was almost entirely vegetarian. (Except for the dish on the lower left, that is tofu and some ham). What this restaurant lacks in variety and taste (It really wasn’t bad, just kind of mediocre) it makes up in atmosphere.

 

If you are in Towada and looking for a nice place to relax and have a light lunch, try out Hibiki!

Address: 147-89 Takami, Aisaka, Towada City

Closed: Wednesday, New Year Holidays, “Bon” summer Holidays

Website: http://www.nouenhibiki.com/index.html (Japanese version only)

Japanese Restaurant Marumatsu

 

 

Marumatsu is a restaurant we found in Towada which offers a variety of Japanese food. It is somewhat similar to Coco’s (The seating and ordering style is similar and it has a drink bar for 294 yen) but the food is more of an izakaya style. Menu items include soba, udon, curry, sushi, tempura, beef plates and desserts.

Also, if you like tea, the drink bar has a lot of different teas to try!

 

I got an udon set, which I think was great. Next time I’ll try a different side order for the set. (The tempura looked great!)This curry was really good too!

And of course we couldn’t leave without having dessert. The little bowl on the right has matcha tea, red bean past, mochi and whipped cream. It was only 189 yen and tasted fantastic!

 

Marumatsu does not have an English menu, but there are pictures of everything on the menu so you just have to point!

Directions:  from POL gate, go straight all the way to  Towada. You will pass Happy Drug. After Happy Drug is a plaza with Hard Off/Off house, K’s Denki and Homac. Marumatsu is in the same plaza across from the Men’s suit store (which is next to Homac).

Café Omiya (Pizza and Curry Grill)

 

Café Omiya (also known as ‘Pizza Curry’) is a little hole in the wall restaurant located at the end of white pole road.  The food here is great and filling! I had the pork cutlet curry and pizza toast.

Café Omiya’s menu consists (naturally) of pizza and curry. You can also get donburi, salads and sandwiches. You can choose how hot you would like your curry and they also have a few sets that include curry with pizza toast, beer or a soft drink.

You can see Café Omiya across from Max Value Supermarket at the end of White Pole road. The restaurant is on the second floor above Le Monde. Also, a fair warning to those of you who are afraid of heights or have leg problems… you must climb some steep steps to get to the end of this pizza curry rainbow!

Café Omiya hours

Closed Tuesdays and Japanese Holidays

normal hours: 1100-2100

Sundays: 1100-2000

Telephone: 0176-53-4777

Takumiya Misawa

                          

 

We decided this weekend that it is time to try out some new restaurants again! So look forward to more posts!

Sunday night we tried Takumiya, a ramen shop in Misawa. We heard good things about it from some friends so decided to try it out.

 

Takumiya’s specialty is this “spicy” pork ramen with cartilage pictured above. I forget what the exact name is for this dish, but the menu claims they have limited quantities. It didn’t exactly taste spicy though, just a little salty.

And here is my dish, basic salt ramen with sesame seeds. It was a little heavier than other ramen shops.

 

My favorite part of the meal was their shrimp gyoza! I thought it was fantastic!

 

Directions: From POL gate, go straight passing three lights. After the third light, Takumiya ramen is on the right after Workman.

Uotami Misawa

 

Uotami Misawa opened up a few months ago outside the main gate in American Park. I first thought it was a sushi restaurant, but it is actually an izakaya style.

We had a big party so the menu was basically decided for us by some of our friends. We had everything from nabe to hot dogs and French fries.

 

        

Uotami has a great atmosphere. There are sliding doors to individual rooms which can be expanded for parties. The seats are Japanese style, but instead of crossing your legs or kneeling, there is a space under the table so you can sit upright. (My favorite dining style, really.)  I felt the food was decent but a little pricey. Then again, we didn’t order a la carte since we just let our native friends do the planning.

Izakaya style dining is really great with beer! So grab some friends and try out Uotami!

Ho-Oh Ramen (Phoenix)

 

Ho-Oh Ramen is located in Oirase Town just before entering Towada. We have passed by the sign for this Ramen-ya many times but never tried it because it was so close to our favorite Ramen restaurant, Shanghai-Ryu (Dragon). Today we planned on going to Shanghai Ryu, but it was closed. We remembered Ho-Oh was not far (literally around the corner.) We decided to try it.

Upon entering we were greeted with a manly chorus of “Irrashaimase!” Which, I thought was lovely. The entire building is red and black, inside and out. I found it very chic.

Ho-Oh is celebrating their 7 year anniversary right now and have a special ramen on the menu to commemorate it. We ended up getting a pork base soup ramen, which was a bit heavier, and my favorite, a salt ramen.

I can honestly say Ho-Oh is one of the better ramen shops in the area.

 

Directions: From P.O.L Gate: go straight past Universe, Cake House, and the Pachinko Parlor that looks like a log cabin. You will hit a red light.  You will see a sign for Ho-Oh and Universe on your left. Take a left at the light (you will also see Shanghai Ryu at the light). Ho-Oh will be on your right.