Tonkotsu Ramen: Yamabiko

I am not a big fan of cold weather....unless I am playing in some beautiful, fluffy snow. BUT, I do like that cold weather means RAMEN SEASON! Not that you can't eat ramen any other time of the year. There is nothing like a nice, hot bowl of ramen on a cold wintry day though. Well, except maybe a nice, hot bowl of udon. I'm a big fan of both!





So, I have passed this place many times and have been wanting to try it, but I just never did. Until last week! I went for lunch and it was pretty tasty so I went back with my camera for dinner less than a week later.



They have an English menu!! I didn't see it when I went for lunch, but I think it's because I spoke Japanese when I walked in. When I went back for dinner, I didn't say anything and they brought over an English menu. Yay! Of course I took a picture of it!!


AND


I think the menu is pretty self explanatory, but I do want to let you know that the "special pork ramen" is just thicker sliced pork pieces. The "pirikara-men" is a slightly spicy ramen. Haha! I just realized that it looks like "spicy men"....kind of. I'm very easily distracted... and apparently, very easily amused. The "goma dango" is a very yummy fried mochi ball covered in sesame seeds, with sweet bean inside. Mmmmm!! One of my favorites!!!

I went with a couple of friends so we each ordered a bowl of ramen and then we got one order of the fried rice, and the gyoza to share. Their fried rice and their gyoza was pretty tasty. I still prefer the gyoza at Nagahama Ramen (I blogged about this yummy place already), but the ramen here is pretty tasty. The soup and the noodles are definitely different from the other ramen places I have blogged about.

Here are some pictures of the yummy food -


Yummy fried rice!!



Gyoza!


And now for the most important dish.....

Doesn't that look good???? If you don't like green onions or the pork, you can order it without it.


If you go during lunch, they offer a lunch special for 900yen. You get a bowl of ramen, one rice ball, two pieces of gyoza, and two pieces of fried chicken. I believe they do a similar set for dinner, but it doesn't start until 6pm. I will also warn you that the fried chicken is typical Japanese fried chicken. With the skin and the fat. I pulled mine apart and just ate the meat. I do suggest pulling it apart and not just biting into it or else you might get a fatty surprise. It's not very pleasant.

Ramen is going to taste different at each restaurant. There are different types of soups and different types of noodles, and each place typically has their own special recipe for the soup. Yamabiko is a tonkotsu style soup so it is pork based. I thought the soup was very good and light on flavor. There are condiments on the table you can add to your rament to boost the flavor or spiciness if you want. So while I really did like the ramen here, you might not like it as much as Nagahama or some other rament place you've been to in the past. This is why I think it's a great idea to try them all! I have blogged about two other places in this area that you can try out.

To get to Yamabiko Ramen, go out the Main Gate and go straight. You want to go to three corners (just go straight until the road comes to a T intersection....this is known as "three corners") and turn right. Continue on this road until it kind of comes to Route 2 (it will be the intersection after you go over some railroad tracks). Turn left here and you will see Mos Burger on your left and McDonald's on your right. Keep going straight. When you see a men's clothing store on your left, you should look on the right for the restaurant. I got there too late to get any photos of the outside from a distance (really bad traffic and too dark), but I did take a picture of what you might see when approaching the restaurant from this direction.


Look for this sign on the right and this is where you will turn. There used to be a guitar shop behind Yamabiko. Even though it is closed, they never took the sign down and this is what I used as my landmark when I first spotted this restaurant.


I did get one shot of the inside too...



They do have quite a bit of parking in the back so that shouldn't be an issue.

The next time you're in the mood for some ramen, give Yamabiko a try and let me know what you think!

Zona Italia

A beautiful restaurant with great food and an amazing view! Zona Italia is located in Itsukaichi which is near Hiroshima city. I have been going to this beautiful restaurant for a few years now, and it never disappoints. The food, the view, and the service have been wonderful every time.




They have an English menu and a couple of people on their staff speak English. Definitely a plus!


I do recommend that you go with the set. You get some appetizers, your choice of pasta or pizza, garlic bread (all-you-can-eat), a dessert, and a drink. The sets run anywhere from around 3,500yen and up. The cost depends on which pasta or pizza you choose. We all ordered the set and before we knew it they were bringing out our appetizers.

This was the view from our table that we enjoyed while we were waiting....

Just had to throw that out there. Great view.


....and then they brought out our first appetizer.

If you don't like fish or cannot eat fish, they are more than happy to substitute with something else. Just let them know when you place your order.


...and then our second appetizer



...and then our third appetizer


Did I mention the garlic bread?


One of the pastas that we ordered.

I believe this was the eggplant and ricotta cheese pasta. Yum!

One of the pizzas that we ordered...

This pizza was pretty amazing. It had homemade sausage on it.

Now it's time for dessert!



This really is a great restaurant for a date night. Great food and great view!

Here is a shot of the front entrance area -



If you are going on a weekend, I highly recommend reservations.

Their phone number is - (0825) 27-2311

To get to this amazing restaurant, I usually take the expressway to Hatsukaichi. Once you exit the expressway, go to the left. You'll be on this road for a little while (20-30 minutes). The exit for Zona is the one after the Shoko Center exit. I can't remember the name of it, but I know it's the one after the Shoko Center (which is the exit for AlPark Mall). When you exit, turn left at the light. Go straight and you should see a sign on your right at the next intersection. Turn right and follow the road up for a minute, and you should see Zona Italia on your right. They do have a decent amount of parking. You can also just hop on the 2 the whole way, but I prefer taking the expressway part of the way. From Otake to Hatsukaichi is only about 500yen so the cost isn't too bad.

TAJ Indian Restaurant

I had bread class on Saturday and we didn't get back until around 5:30pm. I wasn't very hungry because we ate a late lunch and it seemed like our lunch lasted forever. Honestly, I was thinking I would be able to just skip dinner.

BUT....by 7:30pm I was starting to get hungry. Jason called me and when I mentioned dinner, he said he was kind of hungry too. Then somehow TAJ came up in our conversation about dinner. The next thing I knew, we were on our way to TAJ.

Jason had never been, and I had only been once before so we were both pretty excited. I even remembered to grab my camera so I could get pictures for my blog post.

AND!!!! I remembered to take a picture of the outside!!!


The first time I went to TAJ I ordered the eggplant curry. Oh. My. Goodness. Very yummy!

Jason and I looked over the menu and we decided to order a few different dishes and share everything. So, we ordered the Shrimp Salad, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Masala Curry, Garlic Nan, and Almond Nan.


Shrimp Salad


Chicken Tikka


Almond Nan


Chicken Masala Curry (level "HOT")


Garlic Nan

Everything we ordered was very tasty. Their curry seems more tomato based compared to other Indian restaurants I have been to, but it was very good. I don't think we had anything left when we were done. Hmmm....maybe I should have taken a picture of our plates after we were done. Empty plates are always a good sign.

Their menu is in English too, which is another plus.


They are open for lunch from 1100-1430, and then for dinner from 1700-2130. Their phone number is (0827)23-6709. They do speak English.

To get to this wonderful Indian Restaurant, go out Main Gate. At the first light turn right. Follow that road and go over the bridge. Pass Mike's Tex Mex, and at the 2nd light after Mike's, turn left. Go up the loopy over pass. At the light, turn right (like you're heading to the train station). When you get to the rotary, make sure you are in the left lane. As you're going by the rotary, you'll see Coco Curry on your left. Turn left down the street right next to Coco Curry. Follow that road all the way to the end. At that light, you should be able to see TAJ across the street. They do have parking available. If you know your way around Route 2, TAJ is located right off the 2, going away from McDonald's towards Otake.

If you like eggplant, I say go for the eggplant curry! The Chicken Masala was very yummy too though. Personally, I like to order different dishes and share them with my dinner date. The prices are pretty reasonable too. I think for everything we ordered, it was about 2,000yen. According to their sign outside, they also offer sets where you can get chicken curry or pork curry and nan or rice for 790yen. Not bad at all.

Give TAJ a try and let me know what you think!