We went out to dinner last night for our first real meal in Japan as a family. We decided to go to Manrikiya, a noodle shop in Azabu Juban on the recommendation of Stephanie. Joe is going to be replacing Stephanie's husband Jay at Disney in a few weeks, and Stephanie has been so helpful showing me around Tokyo this last week. She has been so friendly and generous with her time considering the fact that they are moving across the world in less than 2 weeks!
Joe got home early from work last night and I was at the ELC playground with girls so we decided to walk from there. We didn't bring a stroller so it took us about 10 minutes, but it's an easy walk down the hill into Azabu Juban.
We were seated right away at a table by the window and got some menus, which luckily had english translations. Since this area has a pretty heavy concentration of expats, most restaurants will offer an english menu.
The inside of the restaurant was very cute and pretty small, maybe 8 tables or so and a bar with some stools. It was all probably less exciting to Joe but I was the super dorky first timer taking lots of pictures of everything.
We decided to order the spicy sesame ramen noodle soup, spicy pork fried rice and an order of fried dumplings. I'm sure there were some less spicy things on the menu but I had remembered Stephanie telling me the sesame noodles were her favorite so I went with that. I also hastily ordered because Lizzy was already being an unpleasant customer less than 2 minutes after sitting down.
The verdict: Delicious!! I usually don't like super spicy food, and while it was hot, it was not overwhelming at all and the flavors were so well balanced you almost didn't notice the spiciness. I've been known to cry while eating spicy pad thai from Pei Wei back in the US, but there were no tears here. Lizzy ate an entire (giant) dumpling which we *think* had some pork and veggies in it, a whole plate of rice and some noodles from the soup. Annie complained that the noodles were too spicy, but also ate a small plate. We ended up ordering a bowl of "extra" noodles to put in the soup because we had so much delicious broth left over, and extra noodles were a nominal cost.
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| A dumpling and spicy pork fried rice |
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| Spicy sesame noodles. Believe me, super delicious. |
The verdict: Delicious!! I usually don't like super spicy food, and while it was hot, it was not overwhelming at all and the flavors were so well balanced you almost didn't notice the spiciness. I've been known to cry while eating spicy pad thai from Pei Wei back in the US, but there were no tears here. Lizzy ate an entire (giant) dumpling which we *think* had some pork and veggies in it, a whole plate of rice and some noodles from the soup. Annie complained that the noodles were too spicy, but also ate a small plate. We ended up ordering a bowl of "extra" noodles to put in the soup because we had so much delicious broth left over, and extra noodles were a nominal cost.
Not to jump the gun but I really loved the food and could see myself eating at this restaurant regularly! It was also very relaxed and felt like a good place to bring kids. Most restaurants in Tokyo have lunch specials so maybe we will have to check it out mid week sometime.
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| Annie had to stop and see "her hamster" at the pet shop on the way home. Lizzy kept squatting down and yelling , "Hi Doggy!!" |
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| Walking home after dinner. |
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