Today, let me introduce a Japanese-styled restaurant called "Bando Taro". It is a restaurant chain that operates mainly in the Kanto region, and there are so many outlets of the chain in my prefecture. I introduced "Hanaya Yohei" in this posting, and this one was a bit similar.
To let everyone know that this restaurant serves Japanese dishes, this restaurant had a very Japanese-styled exterior. Can you see the white cloth hanging beyond the gate? It is called "Noren" and people hang it when they're in business.
I said the inside of Hanaya Yohei was dimly lit, but this restaurant was much darker. I think old people would prefer dark atmosphere as they prioritize tranquility over splendor.
Do you know that our former prime minister was called "Taro Aso"? Taro is basically a name of an eldest son, but this restaurant has the name "Taro", because it also means "the biggest thing".
I ordered "Negitoro-don". Negitoro is basically minced tuna with sliced green onion. And "don" means a "bowl". This set cost about 16 us dollars.
I tend to pour soy sauce with wasabi on top of Negitoro-don. I can't have raw tuna without wasabi. The yellow stuff you see in the bowl is pieces of rolled egg. And the black pieces are Nori .
This is called "Zaru-soba". It is basically cold soba, and we have this very often in the summer. It was very cold on the day, but you know, I like to have something cold even in the winter.
As a dessert I had this Japanese-styled one. The brown balls are rice cake with Kinako powder. Kinako is toasted soybean flour, and it is often sweet. And on its right you see Matcha jelly with Anko. Anko is sweet bean paste. This tasted very good with "Kokutou (brown sugar)" sauce you see on the right.
I ordered hot coffee for a change. I liked these cup and saucer. I think not all Japanese-styled restaurants have coffee on the menu.
The price was a bit higher than ordinary restaurants, but as I was really hungry I needed to have much. When I arrived at this restaurant, I didn't see many customers, but as time went by it started to have many old people. Old people like something very traditional as in other countries, you know.
