Safe Travels in Japan - Artnia and CoCo Ichibanya

ArtniaCafe

Jason here. After getting lost for some time, and fierce wind storm beginning to pick up we finally found our destination, Artnia- the Square Enix Café.

This is café and store is right next to the Square Enix headquarters, located in Shinjuku. Everything about it pays homage to some Square Enix game or another. After perusing the store and checking out their really fantastic upscale room decorated to look like a crystal cavern, we decided to sit down and order some drinks.  

Of course the entire food and drink menu is themed. After looking over the ingredients and trying to decide if it would be safe, I ordered a Chocolate Ice Cream Parfait, complete with a solid chocolate buster sword sticking out of the top. 

While I seemed to feel fine the next day, I may have just gotten lucky. There was no allergen menu, and Kayleigh’s parfait contained corn flakes despite not being listed as one of the ingredients.

The parfait itself was delicious. Extremely chocolaty, which is exactly what I had been craving. There were multiple layers, each one revealing yet some other type of chocolate. After walking around all day, this really hit the spot.

Kayleigh here. While the food is a bit risky because of the frequently changed theme menu and unlisted components, the trip is still worth it for any nostalgic Square Enix fan. The drinks are equally creative and decorative, and should all be safe other than the beer cocktails. Not to sound nerdy, but Final Fantasy VII was what Jason used to ask me out on our first date, so it holds a special place in our hearts (even though the game has not stood the test of time!)


CoCo Ichibanya
(website is in Japanese only, but english menu is available online)

Jason here. As I mentioned in a previous post, Kayleigh spent some time before our Japan trip researching restaurants which would be gluten free. The second chain she discovered was Coco Ichibanya.
CoCo Ichibanya is a Japanese curry restaurant, and Kayleigh was eager to find out how Japanese curry tasted. I myself, was happy to eat at a restaurant that sported an English allergen menu, and takes extra special precautions.

The allergen menu unfortunately only has a single item, non-spiced curry. It comes with white rice, and you can add sausage and\or meatballs as a side for an additional charge. Of course I opted to get both sausage and meatballs.

To make sure the meal is completely allergen free, they actually bring you the curry freshly heated up still in its package. Be warned it is extremely hot, so be careful opening it. It was a bit chilly that evening, so the extra hot meal really rejuvenated me and helped me to enjoy the rest of the night. 

Kayleigh here. Unfortunately, as Jason said, the only gluten free curry available is the mild version, without the ability to select the spice level like the other curries. It is still a good representation of what sort of flavors and combinations that Japan considers a curry, so bring your own travel-sized hot sauce and heat things up to your liking.

AFK Elixers & Eatery Review

(As of the posting, the main website is under construction, but the AFK Tavern site has a very similar menu)

Jason here. Recently we took a trip down to Renton to eat at AFK Elixirs & Eatery. If the name sounds familiar that is most likely because it is the sister restaurant to AFK Tavern up in Everett. Known for its popular geek references, and free board games which you can play while you eat. I’ve heard about AFK since the moment we moved out here, so we were happy to finally have one open a bit closer to home. 

As the menu and waitress explained, the restaurant only just opened up a few months ago, so some of the kinks are being worked out. With that said, it’s important to note the main sign to the restaurant is not up yet, so there is a smaller sign closer to street level. It’s a bit hard to see and we actually drove right passed it the first time. The restaurant is located on an easy to find road, with plenty of parking so that was no issue.

The first few things I noticed while entering the building was the Link’s sword and shield from the Zelda series, and Farscape playing on the TV in the waiting area. If geek\nerd culture is your thing, then you will feel right at home at AFK E&E. References to everything from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar, to your favorite video games, and many more are all represented. 

It was busy the night we went, but we were still shorted after just a short wait. I was happy to find many of the tables around us playing various card and board games. One group even brought their laptops and were playing League of Legends. 

The drink menu is just a fantastic read. Even if you are the DD and don’t plan on drinking that night, at least read through the menu. 

It took while for our food to come out, but we had a blast just chatting and laughing and discussing references in the menu. I don’t really count the meal taking a while against AFK because your experience is designed around playing games and having a good time. If your came in looking for a quick traditional meal, then your expectations were off to begin with. There are plenty of board games which are all completely free to play. Just remember a board game does not mean it has to be a 2 hour game of Risk or Monopoly. If you’re not sure what to play, just ask your waiter and they can recommend you fun group games which are easy to pick up, and have a great time right out of the gate.

For my drink I ordered a Mana Potion and later a Demon Hunter. The drink menu is laid out so you can quickly find Sweet, Fruit, Bitter, and other drink types. Both of the drinks lived up to their descriptions, and I found myself a bit tipsy by the end of the night. 

While the menu does not have items individually labeled as gluten free, it does specifically call out that gluten free pasta is available as a swap for $2 extra. The waiter also answered our questions and went and verified with the chef anything she was not immediately aware of. 

For my meal I ordered the Firebat Penne, with bacon and mushrooms, and a spice rating of 3. We arrived to AFK far later than original planned, so luckily I was starving when I received the huge bowl of pasta. Normally I would have definitely had some left overs, which is great. I always appreciate when a meal more than fills me up and I am able to take some in to work the next day for lunch. 

It was sufficiently cheesy, and a spice that added both taste and heat. At a spice rating of 3, it was not immediately burning, but did build up some eat as I began to finish. I can definitely see reordering at that rating, or a bit higher if I’m feeling up for something spicier. There was no shortage of sauce, filled with mushrooms and smaller strips of bacon. The mushrooms definitely added some taste and texture to the meal. The bacon on the other hand, I will probably leave out next time. The bacon flavor was mostly overwhelmed by everything else, and the texture did not really add to the meal. It was an extra I added on, so no points against the Firebat itself. 

Kayleigh here. This place is a must-visit if you think you might enjoy the theme, or if you are starting to feel bored of regular dining-only restaurants. Even if you don't plan on pulling out a game to play yourself, the regulars at nearby tables are entertainment enough with what they choose to bring. Try to name the references to your favorite franchises (or internet jokes) on the menus and decorations, or get a seat near the bar to watch whatever nerdy show they have on that night.

As for the food, the gluten free pasta is directly called out on the menu, but the burgers can also be served without buns. The soup does change periodically, but it was gluten free when we went and our waitress mentioned that the salad could be made gluten free as well. We did not ask about the other entrees, but several appeared to be gluten free from the descriptions and there were a couple of dessert options to be found. As Jason pointed out, though, the drink menu is well worth a read-through, and we found quite a few unique cocktails that we will have to try on future visits!

Safe Travels in Japan - Gyu Kaku

Gyu Kaku

(here is the english menu for locations in Japan)

Jason here. Now I get to review my favorite restaurant from our Japan trip, the yakiniku joint Gyu-Kaku. It took a bit to find, as it was on the third or fourth floor of a building situated off of a side road. By some miracle, a friendly local saw what must have been our obviously lost faces, and came over to give us directions. I’m not sure how, but as soon as we mentioned the restaurant name, he pointed to exactly where it was around the corner, and gave perfect instructions. This was in an area with what must have been 2 or 3 dozen restaurants within a block radius.

At a yakiniku restaurant, you order a variety of meats and vegetables which are brought to your table raw. You then cook these over a grill located at your table.
The restaurant itself utilized every inch of space, with tightly packed booths of customers, and a long bar which also had grills to sit and order food at. Gyu-Kaku was crazy busy, with new customers coming in as soon as some left. We must have arrived at just the right moment, as we were seated immediately. The pace at which customers came, foreshadowed just how good the food was going to be.
The menu had an option for unlimited food and alcohol for a set price, and we made sure to communicate no soy sauce. This is important since some dishes may be marinated in soy sauce when they are brought to the table. Gyu-Kaku has an English menu available, and there was some limited English spoken by our waiter.

We ordered beef tongue, pork, black-haired beef, scallops, shrimp, squid, bacon cubes, basil chicken, and sweet potato.

For an unlimited meal we only had a set amount of time to eat them, so we got right to cooking setting a good variety down on the grill to start.

I loved the ability to cook my own food here, as it meant I could take things off as early or as late as I want. Controlling how raw, or crispy I wanted a particular dish.

The scallops, shrimp, and squid were good, but tasted exactly like you would expect. Like everywhere we went in Japan, the shrimp were served whole so we had to figure out a way to de-shell them. I’m not sure if we followed etiquette and procedure as we did so.

The basil chicken was extremely good. This wasn’t your grocery market packaged chicken that comes out tasting dry. No this was excellently prepared chicken, where each bite bursts with flavor in your mouth. Even after I not so excellently burned a few of the pieces by leaving them on the grill too long. No matter what, these pieces kept their flavor.

The bacon cube, were massive. Easily an inch or more on each side. I left them on the grill for a while to get nice and crisp on the outside, but still juicy on the inside. Even Kayleigh enjoyed these. I’ve never had bacon that thick so it was a great experience.

I definitely recommend you pick up a side order of sweet potato fries. The various meats are delicious, but you will need a pallet cleanser now and again after eating so many foods of the salty variety. You can leave the sweet potatoes on the grill for as long as your heart desires, so you get perfectly crispy fries each time.

By far my favorite of the night was unexpectedly the thinly sliced beef tongue. Even better than the black-haired beef.  Only about a millimeter or so thick, these round slices of beef tongue grill up nice and crispy. They tasted like the most succulent steak I had ever had. If I had to pick one meal to live off of the rest of my life, it might be these.

While the meal was expensive, between the unlimited drinks and food, and the absolutely superb taste I can’t recommend Gyu-Kaku enough.

Kayleigh here. While this place was definitely Jason heaven, I thought it was such a novel concept to be allowed to use a hot grill and consume smoking food as you got progressively more intoxicated.  Seriously, though, we decided to simplify things by ordering everything at the start, and they brought the dishes out one or two at a time at the same pace we were going through them.

It was a fantastically novel experience to be able to cook your own food, since it brought a fun activity to the table. Especially when we were pulling the sweet potato slices out of their foil bowl and grilling them one by one- then had the waiter quietly let us know we were supposed to just put the bowl onto the grill. We found it embarrassingly funny to have made that faux pas, made all the more funny because we were sure we had been messing up some part of every meal since we flew in and had noone to point it out to us.

Since we ended up ordering a pretty good sampling of them here, now would be a good time to mention the chuhai. Short for Shochu Highball, it's a mixer made from a sweet potato-based alcohol and comes in a variety of fruit flavors. They are refreshing, deceptively alcoholic, and less of a girly drink than the usual wine cooler. We bought them in canned form at convenience stores and mixed at bars and never found any issues with gluten. It was great to have such a tasty beer alternative!