BBQ Grill Raccoon Style!

Zack is a huge Resident Evil fan and he was pretty excited to hear that there was a Biohazard Cafe & Grill S.T.A.R.S (Biohazard is what they call Resident Evil over here) near Yokota. One of my friends I met at the Enlisted Spouses Club invited us our for her hubby's birthday where they were going to Biohazard! As this is not a Sawyer friendly place we found a sitter, bought our Suica cards (cards you load money onto to ride the trains instead of buying a ticket every time!), got dressed up and headed out!

 

Making our way to Shibuya Station was a little over an hour and we had to switch trains twice. We had to switch trains in Shinjuku which is the busiest train station in Japan! Once we got to Shibuya I was amazed, its more like the Tokyo that everyone thinks of with all the lights and tall buildings!

Shibuya Crossing from the Station

Shibuya crossing has been in many movies including the 3rd Resident Evil and Tokyo Drift!

 

The walk from the station to the restaurant was about 10min and we saw a Ferrari, a couple McDonald's, a Disney Store and a Forever 21 just to name a few awesome things! I will definitely be going back to check out the shopping scene! The restaurant was on the 7th floor of the PARCO building. When we finally got there Zack was in love! 

 

All of the employees are dressed in S.T.A.R.S gear and short shorts. The only male employee was dressed in all tactical gear, we were escorted behind a closed door and told no videos only pictures could be taken. Once the door opened we were greeted by a HUGE Tyrant, the boss from the 1st video game!

 

Tyrant

 

There was nine of us so when the reservations were made we had already been put down for the BBQ Grill Raccoon Style Meal, an all you can eat buffet style meal brought to your table!

 

Our meal on the menu

 



 The meal was 7000Yen per couple but that included a short dance show which involved Tyrant coming alive and the "S.T.A.R.S" agents killing him and all the food you could eat! First they brought out Miso Soup and Salad with dressing and "health spray" :), then they brought out rice in metal canteens along with curry in gravy boats and bread, and then they brought out the meat on large skewers and cut pieces off, they brought out 3 sauces to dip the meat in that enhanced the steak very well. About mid way through the meal they brought a squid/octopus/scallop platter! Yes, I tried a squid! Very rubbery and not something I would order but I can say I tried it!

Part of the spread!

 

Serving up the meat

 

Squid, Octopus, Scallops

Then we were entertained by a dance to "Spice Up Your Life" after the fun little dance the music got dramatic and Tyrant started to try and break out of the cage. They were quick to pull out their guns and even some audience members to help shoot down Tyrant! After they killed Tyrant it was high-fives all around the table and then another short dance.

 

Dancers

 

Killing Tyrant

 

After the show they brought more rounds of meat, more steak, some hamburg (meatloaf), and lamb. We were also served steamed scallops. For dessert we got a mango puree served in an "ink ribbon"- for non Resident Evil fans its what you need at a save point to save the game!

 

Ink Ribbon Dessert

 

The whole experience was awesome. 7000Yen ($85) is a lot for dinner but I would say it was well worth it for the all you can eat food and show. The menu does have other items that you can order if you would prefer not to spend the 7000Yen. They do charge a 500Yen fee for the "show" if you order something else off the menu.

 

The train ride back felt like it took way longer than an hour and a half! No "pushers" were out but one of the trains had so many people on it you couldn't move and there wasn't enough handles for everyone to hold on! Just another thing we will have to get used to living here.

 

We had a great night, met some awesome people and enjoyed our first Sawyer free night in a couple months! Thankfully Sawyer loves people and had fun with the sitter and didn't cry once, makes me feel better about hiring a babysitter! I think date nights at least once a month will happen for our sanity!

 

Until our next adventure.

XOXO

About to eat Squid for the first time!

 

 



 

First Yakiniku Experience!

Well its official, we survived our first month in Japan. Thought we might get to experience a Typhoon but it ended up only being a Tropical Storm by the time it reached us! Since my last blog I have been just hanging out around the base lately, we did check out HOOP, a bagel shop with a friend. A super delicious place I'm sure I will frequent for lunch! But onto the real delicious story of our dinner...

Last night we were invited out to dinner with one of Zack's co-workers and his wife. They took us to Haikara Tei Yakiniku Dining!

 

Yakiniku means grilled meat in Japanese. You order different cuts of meats and grill them yourself at your table! The menu is a little overwhelming at first because nothing is in English (until they bring you the one menu they have some-what translated), the menu consists of raw meat cuts anywhere from Prime Rib to tongue and intestine! One thing that caught our eye was Dragon Steak, of course Zack had to order it to see what it was! 

What Zack Ordered!

 

Pork and beef were the only options, we are still assuming that Dragon Steak is beef, but there was every kind of meat off a cow and some insides as well! They also served noodles, meat and rice bowls and kids meals in case ordering and cooking your meat isn't your cup of tea. In the middle of the table is the grill, after you order (which consists of many head nods and pointing to try to get the waiter to get your order right) they turn the grill on.

 

Grill in the middle of the table.

 

I ordered a set, sets mean you get the main dish with salad, soup and rice, with short rib and loin cuts. Zack ordered a the huge meat plate with a side of rice (next time we will be splitting the large meat plate!) and a coke. We got Sawyer a noodle kids set since he loves noodles so much with a melon drink, which ended up being like a melon flavored sprite.

 

Family Picture!

Once the food hit the table we realized we had WAY too much food but wasting food is not an option and since you don't get to take anything home you just got to dig in!

Sawyers meal. He LOVED the noodles!

Ate some of the sausage but

Wasn't a fan of the egg or edemamme!

 

My meal on the left, Zack's on the right!

 

It was really awesome getting to see how the different cuts of beef all tasted so different even though it all had the same seasoning on it. I really like the loin the most!

Dinner cooking!

 

When they brought out the silverware I was wondering why they brought a pair of kitchen scissors, once the guys started cooking their dragon steaks I realized what the scissors were for. Since you eat with chopsticks (this was the only restaurant so far that hasn't brought out western utensils and only chopsticks!) the larger dragon steak has to be cut somehow:

 



Zack using the "knife"

 

With the set you also get a dessert, Almond Jelly. I only tried one bite as I was overfull, but it was good. Sawyer ended up eating the entire dessert before I could get a picture of it. All in all it was a delicious dinner! And I would hope that it was for the cost, because it was over $60 for the 3 of us to eat! We will be going back but now we know that the larger platters of meat are more than enough for me and Zack to split and get two small sides of rice or we can both get sets and eat for about $40. 



 

Until our next adventure.

XOXO