Dining with Brumhilde... and ghetto food

Our sempai introduced us to the local all-you-can-eat when we first got here, because that's one of the things one should know about when one moves into a new neighbourhood. They're called 'viking' restaurants here, because the locals seem to think that the Vikings of yore ate this way. Anyway, this one is called Stamina Taro and it's on the road to Koriyama. Since we do half days once a week at the board of education, it's an excellent opportunity to take some time to load up on meat and vegetables that would otherwise be too expensive or time-consuming to prepare at home.


The system reminds me of Korean barbecue restaurants in Sydney, what with the gas powered grill in the middle of the table where you cook meat and stuff. The menu is a little more extensive than that though. They've got meat, vegetables, ramen, miso, cotton candy, self service crepes, sushi, soft drinks, tea, coffee, beer, wines, soft serve, pudding, salads, kimchi, takoyaki, karaage, katsu as well as an impressive cake and pastry bar.

One item that looks kinda suss though is a sweet of some kind in the dessert area. It seems like a dough made of rice flour and agar, filled with bean paste. The bean paste is alright, but the dough has the consistency (and dare I say it, the taste) of semi congealed candle wax. I took one for the team to bring you the following picture. Yes, I had to eat them afterwards.

I've taken to calling them "zombie boobs".

Other than that particular menu item, the rest of the place is actually pretty decent, for ¥1050 (about AU$10) at lunchtime. If anyone of youse wanna come visit, I'll bring you there for lunch. Just remember to bring elastic pants.

Since it's the end of summer, the local combinis have started to sell oden, beloved by impoverished otaku in Akihabara, reviled by almost everyone else. My Japanese phrasebook defines it as "Japanese hotchpotch", but that doesn't help a lot. It's an assortment of daikon, eggs, fish paste and tofu based items simmered in a clear, savoury broth in a common pot. Customers have the option of fishing out the items themselves as they eat, or picking a few into a container as takeaway. Oden carts are a common feature in a lot of anime, manga and J-dramas, and I'd dearly love to try some from a real cart, but the display at the combini next door will have to do.

'Dun that look good? ^^

This is the setup at the combini. I'm not kidding.

What can I say, I love this stuff! It's cheap and nasty, but it feels like a nice warm hug when you eat it. So far I've tried the stuff from Lawson and 7-eleven, as well as a prepackaged supermarket version, and I have to say the stuff at Lawson wins, simply because the broth doesn't smell or taste like dog food. The canned oden I bought from Akiba for fun will have to wait until I'm desperately hungry or on my last yen before I'll open it up.


Mmm mmm good. They gave me some mustard, which gives the dish a nice kick, but I didn't use it this time. I like the tofu pouch, cabbage roll and fish cake, but I have to say my favourite is the skewer of fatty pork. Oh yum.

Who needs to cook? XD