caution! don't eat there!!

We were very disappointed with two restaurants: Ryukyutonsai Katsuri & The Earth Cafe. Both of these restaurants are in a new shopping facility called NU Chayamachi. This shopping facility opened recently, so we were eager to try the new restaurants there.

(The good experience) Last weekend, we tried Barbra Market Place (also on one of the restaurant floors), which is modeled after a French Cafe. I think we may have actually been in France because EVERY table had a smoker!! cough cough...despite the smog though, the food was actually very good.

(The bad experience) Yesterday, after my lesson, I met Satoshi and we went to try Ryukyutonsai Katsuri, an Okinawan restaurant/bar. It had been awhile since we've had Okinawan food and we were excited to eat some of our favorites,goya (bittermelon) champul, taco rice, among other things...talk about being disappointed...the taco rice didn't even use salsa, they used okonomiyaki (japanese "pancake") or tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sauce. And the mozuku tempura (fried seaweed) hardly had any mozuku...maybe our expectations were a bit high? We have been to Okinawa several times in the past few years and the food there is "Oishii" (delicious)...this restaurant has definitely moved to our black list.

Another restaurant that has moved to our black list is the Earth Cafe. The original cafe is in Hommachi near Utsubo Park. We had gone to this cafe in the past and THOUGHT it would be a good place for dessert after our disaster dinner...WRONG...the cake was AWESOME, but the bill was outrageous!! Usually in Japan, when they list on their menus "Cake Set", it usually means a SET price for cake & a drink (usually a simple coffee or tea, nothing fancy like a latte). Anyway, we must have been totally blinded by the cakes because we didn't really pay too much attention to the menu...when paying for the bill, we had to pay $19!! (Did we eat a WHOLE cake?) Apparently on the menu, the cake set STARTS from $4.20 plus the price of the cake you choose...ugh...Our bad experience was partly our fault, but still...sigh...

Anyway, if you are looking for somewhere to eat in Umeda...don't choose these two places.

Remember, you were warned...