yesterday

Yesterday we got out early to see a Japanese movie “Trillion Game”

Kat saw the J-drama leading up to the movie while Satoshi did not, he said he still enjoyed the movie

We were lucky to get these limited movie cards, they were passing them out to viewers for the first 3 days of their showing

One side

The other side

(Apparently one of the leads, Meguro Ren (left) grew up in our area, Ikegami)

After the movie, we had lunch inside JR Shinagawa station at Sekiya Spaghetti

Buy your ticket at the door and sit at the counter

I tried the Miso Meat…sweet salty & spicy I loved this!

More than spaghetti, this seemed more like yakisoba, probably because the sauce is more asian-ish

Satoshi tried the Keema Curry…he said it wasn’t spicy and was kinda disappointed…880 yen (tax included) each

Food comes out pretty fast, we want to try other items on their menu…we’ll be back

Sekiya Spaghetti Express

inside JR Shinagawa

Hours: 7:00-22:00 (weekdays & Saturdays), 8:00-22:00 (Sundays)

*cash or transportation card payments only

back to spaghetti no pancho

Saturday, we went back to eat at Spaghetti no Pancho.

This time I ordered the small meat sauce...790 yen (tax included)

This was meaty, garlicky...delicious! (I also topped it with some parmesan cheese (no photo))

Satoshi ordered the same thing as he did the last time (napolitan & sunny side up egg) but ordered the small version...790 yen + 100 yen (egg) = 890 yen (tax included)

Even if it is a small...it is actually 300 grams of cooked pasta....

The nami (regular) is 400 grams, large is 500 grams and the mega is 600 grams of cooked pasta!

There was a guy sitting next to me that ordered the mega meat sauce! it was huge!

Super reasonable and tasty, I'm sure we'll be back

back to biwako

It had been 3 years since I'd been back to Biwako

This time I ordered what Satoshi had tried on that visit, the Napolitan...980 yen (tax included)

It came with a salad

The napolitan was delicious, they use their own sauce so it wasn't overly sweet, I would get this again.

lunch also comes with a choice of drink...on this day, iced coffee was needed.

I'm glad I went back and hope to go again soon.

Kissa Biwako

2-4-7 Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Closed: Wednesdays

Hours: 8:30-19:00

*cash only

teppan no spaghetti

Teppan no spaghetti is a chain that serves different pasta (spaghetti) dishes on teppan (sizzling plates)

I chose the bolognese and ordered it (small) with 200 grams of pasta.

This was delicious, but I wished it had a little more tomato flavor.

Satoshi chose the tarako (pollack roe) shoyu butter, he ordered this (regular) with 300 grams of pasta.

This restaurant was tablets to order and cash machine to pay.

The only thing the "people" working there do is greet you and bring out the food

Not sure we'll be back here but it was nice to try.

Teppan no Spaghetti (2025: out of business)

7-2-3 Nishi Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:00-22:00 

spaghetti no pancho

Yesterday, we checked out Spaghetti no Pancho, a chain restaurant that specializes in napolitan and meat sauce dishes.

Buy the ticket for your meal and enter, the L shaped counter is kinda tight, so you gotta walk sideways to get to your seat...

The condiments...parmesan cheese, pepper, lemonasco (lemon tabasco), a shoyu based looking sauce and tabasco

When they serve you your order, they tell you that you can use these condiments if you wish.

Satoshi ordered the "nami" (medium) napolitan...890 yen (tax included)

He also added a sunny side up egg...100 yen (tax included)

He said he enjoyed this.

 I ordered the small napolitan...790 yen (tax included) (click on the video to see the steam)

I like that they don't use just ketchup for their napolitan, but their own sauce, it wasn't sickly sweet and there was lots of meaty and onion flavor.

The amazing thing is that the medium, large and mega sized napolitan are all the same price...890 yen (tax included)...very welcomed for people who want to eat a lot.

We want to try the meat sauce versions next, we'll be back.

Spaghetti no Pancho (2025: no longer in business)

7-4-9 Nishi Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Open daily 11:00-22:00 (weekends and holidays), 11:00-23:00 (weekdays)

*cash only

ryu ryu

Friday, Satoshi called me to say he wouldn't be needing dinner...boo!

I wasn't in any mood to cook after that call, so I boiled some pasta and heated up this sauce.

It was a gyu-suji (beef gristle) carbonara by Ryu-ryu, a well known pasta place in the Kobe-Osaka area. The gristle is simmered in a shoyu-sugar sauce until tender.

Combine that with a cheesy cream sauce....different, right?!

I topped this with some broccoli and some colored peppers just because I needed some veggies...

I really liked this. The sauce was on the salty side and the beef on the sweet side. Definitely not something to eat all the time, just in a pinch.

more recipes from ellie

I tried these recipes last month....the "Peach French Toast Bake"...I should have soaked the french bread overnight like the recipe said, but I didn't want to bake it in the morning (not much time on a weekday morning).

So, the french toast was on the hard side (the egg mixture hadn't soaked all the way through), but was still tasty. I garnished with fresh strawberries instead of baking with the frozen peaches as the recipe calls for. Serving size is only one slice, so I also added a thin slice of ham.

I also tried the "Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce", but instead of the spicy tomato sauce, I used her "Easy Tomato Sauce" recipe.

My market doesn't have ground turkey, so I used ground chicken. I didn't have whole wheat bread to make bread crumbs, so I added a teaspoon of ground flax seed. I also made the meatballs really tiny and put them under the broiler for 20 minutes, instead of the 10 minutes that the recipes suggests...the meatballs were very flavorful and the sauce was tasty and easy to put together.

With 2 leftover meatballs and some sauce, I cut each meatball in half, toasted them on an English muffin with a cheese slice.

More great meals and recipes.

chili madness

Last night, Satoshi had a business dinner drinking thingy, so it was just me. I like when he has "planned" dinners out (where he can tell me in advance that he doesn't need dinner), that way I don't have to go through the trouble of making anything special and can just buy something pre-made or eat leftovers. I've gotten upset many times after cooking something new and then he e-mails/calls me to say that he'll be going drinking after work and won't need dinner. (aargh!) I guess I should be used to the last minute-ness of his job by now, but it still takes all the inspiration to cook out of me sometimes.

After seeing Ellie's post, I decided to cook up a batch of chili. Making chili is quite easy and doesn't require standing by the stove for too long. I was too lazy to cook up some dried beans, so I put in a can of cannelini beans instead. I also added a half teaspoon of instant espresso, which added a nice layer of flavor.

There are several ways I like to eat chili. Here are my top 3 ways:

Number 3: over pasta. In Hawaii, we call this chili spaghetti. I could be wrong, but I think this was made famous by a local eatery--Zippy's. (If you notice in the background, the avocado survived. It was still a little firm, but the outside was nice and soft and it tasted buttery.)

Number 2: as a chili dog. I love this version especially with chopped onions and cheese on top. I can't remember where it was that I had my first chili dog, but I do remember it had chopped onions and cheese on it. I found these spicy hot dogs at the supermarket. When I first bought hot dogs and buns in Japan, I was surprised. For one thing, there are only 6 buns in a bag. So, you have to look for a package with at least 6 hot dogs in it--this is quite rare, most times there are only 4 long ones to a package or the hot dogs are REALLY short, like an inch or two long, so you need to use 2 for 1 bun.

And the number 1 way: over rice. I've been eating chili this way long before I knew about Zippy's. My mom used to sometimes serve it with cut up hot dogs or sometimes just with rice.

Have you tried chili? Do you like chili (with or without beans)? If so, I'm curious as to how you like to eat it?