Farewell Dinner: Tofu Restaurant in Yokohama

Yukiko had a small farewell dinner for me in a fancy tofu restaurant in Yokohama. Unfortunately she got sick and couldn't make it. :( So it was just me and her graduate student, Kazuki.

Here is the outside of the tofu restaurant and the inside once you enter. Isn't it pretty?


The restaurant was on the 29th floor of the Sky Building in Yokohama. Here was the view from our table. We got to watch the sun set while we ate. It was really beautiful. We could see the trains coming in and out and the cars driving on the highway. Apparently this highway leads to Tokyo. It's amazing in a city of so many people to see so few cars. Everyone takes public transportation during the weekday then drives on the weekend.














In this restaurant, it's common to order a course set instead of ordering individual dishes. Yukiko picked the best course for us (probably with the least amount of meat). Here is the list of all the dishes. Isn't it nicely laid out?

















The first course came out like this. Isn't it pretty? I almost didn't want to open it and eat it. But I did. It was a mochi-like tofu with miso on top, spinach and a little tofu flower (possible fish/kamaboko?), and yuba (tofu skin). I was also impressed with how thin the chopsticks get at the end, I imagine to more easily cut the tofu and eat it.

 

Even the beer came out pretty.

After the first course was a tofu salad and a tofu dish whose name I forget in Japanese... It's not a soup but it's really soft and almost soup-like. It had mushroom in the bottom of it and some other small things that seemed like potato, that texture. The tofu salad was a little plain until I added soy sauce and sesame seeds. Then it was really yummy.

For the next several dishes Kazuki and I got different things. He got a tuna-tofu dish while I got a tofu-yuba dish. His looked really intricate, I wanted to take a picture of it. I also liked the design of the bowl.

 

In the next dish, I got another tofu salad. It was really tasty with a vinegar-sesame type dressing. The top part was a wonton-nest. I liked this one a lot.

The next dish was a mochi one with little bits of レンコン (renkon - a kind of radish). It was interesting.

Around this time I was starting to feel a little full. It's been a lot of tofu up to this point! But it all tasted so good that I was torn between wanting more and taking a break. The next two dishes were vegetable tempura with salt and these mochi-dessert like tofu bars with miso. They were really good.

Two more dishes to go before dessert! The next one came out still sizzling and on a leaf. It was really tasty, flavored with miso and a pepper, but it was really hot.

This last dish was the only one to come with rice. The rice was topped with konbu. It also came with a yuba soup and 漬物 (tsukemono - pickled vegetables). A nice ending to the meal part of the meal.

And finally dessert! I chose the mango ice cream. It came with a tea that smelled like coffee but was good. Overall a good meal in a good restaurant. The dishes were beautifully laid out and delicious to eat. ...but I may have to take a break from tofu for awhile.