When I was growing up, KIKU was my daily jam – especially on Saturdays (yes, quite a lively social calendar) but I loved it because Soko Ga Shiritai would show at like 6PM and then right after that show ended, Crayon Shinchan would come on. Then I would get a half hour break to shower before I watched my 8PM Korean drama on KBFD (lol). It’s a core memory for me.
Anyway, my favorite episodes on Soko Ga Shiritai were always their restaurant segments, especially the 1000-yen meals. One restaurant always remained in my memory, Kitchen Carrot. I wish I could find the episode again but it was a small restaurant run by a married couple, the husband was a former butcher so he knew how to get good quality meat at a cheap price which is why they were able to offer cheaper meal sets. They were super popular back then and I remember how tired the wife was (she said it and looked it) but the food…oh the food looked so good. It’s always been on my bucket list to find this restaurant and try it and guess what? I did on this trip! And a double score? We met up with Kat for lunch here! Thank you Kat for making the trek out here to join us for lunch! And oh my gosh, THANK YOU FOR THE OMIYAGE. You really didn’t have to and I loved the bag you gave me and all the goodies inside, I can’t wait to try the Japanese sriracha, you are so generous. And thank god Kat was there because they are not English friendly at this restaurant lol – double thank you!
Small kine research was that the original owners sold this place about a decade back – luckily the new owners are running it pretty much the same!
Looks just like it did in the 90’s! And man, this restaurant is SMALL. We were the first ones in line, well, no line really. But there was a stream of people coming in as we started eating.
Sirloin Steak (200g) | ¥1,750
served with miso soup, rice and coffee/oolong tea or orange juice
This was Kat’s dish! Oh man, it looked so good. I wanted to get hers when I saw it arrive! I’m a sucker for herbed butter, looked like the perfect portion too!
Sutemori Chicken (Hamburg, Chili Pepper Steak, Chicken Saute, Cream Croquette) | ¥1,850
Chan and I ordered the same set, for me, it was go big or go home. I waited over 20 years for this and who knows if I would return! You know what I really wanted? Same dish like this but in the segment, they also had these giant ebi fry. Oh that would have been awesome but this was good too! Can you believe…the chicken (the one with the red sauce on top) was the best part of the dish? The steak was actually bit dry and tough. I think I like everything else over the steak I got. I got the orange juice and absolutely enjoyed my experience.
Just wanted to show you my set up close and the big order of rice it comes with. Kat was good and asked for less rice, no way I was gonna do that. LOL, thank you to Chan and Kat for being part of one of my bucket list items come true!!!
Cool story. And the food looks great.
Thanks Jalna! It was worth the wait!
So you paid more than 1000¥ but it really would have been wrong with all the good food you ordered! My favorite is still Japanese curry rice at train stations – I eat cheap.
Hahaha yes sadly no longer get 1000 yen prices but still worth it nonetheless!!
No worries, a lot of our meals came out of the convenience stores because to me all the food is ono no matter where!
This really looks good and so amazed that it was still there! So, good job!
My husband would watch and keep saying we gotta go to these places they featured and I would tell him, you notice there aren’t any foreign people in the places they feature and how we gonna find and order when we don’t speak and read Japanese. And, these programs are 20 years or more old!
There were a bunch of places I wanted to see too but they were way in the boonies so oh well.
I was shocked too! If I could still access the old episodes, I would totally look up every restaurant to see if they are still operating! I remember a good place where they made their own soba noodles fresh and wanted to try that place too.
Agree. This place is located in a residential area so thank god for Chan’s GPS skills and Kat’s Japanese skills lol.
glad you got to visit a bucket list place, thank you for lunch and it was nice to meet Chan! thank you for the omiyage too!
Thank you thank you thank you Kat! Now you can look forward to your Hawaii trip!