Zen

I had plans to go to Zen for lunch the other day with a great group of ladies and, that morning, I had a family emergency. I ended up being super late, but they were all so nice about it. I love that I am surrounded by so many wonderful people! And we were still able to enjoy good food and great company.

Zen is a nice Japanese restaurant in downtown Iwakuni. I have been there for dinner many times and I have always loved their food, but I had never checked out their lunch menu.

One thing that I didn't like (probably the ONLY thing) about Zen is that they didn't have English menus and they didn't have pictures on their menus. I was super happy to see that they have pictures on their lunch menus.

Picture menus make me happy too because, although I can speak Japanese fluently I can't really read and write it all very much. I went to M.C.Perry so I really only learned Hiragana and Katakana. So I am definitely not very good with Kanji.


I thought their 1000yen lunch sets were very reasonable. The one I ordered came with steak, sashimi, miso soup, rice, and dessert. There was a really good dipping sauce for the steak. Mmmmm....it had grated daikon in it. So good. A couple of ladies ordered the one with the shrimp tempura. Looked yummy. I think they all came with raw fish though so if you are not a fan, they might be able to substitute with something else.

I LOVE the Gobo Salad...I think gobo is burdock. It's quite tasty.

I just took random pictures of all the dishes that came with the different sets. Everything looked so good.

To get to Zen, go out the main gate and turn right at the intersection after the railroad tracks. Follow that road to downtown Iwakuni. You will pass Fuji Grand on your right. Keep going and turn left at the fourth light (you should be at the rotary where the train station is). Then at the first light, turn left and then turn right. There is a pay parking on your right. I usually park there. Go into the covered shopping arcade (some people call it the "yellow brick road") and go right. You should pass Ganesh on your left. Keep walking until you are almost at the end of the covered area. On your left you should see a couple of restaurants. Turn left into the restaurant area and there should be some stairs to your left. Go upstairs and to the left you should see this sign -

A nice, reasonably priced place for lunch. I think it even included coffee, but we ran out of time. Give Zen a try the next time you are looking for a new place to go to for lunch.