Curry Restaurant Familia **THIS RESTAURANT IS NO LONGER OPEN**

If you want to try some good Japanese style curry, you should check out Familia. Conveniently located near the Main Gate, it's a cute little restaurant with good food and a nice atmosphere. There was some nice Hawaiian music playing in the background when we went.

While looking over the menu, I remembered that somebody had posted on Facebook that the curry pizza was pretty tasty. I like curry and I like pizza, so it sounded good to me! Jason ordered a taco rice.

The menu is in English and they have pictures.

After a little bit, he brought out our food. Wow. It looked good and smelled even better. While I am a big fan of Indian curry, I am an even bigger fan of Japanese style curry. I even make it at home sometimes. I know. You all thought I went out to eat all of the time. I actually love to cook.

Here's my curry pizza

It was pretty tasty!

Jason's taco rice looked really good too!

Instead of taco seasoning though, it was curry. Mmmm!! I'll have to try that next time.

Jason said it was good and it had a little kick to it. Just a little.

He also ordered some garlic bread

He said the garlic bread was "okay". It looked good and smelled good though....

If you are in the mood for some good Japanese style curry, just walk out Main Gate and check out Familia. Go over the railroad tracks and it's on the right hand side, right after TNT car sales.
Good curry and nice atmosphere!

Maple City

When someone asks me where my favorite Italian restaurant in Iwakuni is, I always say "Maple City!"

What is it about Maple City that makes it my favorite? The food is amazing. And it's amazing every time I go. The service is always great. The ladies who work there are so nice and they are always smiling. It's also where I found the first red wine I liked. Until then I could only drink white zinfandel. Yes. I know. THAT is NOT a real wine. I don't drink white zinfandel anymore. Cross my heart. I have graduated and moved on to cabs and merlots (from what I have been told...the "REAL" wines). Another thing I love about Maple City is the atmosphere. Nice and intimate enough for a date night and yet, casual enough for an office farewell dinner.

I was lucky enough to help plan a birthday dinner for my good friend, Alma, a couple of weeks ago. Of course the first place I thought of was Maple City. So I called and was able to get reservations. I also let them know we would have a birthday girl in our party. If you tell them ahead of time, they will make something a little extra for the dessert.

As soon as we were seated, I started looking at the menu. I try to get something different every time I come, but the hardest decision is usually whether I should get pizza, or pasta. I should mention that they do have English menus. They also have a nice wine menu. In English. I was DD for the evening so I just got to taste some of the wines they ordered.

Sometimes they have these awesome sets that you can order. You choose your pizza or pasta and then add 1,500yen to the price to get a set. The set has a couple of appetizers, garlic bread (SOOOO GOOD!), a drink, and a dessert. I always get a set if they are offering it. The garlic bread is all-you-can-eat, by the way.

Now I had to decide which pasta to get. Hmmmm....so many yummy choices. Then, the word "pumpkin" jumps out at me. What is that? I see at the very bottom of the menu there is a pasta with a pumpkin cream sauce. Are you serious?! PUMPKIN CREAM? Oh. I had to order it. I love Japanese pumpkin (kabocha). I was so excited! It was almost like it was MY birthday!

The first appetizer was scallops. These were SO good!

If you can't eat fish or just don't like seafood at all, just let them know when you order and they will bring something else out for your appetizer.

The next appetizer was super yummy too!

Then the pastas started coming out.

My pumpkin cream pasta!!

Oh, it was reaaalllly good! Amazing. Delicious. I'm drooling right now.

One of our friends ordered the black squid ink pasta

We all tried it and it wasn't bad. Leaves black stuff all over your teeth and mouth though so it looks kinda weird.

For my drink, I always get a hot tea. Usually, Earl Grey. I love how they serve their tea. They actually use tea leaves and they give you a little timer to let you know when your tea is ready to be poured.

I have them bring my tea after dinner so I can enjoy it with my dessert.

Time for dessert!!!!! I couldn't wait!! Alma had no idea that we had told the restaurant it was her birthday!

Happy Birthday Alma!!! Isn't that cool??

One of our friends ordered a different set from us and this is the dessert that he got.

So purty!!

I love Maple City!! They also have some great lunch sets! They are open from 11:00AM-3:00PM for lunch and then from 5:00PM-11:00PM for dinner. They can get kind of busy on the weekends so I think it's best to make reservations. Their number is (0827)53-3319. Dial it just like that if calling from a cell phone.

To get to this amazing restaurant, go out main gate and turn right at that very first light. Follow that road all the way until it comes to a T-intersection. Turn left but stay in the middle or right lane because you will be making a right onto Route 2. Go straight on this for about 15-20 minutes (it's before you get to the big YouMe Town in Otake). Maple City is on your right. There is a car dealership across from it on your left. I want to say it's a Toyota dealership. There is a sign on the side of the street that says "Maple City Sicily" or something like that. They do have a few parking spaces in front, but they also have other parking. Turn right down the little street right next to Maple City and then take the first left. There is a small lot on your right. You can park in there.

Great place for a date night!

Last Friday Night......yeah we danced on table tops....yeah we ate at an Izakaya...

Oh. Wait. Those aren't the words to that song. And I'm not sure if it completely fits how our Friday night went. We did do some drinking....but I'm pretty sure none of us danced on table tops. There was some singing though. And maybe a little dancing. And now it wasn't even last Friday night. It was more like two Friday nights ago. I liked the title when I started writing this post over a week ago though so I'm keeping it.

I'm sure the only thing you are wondering at this point is, "what's an Izakaya?" Izakayas are a style of restaurant in Japan. I always think of them as a munch and drink place. They have a wide variety of food, but they are in small portions so you can munch away on many different things. They usually have a wide variety of drinks, and a lot of them offer all-you-can-drink plans.

Our choice for a girls night out was Shirokiya. Shirokiya is one of my favorite izakayas in Iwakuni. Great food. Service is usually pretty good. And they have an all-you-can-drink plan. For 90 minutes it's 1,000yen and for 120 minutes it's 1,500yen. We went with the 120 minutes plan. I do have to warn you that the all-you-can-drink menu for drinks is different than the regular one so some of the drinks in their big menu are not available for the all-you-can-drink. So, if you just plan on having a few I would just pay for each drink separately. Some of the really yummy cocktails are 398yen each so the prices aren't too bad.

One of my favorite cocktails -

Strawberry Sour! With chunks of strawberries!! Unfortunately, this is not on the all-you-can-drink menu. Booooooo!!
So I drank these all night instead...

Cassis Soda. Very good!!


Now for the important stuff. Food! They have so many things to choose from! I like to order a bunch of different dishes and just have everyone eat whatever they want. It's also a great way to try something you have never eaten before. And if you're worried about how to do the bill at the end of the evening, just split it. Some places do not let you split the bill at the register, and this is one of them. Besides, it's too difficult to figure out who pays for what when everyone was eating everything. Splitting it just makes things so much easier.

Here are some of the fabulous dishes we ordered -

This onion dish was soooooo good. If you like onions. I do!!

Edamame (soy beans) deep fried in wonton wrappers. Yes! I said FRIED! These are addictive!

This was bacon wrapped OKRA. MmmHmmmm.....bacon wrapped. I'm pretty sure there was more than one on the plate when it was brought out, but it seems someone didn't understand the rules. Nobody touches the food until Linda has taken a picture of it. Yes, even if it means Linda has to take a bunch of pictures.

There are a few items on the menu that I ALWAYS order. Bacon wrapped asparagus is one of them. One plate comes with two pieces so I usually order a couple of plates (or three, or four....). You get the choice of sauce or just salted. I prefer the salted, but if there are people at the table who have never been to Shirokiya before, I'll order both so they can try both and then decide which one they prefer.

I also love their yakitori (chunks of chicken on a stick). These are also two to a plate so I order a few. I prefer these with sauce so that is what I usually get, but some people like them just salted. I suggest ordering a plate of each and then you can see which one you prefer.

I love it when it takes me half the evening to realize my camera is on the wrong setting. And I couldn't even blame it on the alcohol.


If you like salad, their seafood salad is pretty tasty. Get it with the sesame dressing. Mmmmmmm!! The caesar salad is also pretty good. I didn't get a picture of the salad.......and I'm not sure why.

We also ordered this amazing camembert cheese croquettes. Wow!

Ummmm...it's got cheese in it and it's FRIED. Need I say more? I think I have found a new favorite.


The menu is in English AND it has pictures!!

Shirokiya is a pretty big restaurant. Quite a few tables and they also have some party rooms.

I've planned some farewell dinners here and some birthday dinners. The party rooms are pretty spacious. You will have to take your shoes off though so don't forget to wear socks. I've also taken people who are here TAD to Shirokiya and they loved it. The variety of food on the menu makes it easy to take a group of people who all have different tastes. There's definitely something for everyone.

To get to this fantastic izakaya, go out the main gate and turn right at the very first light. Follow this road up and over the bridge. You will pass Mike's Tex Mex on your left. At the third light after you've crossed the bridge (I'm counting the one right at the bottom in front of Mike's), you'll turn left and go around this swirly (I like that word) overpass. At the light, turn right. Now, you can park at the train station (I do, but it is a little more expensive than other lots) or you can park at the new lot that's kind of across from Andersen Bakery. Shirokiya is on the same side of the street as Andersen's. Walk past Andersen Bakery and right after you pass Monte Beer (I'll be blogging about this place soon!), you will see some stairs on your left. Go up the stairs and you will see Shirokiya!

Great place for food and drinks!!

And if you feel like belting out a few tunes after dinner, there is a great karaoke place right next to Monte Beer. Nice karaoke rooms and you can continue munching and drinking while you sing! That's what we did. Some singing, some dancing, lots of drinking, and some more singing!