Menchanko-Tei WAIKIKI TOWER

Watashi wa senshuu no nichiyoobi go-ji san-juu hun kara roku-ji yon-juu go hun made nihonryoori bangohan o tasbemashita at Menchanko tei. It is a very nice restaurant that is located in downtown Waikiki on Kuhio Avenue in the Waikiki Tower. All of the people who work there are Japanese, and so are the customers, so we expected the food to be pretty good. “Kore wa nan desu ka,” I asked the waitress. She said it was their famous noodle bowl dish called “menchanko.” Menchanko wa Nihonryoori desu, a yon-hyaku year old recipe that was mainly consumed by sumo wrestlers because it is a combination of everything one needs in their diet. Men means noodle and chanko means sumo wrestler stew. Protein, vegetables, carbohydrates, and soothing broth. I ordered the Hot Miso Menchanko as my main dish. It was full of many things like: shrimp, pork, tofu,egg noodles, and soothing broth that one can add hot sauce, soy sauce, and other spices to because the immediate broth is very basic. Spicy ryoori to yasai ga dai suki desu. My friend Brittany ordered nagasaki sara udon and my other friend Alicia had rice balls with salmon and sauteed shrimp and broccoli with special mayonnaise sauce. I was unaware of the fact that Japanese people really like mayonnaise. Mayonnaise ga suki ja arimasen. :P
My ryoori came out in a hot caste iron bowl on a tray with a wooden spoon and chopsticks. I added a lot of wasabi and hot pepper sauce to spice it up. It was the most delicious dish of them all, as I am a huge fan of soup and not so much of rice and noodles being the main component in my meal. The shrimp and broccoli dish sounded amazing, but it was overwhelmingly covered in mayonnaise, which ruined it. I will never understand why the Japanese like mayonnaise. Nagasaki sara udon ga kirai desu; the glaze was very odd and ruined the dish.
Ichi hour goro bangohan o tabemashita and enjoyed our food very much. It was medium priced, and worth the time. Throughout this dining experience I discovered that my favorite Japanese foods are healthier and do not involve glaze, mayonnaise, or anything heavy as it ruins the taste of the ingredients. My favorite Japanese foods are sushi rolls like the california, spider, vegetable, unagi to tuna; lunch food like chicken katsu, miso soup, nyori, yasi to shrimp tempura, to anything that has mostly tofu, yasi, chiiken to sakana. Watashi wa nihoonryoori to New Mexican ryoori are my favorite types of food.
This activity was very fun and educational. I thought I absolutely loved Japanese food, but found that there is more to it than just sushi and lunch boxes. I plan to eat more Japanese food in the future and order in Japanese, exploring anything with ingredients I think sound appetizing and then say “Ja, sore onegai shimasu” keeping and open mind, mouth and stomach. :)

-Alie San