About Time - Lunch Time

No, Pacific-Islander isn't turning into a foodie blog. At least not intentionally. I leave that to the experts like Kat and Satoshi.

Super Typhoon Songda (Vietnamese for tributary) is coming our way. Luckily its progress is slowing and by the time it reaches us in the wee hours of Monday morning, it is expected to be no more than a tropical storm.

As Kimie pointed out to me this morning, it will be a disaster for this part of Japan if this summer we are hit with a strong typhoon carrying a lot of moisture, as so many roofs (including our own) were damaged in the March 11 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks.


Today we had lunch at restaurant we had never tried before. Oddly enough, it is only about one mile from our house. Over the years we have talked about giving it a try, but perhaps because our own kitchen is so close, we had never stopped there. Today, on the way home from a local garden center in the rain, we decided to have lunch there. About time!

とんがりかん（Tongarikan) is yet another couple owned restaurant with the business on the ground floor and their home upstairs. We learned that they moved here from Saitama Prefecture (the other side of Tokyo) for health reasons - much easier breathing out here near the ocean and away from the big city. They have been in business for 13 or 14 years now.

Tongarikan has cheerful atmosphere with bay windows full of flowers. On the menu today were curry, pasta, and a teishoku (set lunch).


I opted for spaghetti with asari clams and Buna-shimeiji mushrooms which was served with a salad of cabbage, carrots, lettuce, and mizuna, and a fresh roll.

Kimie chose the set lunch, which today was pork picatta sautéed in egg and served with salad, veggies, rice and soup. That's not ketchup by the way, but the tangy tonkatsu sauce often served with pork in Japan.

The food was good and the owners friendly. Kimie quizzed them about our next holiday destination, which they have visited twice before. Where might that be, you ask? Sorry. You'll have to wait a bit to find out.

They offer a choice cake and coffee sets too. We didn't have one, though. I can't really throw the diet out the window every weekend, after all. But Kimie thought it might be a good place for the teachers at her school to gather, as it not far for them to travel.


The name Tongarikan is reference to the peaked roof of the place - tongari means pointed or sharp. The white car on the left is going down the street leading to our home. Note the blue plastic patch on the roof of the house it is passing - a common sight throughout East Japan these days.

(The food pics were taken with Kimie's cellphone, so a little rough. I rode my bike back to take the exterior shots with my waterproof Olympus µ Tough.)

After the stormy week ahead, I'm hoping for some nice sailing weather next weekend and if we get it, we'll be having lunch at Mama's Kitchen once again.