Mumesan — Restaurant in Fujinomiya

Not the biggest fan of teppanyaki, but my friends were so we stopped by for a meal. And i am glad we did.

This little joint is by the road side, blink and you will miss it. But if you paid enough attention, there is a paper cut of an old granny that marks the spot. Look for it.

There is a car park by the side, so no worries about parking in the area. Upon entering i immediately knew who that granny in the cut out was.

She warmly greeted us and sat us by the grill table.

The place only has 2 items on the menu - Yaki Soba and Okonomiyaki.

Yaki Soba - stir fried noodles. Here you have the option of 3 different toppings - egg, squid, pork, or all 3 mixed in. we got the mixed one since we were greedy.

Okonomiyaki - japanese style pancake. Once again there are 3 different options - cabbage only, green onion only, cabbage pancake with noodles on top. Since we already had yaki soba, we decided to go for cabbage for this but we added kimchi. The other toppings include squid, pork, cheese, natto, or all mix.

I must say, it is an experience to sit by the grill and watch the granny at work. Her hands move swiftly and she reaches for ingredients without looking at them. She grabs them and very deftly arranges them in neat circles all the while chatting with guests. Without missing a beat, she flips them expertly and pushes it in front of you when it is ready.

The taste is very homely. Unlike those polished ones from expert chefs at other teppanyaki joints, this is more like a grandmothers touch. I dont know how to express it, but this is just more. Homely. I mean teppanyaki uses the same ingredients. The only major difference would be the sauce used. Otherwise, cabbage, mayo etc all taste the same in my opinion. But here the taste was more, homely. LOL. definitely worth to come and try.

Also when at the counter i saw a lot of customers also take out a bread with yakisoba in it, we didnt because we had a whole day of food planned at cafes etc.

But what was very moving is that she gave us 2 big oranges, like a little snack something to take for the road. Very much like a grandma that didnt what you to leave empty handed. Rather...

We wanted to try the apparent “original” (may need correction here) Fujinomiya yakisoba before leaving, so we drove out of our way. It was located along a rural road all on its own. It felt again like a step back in time, which gave the shop character. There was an annex behind with multiple rooms for larger groups. Ample parking was available. Now, for the yakisoba. With expectations set high, having already tried one other very good yakisoba in the city (see my other review), this fell a tad short. Don’t get me wrong, it was still good — but it somehow lacked oomph. Could be the sauce. Or lack of it. Or, perhaps, this was the way it should be. Personal preference, I would choose the former. All the same, no calories were wasted, as we finished the lot. Obasan was cheerful and kept up to date with technology — she placed our order using a mobile device. Old and new live alongside harmoniously; like good food and...

美味しい! また食べたい ~ The main dishes there are Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki. There are many different types of each one, and you can add egg, meat, or squid to most dishes. The only drink they're serving right now is water, but it seems like they're doing an especially good job of making sure everything is sanitized because of the virus. I would love to go eat there again! Best Yakisoba I've had in...