Yayoiken Kawasaki Kotorobashi — Restaurant in Kawasaki

My wife and I picked out this teishoku (set menu) restaurant completely at random, as it looked good from pictures and reviews we saw online, and it was within walking distance from our hotel. I wasn't aware at the time that it is part of a large chain, but learning this after the fact actually elevated my esteem of this place, and it makes me sad that we don't have any Yayoiken back in the states.

Like many smaller restaurants, you order from a kiosk near the entrance, then find a table or booth inside, and wait for your order number to appear as ready on a nearby TV screen, which you then pick up from the counter. My wife and I each ordered our own set menus, as well as a whiskey highball (these are very popular, and common in Japan), and set about enjoying our very delicious, very filling breakfast, which included rice (and tsukemono pickles, available from a side bar nearby), miso soup, karaage chicken, and our selected main entrées, plus a couple sides for our three-year old who positively LOVES Japanese cuisine.

Although the exchange rate helps a lot, the meals here are positively dirt cheap: converted back to USD, some of the set meals are less than $10 each, meaning two grown adults can have a hearty, filling breakfast, each with a towering alcoholic beverage, for under $25 USD, or less than the price of a single entrée back home. That is an UNHEARD OF deal back in the good ol' USA.

When finished, you bus your own table, bringing everything to a counter adjacent to where you pick up your meal. The whole process here, from start to finish, is intuitive, quick, easy, convenient, and high quality - in short, very Japanese. And as an added bonus for those who like to party hard, while this particular Yayoiken location isn't open 24 hours/day, it might as well be: it's operating hours are 5:00 AM to 3:00AM, every day.

Even Japanese chain restaurants are so far and above anything we have in the US, that they deserve praise and recognition. The best of them end up invoking their own nostalgic longing in us gaijin, when we are forced to return home, and are deprived of their greatness, until our next trip to Japan. Yayoiken, in all its perfect simplicity, will be a place I will long for, likely for many years to come. If you ever have the pleasure of dining in one of these establishments, I suspect you will also understand...

2024.10.17 ...

綺麗なお店、ﾘｰｽﾞﾅﾌﾞﾙで美味しい定食ﾁｪｰﾝ店です。昼時だと混んで席を探すのが大変です。できれば食事時間帯を避けて来訪できると吉。

他店だと若干安いですがその分味・量が落ちてｾﾝｽの無い店内…。やよい軒は暗めですが、ﾃｰﾌﾞﾙの辺りはﾗﾝﾌﾟ付いてて落ち着ける雰囲気が非常に好きです。ﾚｽﾄﾗﾝ風の内装だけど席の辺りは和食ﾚｽﾄﾗﾝ。

特筆すべきﾎﾟｲﾝﾄはﾒﾆｭｰの多さ・味・価格。唐揚げ定食がﾎﾝﾄ美味しい。他の定食も日替わりで色々楽しめるので長い付き合いです。

店員については、他の方の口ｺﾐにも色々あるようですが、基本入口自販機で券購入して待っていれば、すぐ定食が届きますので気にしたことは余りありません。

外食すると大抵味・価格・店の雰囲気どれかで次は無かったりするのですが、ここはﾊﾞﾗﾝｽが取れてます。

悪い点…。しいていうなら入り口の自販機でしょうか？店の中で唯一この自販機だけが浮いてるような気がします。ｽﾍﾟｰｽも取ってますし…。

小型のﾀｯﾁﾊﾟﾈﾙ数台を入り口に置くと今の2台の自販機から3-4列に捌けて効率UPと共に、ｽﾍﾟｰｽも取らない気がするのですが…。

慎重なためか、年駅に数店舗ぐらいしか無いやよい軒ですが、外食するなら当りです。

原材料高騰のためかｽﾃｰｷ定食が無くなったみたいですが、復活したらまた食べたいです…。いつになることやら…...