Great Dinners in Japan: Torizen

So I got to thinking, if there are people out there who are actually reading this blog, they may think all I do in Japan is go out to dinner.  Well with more than 30 trips to the Land of the Rising Sun under my belt, which average 5 nights a pop, that comes to over 150 dinners.  So yes, I have had a LOT of dinners in Japan!!  :-)

There are a few though that stick out above the others (quite a few actually, heck maybe even most!!!) and one of these was a special night in Tagajo in October of 2008.  After a meeting at our facility, a group of coworkers and I went out to Torizen, a great restaurant just around the corner from our plant.  It has kind of a unique facade, as there is a waterwheel in the lovely garden in front, and the building itself almost looks more like a house than a restaurant.

Inside, there are different sections in the restaurant, with different table set ups.  Some have their own cooktops I think, and then there are private rooms that can accommodate groups of say 8 or more.  They have FANTASTIC fresh fish among other things.  This was one of the few restaurants where I have actually eaten uni out of it's own shell.

Anyway on this particular night my friends had booked a private room, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal.  It was a really relaxing evening, with great food and great conversation.  At the end, we took the following picture.

Now in searching through my photo archives, I realized I didn't have any good shots of the front of Torizen.  As you can probably guess, Torizen was quite severely impacted by the Tsunami.  However, I believe I have heard that they have reopened.  I will try to get some confirmation on this.  I was sent the following picture of the front of Torizen taken just days after the Tsunami.  Quite a mess unfortunately.

I do hope to return to this fantastic restaurant once again, and share another meal with friends.