We have reunited with our now dear friends from Convoy Recon for a joint expeditionary force!
Prepare yourself for a highly automated, tasty, and extremely kawaii experience.
Here we go:
When you show up, you log in here and they'll text you when it's your turn. There's even a website you can go to on your phone to see what number they're on. This is a good thing because the wait can be over an hour. Try to go at an off hour if you can--we were there at 7pm on a Wednesday and we waited about 40 minutes.
Here's where all the magic happens! They even give you a short introduction on how to take out the plates.
You gotta be quick!
Here's where you can put in special orders. It shows you on the screen how much time it will take to get there.
When
they arrive, they zoom down the upper conveyor belt and stop at your
table, and a lady who sounds like a train announcement says, "Without
further delay, now arriving!" in Japanese.
Andrew, Andi, and me!
Django, Miko, and Beston!
We think Andrew could have a lucrative career as a sushi model. Here he is demonstating the shrimp and avocado roll (Jenne recommends!)
Jenne and Miko recommend! Seared salmon with mayo nigiri.
Spider roll
Jenne recommends! Golden crunchy roll.
Salmon roe -- only Miko ate this one.
Real crab roll
Andi recommends! Crispy rice with crab mayo. Special-order it, don't get it off the conveyor or it'll be cold and kind of hard.
eel
Andrew recommends! Special order -- crispy squid.
Tamago
Crunchy roll
Spicy salmon
Django recommends! Tempura Philadelphia roll.
Sunomono: pickled...stuff.
Rainbow roll
Miko recommends! Warabi mochi. Miko says: This shit is pretty hard to find in a restaurant setting. Thrilled!
Daifuku mochi
Mochi ice cream
Django recommends! Soy doughnuts.
Every 5 plates, you get a little animated movie.
Every 15 plates, you get a prize!
Apologies for the vertical video--despite Andrew's objections, it's the only way I could get the whole thing in the frame.
Django was not excited about this one.
It's hard to tell, but this is a tiny sushi-go-round container thingy!
Rating: Two thumbs up (Gold star potential) Date: 9/16/2015 Time in: 7:00 PM (seated at 7:39 PM) Number in our party: 6 Final check amount: $124.42 Price per person: $20.74 Notes:
This meal caused some fits of uncontrolled giggling and cheering.
Once you sit down, there is immediate gratification. Endless food with no wait! If you want something specific that hasn't shown up on the conveyor belt, you can special-order it, and it'll come in just a few minutes!
For every 15 plates you drop into the deposit, there's a prize!
Our favorites:
Andi: sesame balls, crispy rice with crab mayo
Andrew: wasabi, crispy fried squid
Beston: umami oil salmon
Django: tempura philadelphia roll, Japanese soy donuts
Jenne: seared salmon with mayo nigiri, golden crunchy roll
Miko: umami oil salmon nigiri, seared salmon with mayo nigiri
I (Miko) am fairly picky about raw fish, especially salmon, which I find has too strong of a taste unless it's very fresh. I liked the salmon here, probably because they had the sense to marinate it in various flavors rather than leaving it plain!
We were ENTIRELY CHARMED by the experience. We had grown a little wary of Convoy, what with all the fancy hipsterish developments, not to mention the drop in quality at some of our favorite restaurants, but this has restored a bit of our faith in our favorite street in San Diego.
RESTAURANT INFORMATION Address: 4609 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111 Phone number: 858.715.4605 Noise level: 3 Accepts credit cards? Yes. Parking: Shared lot, fairly crowded Ideal group size: 2-6 Available vegetarian options: Dessert? It might have gelatin in it. Edamame, tamago nigiri, natto rolls, cucumber rolls.
Whom not to bring: Vegetarians who want a varied menu
They give you free edamame and miso soup, which is nice. The soup wasn't bad. The edamame needed salt!
"Yellowtail Delight" -- it wasn't entirely delightful but it was okay. It wasn't as spicy as it looked.
These were live shrimp just minutes earlier! Sadly, they weren't very flavorful. I liked the fried heads though.
Rating: Two thumbs down Date: 3/14/14
Time in: 1:51 PM Time out: 2:25 PM Servers' recommendations:Live shrimp sushi, Yellowtail Delight What we ordered:Live shrimp sushi, Yellowtail Delight Number in our party: 2 Final check amount: $21.85 Price per person: $10.93 Notes:
The server was a pleasant fellow and very enthusiastic about his recommendations. It was clear he took pride in working at the restaurant. He asked us if we wanted the shrimp heads from the sushi fried, and he took the trouble to inquire with the chef which fish was freshest today.
Despite the adorable server, the meal was underwhelming in the most boring way. The food and the ambience of the restaurant was just so meh.
We went and had Sage Cake afterward as a palate-cleanser.
RESTAURANT INFORMATION Address: 4365 Convoy St Phone number: 858.560.0990 Noise level: 2, but no one else was there at the time because we went at an off-hour. Accepts credit cards? Yes Parking: Shared lot; you have a decent chance of finding a space. Ideal group size: 1-4
We have taken a very long hiatus...partly because I went to JAPAN for TWO WEEKS! I was fortunate to travel with my brothers and foodie friends who eat as much as, if not more than, I do. Our goals: (1) eat at Sukiyabashi Jiro; (2) eat tons of ramen; and (3) eat everything else in sight. Mission accomplished. And now, a select photo series of our adventures...
First, we flew into Tokyo. Potato mochi with mitarashi sauce @ Hokkaido, an izakaya chain.
Sea grapes! I'd never seen these before. They tasted like teeny bubble wrap full of saltwater. @ Tingara, an Okinawan izakaya.
Oh man, were we nervous to be at Sukiyabashi Jiro (the younger son's branch) of "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" fame. An American tour group left as we were waiting, saying in hushed voices, "That was DIFFICULT," and "What was he SAYING?" Apparently, they had been shooed out because a few of them had left sushi on their plates -- a terrible insult, duh.
I didn't take pictures of the sushi -- you can just watch the movie or Google image search for better photos than I could take. But we had 21 delectable pieces of sushi each: hirame, ika, big scallops, akami, chu-toro, toro, uni, katsuo, anago, small scallops, akagai, kuruma-ebi, kani, clam, kohada, aji, shimesaba, shako, ikura, flounder fin, tamago. After the fourth, our brains went to La La Land from all the deliciousness, so we couldn't remember the order of the tasting menu. In particular, I recall how the fatty tuna and anago dissolved on the tongue -- it melted away faster than butter.
The chef was surly at first, but he warmed up to us. In fact, he even followed us out and chatted for a long while about his work and life philosophy!
A trip to Japan is not complete without a visit to a maid cafe. Even though it might leave your soul feeling a little the emptier, your parfait will be ridiculously cute. Or kawaii. Or whatever.
Lookit that GORGEOUS MARBLEDNESS. Some of the best beef we've ever had!
We ate the beef in sukiyaki and shabu shabu, prepared for us by attentive kimonoed ladies. We were a long way from Swab World.
At the food stalls outside Tsukiji. This tuna/salmon roe/fatty tuna+green onion bowl is 1200 yen (about $12) from Tsujiki Donburi Ichiba. I went back for this twice more. We learned from Takashi the sushi master that you have to be very careful when you cut salmon roe from the sac -- if it's done poorly, bile seeps all over it and you have to cover up the taste with a lot of salt. The salmon roe at Sukiyabashi and Tsukiji is not salty, and it doesn't leave a fishy taste in your mouth.
At Inoue, a ramen stall in Tsukiji. This was our favorite ramen in Japan -- simple, straightforward, shoyu broth, 650 yen.
These are the Inoue ramen men.
Hand-cut noodles and niboshi broth distinguish Nagi's ramen. The whole egg was sure delicious too.
You know what else Japanese people do well? Pasta. This was fresh spaghetti with bacon, mushrooms, soy sauce, and butter, topped with seaweed. For 980 yen.
Tonkotsu ramen at our cousin's favorite, Ippudo. (Apparently, they opened a branch in NY that's not half as good.)
Out in the country in the little town of Shimoda. These giant shrimp were still flailing their little legs about (my aunt is imitating them) as we ate the meat off of them. We felt like barbarians, but the sashimi sure was sweet.
Shimoda is known for their kinmedai, a soft, white fish. Mmm, lookit all that fat.
At the end of the meal, the giant shrimp comes back out, cooked in the miso soup.
This is chicken sashimi. I decided to ignore all of my American-born fear of salmonella poisoning and ate it. It was ultra-tasty. Just like very good fish sashimi. @ Bochi Bochi, an izakaya in Shimoda.
Yes, they're just sandwiches, but they were amazing! The egg was so soft and fluffy, and the ham/tomato/cucumber had wasabi mayo on it. @ Hiranoya, a traditional diner in Shimoda.
Our mom's hometown, Kawazu, has very clean rivers, which means they have the best unagi around. Here is the menu at Manryo. Three items: unagi over rice, rice between a double-layer of unagi, or rice with unagi on the side.
And here it is: one of my favorite meals in Japan. Eel usually tastes at least a teeny bit like mud to me, but not this! It is crisp on the edges. The skin melts in your mouth. The meat is fresh and tender.
Japanese cakes are so adorable!
And now I can't eat at a Japanese restaurant in San Diego for a while. At least a month, maybe two.
