Selected “Delicious” restaurants and menus! Honjamaka” Hidehiko Ishizuka’s Favorite Restaurant Chain “Teishoku-ya

Hello, everyone. Have you ever watered the flowers in your garden with a hose in the morning and also watered your own head? My name is Hidehiko Ishizuka.

Once again, I would like to introduce my favorite restaurant chain. The theme is “Teishoku” (set meal).

First of all, Yayoiken. The atmosphere in the restaurant is relaxing, just like my parents’ house. My favorite is the “Chicken Nanban Set Meal.

Chicken Nanban is now eaten all over Japan, but its home is in Miyazaki Prefecture. The key is the amount of tartar sauce. The chicken nanban at Ogura, the famous restaurant in Miyazaki Prefecture that made me fall in love with chicken nanban, has so much tartar sauce that you can hardly see the chicken.

In this respect, Yayoiken’s chicken nanban is a bit similar. Since it is a set meal, the chicken nanban is in the center, surrounded by miso soup, rice, and chilled tofu, as if the chicken nanban were a trio.

I first check the taste by dipping my index finger in the tartar sauce like a narcotics officer in a TV drama. There is no doubt. It’s the real thing. I can feel the egg and mayonnaise. Then, the second chicken from the left.

Then I took a bite of the second chicken from the left. The batter soaked in pleasant sweet vinegar and the tartar sauce that gently envelops it are the best creation God has ever given to mankind. I shovel down the rice, and then calm my spirit with a bowl of miso soup.

Here is another point. Yayoiken offers free refills of rice, and you can pour “dashi” over it like a drink bar. In other words, if you put pickles on rice and pour dashi over it, you can have ochazuke. I hope I don’t offend God by doing this.

If there was an election to choose God, I would vote for the president of Hidakaya.

Next is Hidakaya. Have you ever been in a Chinese restaurant and wondered whether to add gyoza or fried rice to your ramen?

Well, wonder no more. Hidakaya has a menu called “La Gyoza Cha Set”. It includes half ramen, gyoza and half fried rice for 690 yen including tax.

Not only is it cheap. The ramen has a flavorful soup that makes you want to eat it every day, and the noodles are so smooth and glutinous. The noodles are so smooth and glutinous that they should be in textbooks. The fried rice is not too strong, and the rice is crispy and delicious. When the dumplings break the skin, the “liquid that brings happiness” overflows in your mouth.

You can eat it any way you like, but I like to eat ramen, gyoza, and fried rice in that order, like a circuit training. If there were an election to choose God, I would vote for the president of Hidakaya.

Finally, there is “Matsunoya. They usually provide us with “maiyas” at reasonable prices, and I recommend the “Tokucho Roast Cutlet Set Meal” (590 yen including tax).

Despite the price, it comes with a large loin katsu, rice, miso soup, and potato salad on the side of the loin katsu. It is so kind that it makes me worry about the president of Matsunoya.

After taking a sip of the miso soup and putting your mind at ease, it is time for the first match with the loin cutlet. After pouring the special sauce over the whole thing and preparing the venue, the game begins. The crispy and juicy roasted pork cutlet was a winner within 3 seconds. After the game, his batter and a little bit of the delicious sauce are scattered on the white rice, and even that is a side dish.

The white rice without the roasted pork cutlet reminds me of Matsuda-kun, a boy I transferred to when I was in elementary school. Matsuda-kun was such a funny and kind guy that we all talked about him in class for months after he was gone. Oh, what was that story?

From the October 17, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY