Restaurant Nippon

Last night we met up with some family visiting for the weekend and they picked out a Japanese restaurant for dinner, Restaurant Nippon. Not only was it nice to see family, but we got to check off another country for our World Cup challenge.

Apparently what Restaurant Nippon (and their sister restaurant Soba Nippon) is known for is their soba, which is made from buckwheat they grow on their own farm in Canada with the original soba seeds imported from Hokkaido. According to the menu, they make the soba noodles daily. Knowing that, we both figured we would probably order some form of soba noodles!

I wasn't feeling that hungry when we were ordering (probably a combination of too many Mango Mango gummies while watching the World Cup, just finishing a crosstown bike ride, and some sticker shock), so I got an appetizer size of their soba salad with chicken ($15). The full size was about $7 more, and although I didn't know exactly how much bigger it would be, I didn't think I would need to get the large entree size.

I liked the soba noodles but, other than the texture which was nice and firm, they didn't seem all that different from much other soba. The dressing was good but I couldn't pinpoint what was in it. The chicken was fine, but not really anything notable. It's a good summer dish, since it's healthy and refreshing. The quality of the salad was good, but if we had good ingredients like this, it seems like it would be really easy to make this at home. 

A also got the soba salad but he got the entree size and he got salmon instead of chicken, so his came out to $24. Makes sense that salmon would cost more, and he definitely had more greens and some more soba (probably 25-50% more).

A also thought his salad was good. He liked the mild sesame flavor and tartness in the dressing, the buttery nature of the salmon, and the slight sweetness from the dried seaweed. But similar to what I thought, A was also thinking while eating this that we could make this at home if we had the right stuff.

Overall, the food was well-prepared and tasty, the service was good, and some of the other hot dishes that we saw while there also looked appealing. But, although the food was good, we probably won't go back to Restaurant Nippon unless someone else picks it, because it's just really pricey for the amount of food you get. By the time we got home, we were both feeling hungry so we baked some mini samosas from the freezer. After dropping $50 on dinner, we shouldn't have been that hungry when we got home. But if price isn't an issue and you have a light appetite, then it would be a good spot since the soba salads were very light, fresh and tasty.