JS Reneppu Deutsche Izakaya (2007-01-16)
KL celebrated my birthday at a self-proclaimed Deutsche izakaya (Japanese pub), JS Reneppu on Jan 2nd. The only reason I chose that restaurant is because the one I had planned to try wasn't open till the 4th so in order to satisfy my hankering for German pork knuckles, we settled for JS. It seems a bit silly though for us teetotalers to be dining at a place that's more about selling beer than selling good chow. Maybe they do have good chow, if you don't try, you'll never know, right?
The restaurant looks bright and inviting with all the lights and
beer kegs decoration outside. Inside it is dark, crammed and
smoky (from cigarettes). The tables are all packed tightly
together. We were seated in a crowded small room. Our table
was separated from the next one by a grand distance of 4 inches/10 cm
and we could hear every single word said by our neighbors. During
the course of our hour long dinner, KL bumped his arm four times
against the man's next to him and he said it's really uncomfortable.
Since we don't drink, we asked the waitress who came to take our
drinks order for water. To our surprise she told us we HAD to
order at least one drink from the drinks menu. I don't like to be
"forced" to order in a restaurant, so this one-drink-minimum rule
really didn't sit well with me (Why didn't they post this rule at the
door?). But I couldn't bother leaving at
that point to try to find another restaurant, so we reluctantly got
grapefruit juice. We were never given any water at the end.
The juice which tasted like the supermarket variety soon
arrived. For six bucks and such a small glass, they could've done
better than to give you Minute Maid. The juice was followed
shortly by the bread basket with four types of MINI bread rolls.
They were warmed and therefore
had that slight crispy crust and soft center which was delicious.
The accompanied smidgen of liver pate tasted like pureed SPAM but still
tasty. They give you just enough for spreading on one single bite
of bread. So you eat the rest of the bread pateless.
The much anticipated pork knuckle was yummy. Long slow cooking
of the thoroughly salted pork resulted in very tender meat but not
overly salty. I wish there was more of the sauerkraut that came
with the pork.
By this time we could've ordered another dish, but we were so
uncomfortable squished in our seats surrounded in a thick fog of
cigarette smoke that we had to leave. There are other items on
the menu that look interesting enough, but the uncomfortable seating
and foul air make JS an unpopular restaurant for us to return.
JS Reneppu 2-1-8 Yurakucho Under the JR railway track Tel: 3595-0417
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