Dinner in Tachikawa

Would you drive 15 minutes, take the train for 15 minutes and walk another 15 minutes just to try a new restaurant? Sounds crazy, right? Normally I would not, at least not with Abbey and Elliott in tow, but that is just what we did last night. We have heard about Gyoza 1059 for a while now, and since Chad loves gyoza (Japanese potstickers), it seemed like the perfect way to wrap up his birthday/Father's day celebration.
Getting there was an experience in itself, as usual. The restaurant is tiny and located on the first floor of an apartment building, and there is absolutely nowhere to park close by. (Can you imagine if a restaurant in most American cities did not have a parking lot?!) So we took the train and then walked.

So excited we actually found it!

We were forewarned to arrive early since it is so small, so we were waiting when they opened the doors at 5:30. This place has earned the nickname "Communist Gyoza" because they have all these rules about how you order and apparently they don't mess around! We did not try to break any rules except that we brought food for the girls to eat. I don't think they minded, as all the staff (and customers) were in love with our blue-eyed cuties. It took 30 MINUTES (with small children!) to get our food but...

The hugest, most amazing gyoza the world has ever seen!

Five filled with pork, five with mashed potatoes.

I have never seen a restaurant high chair with a seat belt in Japan. So this is how I have to eat when we go out. I didn't even bother with my chopsticks this time, I just swallowed my pride and asked for a fork rather than drop hot messy gyoza on Elliott's head.

Both girls were so good. Elliott sat like this for an hour and Abbey ate her food and played with chopsticks. The waitress in the head scarf behind me was totally ga-ga over the girls.

Oishi desu!

Then we headed back to the station, which is very large and has two multi-story department stores attached to it. On the first floor of one of them is.....

That's right, Krispy Kreme has come to Japan. The store was made only for taking doughnuts home (no tables) and it was packed. We restrained ourselves and only bought a half dozen, one of which we gave Abbey to boost her energy and mood enough to make the trip home.

No I will not give you a bite!

By the time we finished all that walking and train riding and got back in our car, it was about four hours after we had started our adventure. The gyoza were great and the doughnuts tasted like home, but this is one of those things I will not miss about living in Japan!