Seafood Chaya [Iki Iki Tei] / 海鮮茶屋 「活き活き亭」

On Sunday, a friend of ours invited us out for a drive around the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture. We were once again headed to Nokogiri Yama (Sawtooth Mountain) and Nihon-ji Temple. The last time we went, we got caught in a typhoon and I didn't get a chance to check out Jigoku Nozoki (Hell's Peephole). But before being tourists, first we went for lunch. Our friend Yukio was going to take us to a ramen shop but it wasn't opened until 11:30am (it was still 11:00am when we reached the ramen shop). To kill some time, we went to the nearby marina where we were going to check out the Naka no Shima Bridge. But near the bridge was this restaurant called [Iki Iki Tei] and it just looked too good to pass up. We decided to have lunch here instead. Oh my, my mother would be in heaven here. Its a fish-market buffet-like restaurant. You choose your fresh seafood and grill it yourself at your table. Between the four of us, we picked out some razor clams, hard clams, turbos, fresh sea urchin, large shrimp that was partially barbecued (you grill the rest at your table), clam rice, some yakitori (even though its not seafood), squid, and some yakisoba as well. Personally, I despise sea urchin and squid but found the freshness of both of them not only edible, but delicious as well!!

日曜日に友達が私たちを誘って千葉県までドライブに出かけた。目的地は鋸山と日本寺。以前にも日本寺は行きましたが、その時台風が来て、自分が一番行きたかった場所まで行かれなかった。それは日本寺にある地獄のぞきとゆう所。でもその前は昼飯だ。友達がおすすめのラーメン屋に連れて行くと言って、店に着いたらまだ開店してなかった。30分が余ったため近くの港まで行った。そこに中の島大橋があって、それを見に行くことにした。橋の近くに海鮮茶屋「活き活き亭」とゆう看板を見て、店もよさそうな雰囲気で、予定変更でこちの店でランチ食べることにした。や～私のお母さんがここに来るとまるで天国に居る気分になるでしょう。新鮮な海の幸がざらりとならんで、自分が食べたいものを選んで、自分のテベルで焼くの。四人で選んだものはアサリ、ハマグリ、うに、サザエ、エビ、あさりご飯、イカ、と焼きそば。個人的にイカとうには嫌いだったが、ここの新鮮なイカとうにを食べてみて。。。あれ。。。食える、とゆうより―美味しい！！

Walking into the restaurant, this is the first thing we saw - damn those shrimps are large. Of course we had to have one.

店に入ったら最初に目にしたのはこれ―エビでっかい。もちろん食べるしかない。

One large shrimp / でっかいエビだ

Pan of Clams / あさり三昧だ

Fresh Sea Urchin / うに

Rice with clams / あさりご飯


Fresh Squid / イカの刺身

Grilling time / 焼いてます

Mustn't forget the seafood yakisoba / 海鮮焼きそばも忘れずに

Bon Appetit!

いただきます！