Let's keep the Beer Garden conversation going shall we? Last week, I talked about the Beer Garden in Hitachinaka city at the Hotel Crystal Palace. I ranted and raved about how great that Beer Garden is. Towards then end of my post, I let everyone know that there are other Beer Gardens around Ibaraki. One of the places I named was Tsuchiura station. After writing that post I thought, "why don't I go there this week?" The plan was to meet my wife at Tsuchiura station after she finished working and head to the roof top Beer Garden to relax and enjoy some delicious beer.
Nice lanterns!
One downside I thought about when writing about the last Beer Garden is that the Hotel Crystal Palace is easier to access by car. Meaning that someone in your group won't be drinking unless you get a daiko (a kind of taxi service that drives you and your car home for you when you have been drinking). This Beer Garden is on top of Tsuchiura station, so your group just has to take the train, enter the Playatre in Tsuchiura station, take an elevator to the roof and you are there. That way everyone can drink. Once we got to the top floor, we were met by the staff and they explained the rules and menu. If you just want to drink, it is 2000 yen for 90 minute nomihodai (all you can drink). If you want the BBQ course and side dishes with the 2 hour nomihodai, it is 3500 yen. Finally, if you want all you can eat side dishes and all you can eat BBQ course with the 2 hour nomihodai, it is 4500 yen. This is per person by the way. This place is a bit more expensive than the Hotel Crystal Palace Beer Garden.
We chose the BBQ course and side dishes with the 2 hour nomihodai and went to our table. One thing I really liked was that since we were on the top floor, we got a very cool breeze the entire night. Neither of us were hot at any time during the night. Another gigantic plus was, NO MOSQUITOES! It felt great wearing shorts and sandals and not fear being bitten every five seconds.
Grab your drink!
At this Beer Garden, you have to go to the bar area and grab your own drink. When I went to get my drink, I saw that there was a highball machine, a soft drink machine, ingredients to make a cocktail and my personal favorite the tornado beer machine. "Uh, what is a tornado beer machine?" you might be asking. I think it is better if I just show it to you.
Cool right? At first, it was kind of a pain to get the glass cup in the right position but then it was so awesome seeing the beer come up from the bottom. I went back to this machine quite a number of times during the night and it never got old.
Side Dishes
The side dishes were edamae, lettuce with a very delicious garlic sauce and kimchi. I don't know what it is about this Beer Garden's kimchi, but it is one of my favorite kimchis in Ibaraki. It is quite tasty and has the right amount of spice that I like, not blazing hot but not too mild. If you want to get another plate of kimchi or any of the side items, you have to pay an extra 300 yen for each extra side dish, which I did. I cannot get enough of this place's kimchi.
The meat!
The meat consisted of pork bara (belly), horumon (pork organs), beef kalbi (ribs), chicken and another type of beef that I couldn't quite put my finger on.
BBQ!
We turned on our small provided BBQ and started cooking our meat. The kalbi was excellent as was expected. Everywhere I have had kalbi in Japan has never disappointed. The bara came out nice and a little crispy which I love. The chicken was OK, nothing really special happening there. The other piece of beef was delicious when I dipped it in the sauce that was on the table, I want to say the sauce was a kind of sweet soy sauce. The horumon was really chewy and it didn't really have any flavor, it was my least favorite out of all the meats. I do like horumon, but not this horumon.
We ate, we drank and we had a merry time. I will admit, I was still a bit hungry after we finished all the food. I don't really think you get a lot of food at this place unless you get the all you can eat course, but the beer filled me up. A waiter came to inform us that our 2 hours were up, so we finished our drinks and headed home, walking sluggishly.
My wife and I had a good time at this Beer Garden. It is near where we live so it is really convenient for us to go. We will probably end up going again sometime this summer.
If you ever have a stop at Tsuchiura station and want to grab some beers with your pals or gals, give this Beer Garden a shot. Who knows, you might see me there, still mystified by the tornado beer machine.
Enjoy!
Just some follow up information. This Beer Garden is open from 6:00 pm to 11:00pm. They don't allow any new customers in after 9:00pm. For my non-Japanese speakers, this place had no English in sight so be prepared for that. For more information on this Beer Garden, check out this website:
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