Hi, foodies in the Hive!
I hope you're having a nice week 😁
Last weekend I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to dine at a restaurant that I hadn't visited since it opened exactly 4 months ago. It's Tokio, and although I had heard about them before, no one told me that the decoration of the place, including some of the paraphernalia and the waiters' attire were inspired by Naruto. The owner must be a fan. Naruto went from manga to anime and was my son's favorite for years when he was little; it brings back such wonderful memories.
The colors of this Japanese restaurant which first location is in Valencia (Venezuela) speak symbolism. You can tell from the very moment you see the restaurant from the street that it has tod o with Asian culture.
AMBIANCE & DECOR
The decoration of the facade resembles those Japanese gates you see at a Shinto shrine: a Torii. I cannot say whether this is sacrilegious or not and at what level 😂 Forgive me, please!
From inside, you can read the full name of the restaurant circling the top of the door: “Tokyo Poke, Sushi & Tea”.
As soon as you enter the restaurant, you can see there's a second floor; the stairs are located next to the entrance. I could see it from my table downstairs.
In front of the staircase, this Buddha watched over the place. The lit candles looked like offerings. Nice.
This was my view from our table.
The waiters were dressed up as Naruto characters. Even if you couldn't identify them, their clothes (costumes), the kind you'd see at a cosplay show, were fun to watch and made you feel like you were somewhere in fictional Japan. Really fun.
I loved the conical bamboo hat of this waiter.
It kept me thinking about Asian rice fields.
The DJ upstairs smiled when he saw I was about to take a picture. It was a nice gesture. His costume made me think of the three parcaes, which is a western thing but nothing you wouldn't see in manga/anime/etc..., as they have a strong western influence, too. Notice the decoration of this floor; here there were drawings on the ceiling.
The music was playing a little too loud for a restaurant if you ask me.
Here (upstairs) the atmosphere screamed "bar" more than "restaurant".
The ceiling downstairs evoked a starry night (not Vna Gogh's but still nice).
You can see the ceiling here too, reflected on the big round mirrors on the wall, which not only represent a circle, so relevant in Japanese philosophies, but made the place feel wider.
Fake as they were, the cherry blossoms were a nice touch which introduced a natural elemnent in the decoration, fresh spring. They looked like large bonsais next to this table for two.
The red LED lamps looked like traditional lanterns and they were really something nice to look at next to the "cloth art" on the walls--which made me think of noren, traditional Japanese cloth banners. They filled the space under the stars, made you feel cozy.
The red lights were a theme here, along with bright white, wood resembling bamboo, and some darkness to evoke a night out in Tokio or a stroll through the Geisha neighborhood 😉
The bathroom looked nice and clean. I didn't use it; I just took the photo.
THE MENU
"Poke, Sushi & Tea" points directly to what they serve, but you will also find cocktails and more 👇 The light was poor though, so I couldn't get better pics.
You can also check their menu on their IG.
OUR DRINKS
I felt tempted when I saw this drink. I had no idea of its name and I forgot to ask:
Anyway, as I read the menu, I found out that I might really like a French 75, and that's what I ordered.
The cost is the same for a cubalibre (coke, rum, lemon), so I think it's fine when you compare these drinks, but in general, it's unnecessarily expensive.
I think this drink ☝️ should cost half this price, considering that it's not garnished as the other cocktails ordered at our table 👇👇
A strawberry mojito:
A herbal infusion:
My drink was gorgeous, right? But come on, $6.50 is too much. I can buy a bottle of wine with that. I want to go to a bar and be able to drink a couple of cocktails without emptying my pockets. Perhaps I always have too little money on me 😂
OUR FOOD
My sister ordered octopus ceviche, which looked like a character come out of a SciFi B-movie, hehe, because of the long slices of fried unripe plantain which looked like tentacles or antennae. I loved it, but it was a bit salty.
My brother in law ordered some tempura sushi rolls. He said they were really good. I didn't want to try those because I was not in the mood for fried food.
I wanted rice and some raw salmon in soy sauce, so I ordered a dish of Alaska sushi rolls, one of my all time favorite since I can remember.
The topping was delicious and had a generous serving of wakame.
The cream cheese was only a little, and it was perfect, as you could taste all the sweet, savory, tangy, spicy, creamy, crispy... I'm definitely ordering this here again--if I ever come back to spend my little money 😂 None of my bites broke; important 😘
The salmon chunks in the rolls were super fresh, and so was the avocado. The nori around the fleshy avocado and salmon felt crispy in every bite.
DESSERT (One x All)
As you could see the food on our plates was more than enough, so we shared a cup of dessert.
It was a big ball of ice cream on roasted sliced almonds, crumbled vanilla cake, brownie, and chocolate sauce topped with caramel sauce. A sugar bomb, and it was huge! (350 ml of ice cream, I think).
It was a great mix of textures and flavors in every bite, but I could only eat half of this serving even if I only came here for dessert. Too much.
THE CHECK, PLEASE.
As soon as my sister (it was her treat, thank God 🙈) asked for the check, our waiter brought these cute napkins, magic tablet napkins, I had only seen on movies, haha... Remember 2015 Paul Feig's Spy? There was this super funny scene where Melissa McCarthy's character said that she was "cleansing [her] palate" after she had chewed the hand towel by mistake. So funny. And Jude Law, so handsome... But I digress 🤣
These ones had a strong but nice mint scent.
All in all,
it was a nice experience. Attention was A+. Cocktail and sushi rolls, delicious.
Our waiter, playing Itachi Uchiha, from Konoha (Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto's hometown and the first village established by the Shinobi in the series) told us that the owner had made them “study” the anime series (Naruto). He told us because I asked him if he knew he was dressing like a character from Naruto; I had watched this series with my son about 20 years ago; as I recall, the manga was released about 3 or 4 years earlier than that--never read it--. Our waiter told us he was Itachi Uchiha and while showing us his ring, he said, referring to the inscription, “this means pride.” I saw his face and immediately knew he probably hadn't seen the series, but the owner had, I'm 99% sure, haha. I would've loved to visit this restaurant with my son, who is now a young man and is living outside the country. I remembered with nostalgia all the times we sat in front of the computer watching Naruto; we had no cable or TV signal in the apartment we had just moved into; many times I prepared at his request something very similar to ramen that he loved for dinner and which he ate while watching the series with me... Anyway, I must say the place is noisy; perhaps I'm too old now for this kind of vibe. I like to eat in silence or with soft, soothing music in the background. But I must acknowledge the fact that the place is right what you need if you want to spend a nice vibrant night out with friends or family. I would come back without hesitation.
And the check? Well, my sister paid almost $90. You could say it was $30 per capita. It seems expensive, even if you take into account the whole Naruto "experience," and considering that we each had only one cocktail and ordered only one dish, and that we also shared the dessert (which was huge, enough for at least two people).
All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.
Thank you so much for your visit :)
