#4107

Eating at Daihanten in Yokohama's Chinatown

Yokohama Chinatown Restaurant Food Shop Kanagawa Lunch Dinner Eat

All you can eat at a reasonable price

Daihanten, in Yokohama's Chinatown, is one of the most famous shops the area. There are actually two, I'll be speaking about their "honten" (main shop).

I recently went for lunch with a large party of thirteen. Once we managed to get through the large crowd of waiting customers in the downstairs lobby, we walked up to the third floor and divided ourselves at two adjacent tables. Each table had plenty of room to sit and relax so we could enjoy our food.

The restaurant was extremely clean, the staff mostly courteous, and the store manager incredibly pleasant to deal with. The menus are very easy to order from, with clear pictures and easy to point to numbers for those who don't read/speak Japanese. They offer course-style dining, but we went for the 4,000 yen/person all-you-can-eat-lunch special.

The food was delicious and tasted fresh. Portions were generous, but light enough to keep eating! The only downside was having to wait for a few items to arrive, but we were warned about that by the store manager, so there were no complaints from us. Besides, there was always so much food spinning around on the Lazy Susans!

Highly recommended for a one-time experience, and would definitely go back for lunch of dinner with a group of friends.

Note: Absolutely make a reservation ahead of time, as the place - being famous - is always packed.