There are a few signs around the town of Akiu which are neither creepy, nor funny, but surely memorable. Anyone that travels along route 62 towards the famous hot spring town from Sendai is sure to see a few large, bright signs of an elderly man giving you a thumbs up. Half the signs have the restaurant name and half say a shortened version of "tabenioide" which is an invitation to "come and eat" or indirectly as "come and get it (the tasty food!)". The man is actually the owner of a popular Chinese restaurant along the same highway called Tabenioide Ryuuhou (たべにおいで 龍宝) and is a perfect miniature version of his larger than life advertisement.
While the sign may be amusing, the food is serious. Authentic Chinese soul food prepared for the Japanese palate is prepared by staff and the 30 plus year experienced chef. The menu features a treasure trove of ramen, rice dishes, yakisoba, mapo tofu, and gyoza dumplings. However, even with nearly 50 items, everything seems to contain meat or fish products, so vegetarians may have no main course available here. There are no English menus or English speaking staff, but ordering is super easy. There are plastic models of popular dishes at the entrance to the restaurant, and every menu item is pictured in the menu.
I settled on some gyoza dumplings and the mapo yakisoba, one of the lesser known famous dishes in the Sendai area. It consists of spicy tofu on top of over fried buckwheat noodles. The mapo yakisoba was a little spicy, proving its authenticity! The noodles are fried hard creating a texture fashion of fluffy tofu with crunchy noodles. The dumplings I thought were average size with a light but filling taste. They are nothing special, but I recommend them as a compliment to a main course. Although I love Japan and Japanese food, if you live or travel here too much, it is nice to drop the Japanese food for something more adventurous. You can find many strong flavors here like spicy, sour, sweet, and salty. Meals cost between 700 and 1500 yen here.
Open 10:30-20:30 daily. Closed Mondays. Free and adequate parking.
