Restaurant La Corte

Yokosuka Restaurant La Corte is a great little French and Italian restaurant located very close to base. You'll have to work a little bit to find it though.

Entrance to La Corte

The thing that impressed me the most about this place was the attention to detail and the outstanding service. I don't frequent high end restaurants, (and this is not that high end) but service this attentive is rare even here in Japan.

When I came in my coat was taken, placed on a hangar, and I was provided a number tag so that my coat was not confused with others.

Sitting down, I adjusted my silverware that was resting on a porcelain stone, leaving it slightly askew. A minute later the waitress was adjusting it back to proper order.

The sidewalk chalkboard menu

The menu (regular) and lunch menu was delivered. I knew what I wanted already because the sign outside had some set menu options and so I chose the cheapest set lunch. It was a pasta that came with soup, salad and dessert for 1300 Yen.

Reading left to right for the 1300 yen course is:
salad, puchi (small) soup, pasta, dessert, and drink

Oil and Salt and Pepper condiments

First out came a set of different oils. All explained carefully by my server. Left to right is olive oil, balsamic, garlic, and hot pepper oil.

Operation of the unique pepper dispenser was also explained.


Salad and bread plate

My salad and bread plate was delivered next. The salad is quite small and was served with a vinaigrette dressing. The bread was good and served with a spread in a small bowl.The spread reminded me of a sandwich spread I had as child but can't remember the name of it. You can pick from among the four oils delivered for dipping the bread.

The potato soup

Next up was my soup. Probably the smallest soup I have ever had in my life. You can see that the bowl is not much bigger than the spoon. It was tasty and light. Personally would have liked a bit more volume and thickness to it. But this was the smallest set course lunch, so its not out of line.

As your bread disappears, they are quick to refill and kept doing so every time it was emptied -they would ask first.

Eggplant pasta

This was my pasta with eggplant. While the menu outside on the chalkboard was very general (salad, pasta, etc.), the paper lunch menu did provide greater detail. However, I didn't know what the pasta was until after ordering it and translated the Japanese with my phone app.

As you can see, it was well presented, light on the sauce, and had a good dusting of Parmesan.

Tiny creme broulee

After the pasta was gone they took my plate and then came with a curved metal tool that scraped the crumbs off the table prior to bringing out my dessert. It was done carefully and deliberately until every crumb was gone.

The service at this place is really impressive. Very attentive and I've never had crumbs cleaned off the table mid-meal before.

Although the salad, soup, and dessert were quite small, the lunch overall was just the right size and satisfying.

Last out, was a nice container of hot tea.

Tea and cookie

So can you visit Restaurant La Corte if you don't know any Japanese? Well, this place is very easy to order a set lunch at - just order the set lunch of your price range and you'll be fine.

Ordering from the regular menu would be difficult without knowledge of any Japanese. Some of the headers are labeled in English or French, (for instance a section says pasta) but the meals themselves are in Katakana,Hiragana and Kanji.

I've translated the menus as best I can below, but just like Katakana is for English words, it is also for Italian or French words and that makes translating them difficult. But I'm confident I got the main element of each dish.

Blue Street Entrance-way

Getting to La Corte is best done by coming in from the Blue Street side. Just before entering the Mikasa mall tunnel there is a road or alley that goes off to the right. It's just before Vie De France. You'll see the sign for LaCorte.

Walk down about 50 feet and on the right you'll see the restaurant. It's tucked away from the bustle of the street.

They have an inside and outside (courtyard) seating area. The outside has some nice propane heaters, so eating outside would be comfortable and it is also completely protected from the wind.

There is another back entrance way to get to La Corte, and if you know how to find it you are a true expert at Yokosuka's hidden walkways. If you don't know about it, as you leave the restaurant you can walk out the other way and see where you end up.

La Corte is not a guy's night out Izakaya. For evening meals you'll probably see a lot of couples or women's night out. There is no kids menu, but one could probably find something for them to eat, like the four cheese pizza.

Get there by walking from base.
No English menu as far as I could tell

Here are some additional photos from another visit, this time ordering the 2600Yen course. This course comes with one extra plate. A fish plate or a sausage and chicken plate.