Ayaka あやか Korean

Are you guilty of living in Yokosuka and eating on base at McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut for your "restaurant night out"? When the time comes to leave Japan will you have expanded your worldliness (sushi from the commissary doesn't count) or will you have stayed within the confines of this American oasis? Will you be able to tell your friends and family back in the States all the new food you've tried? There is a lot to offer outside those gates so get out and explore. It's easy and speaking Japanese is not required!

I am really happy to have discovered Ayaka Korean restaurant. It's run by a friendly Korean family and they have done a great job setting up their restaurant, making it comfortable, and cooking some great Korean dishes. Another thing I really liked were the reasonable prices. Another was the two free parking spots. Another was the wide selection on their menu. Another was a decent namul provision. We'll be back.
Ayaka あやか means to share good luck.

Counter Decorations

Ayaka is decorated with pictures of the Korean dishes they serve, pictures of Korean pop groups, and bottles of Korean beverages. Psy fans may be in for a disappointment though as there was no sign of him.

Counter from side perspective

Ayaka has a long counter with about 12 seats. There are also two booths with normal seating and a back room where you sit on the floor and contort your legs.

Ayaka is maybe a kilometer or two down Hwy 16. Check the exact location on the blog map or by clicking on the location link at the bottom of this post. The street view is old and does not show the current restaurant or parking though.
For the parking I've shown a picture below - the spots are marked with the hiragana あやか (Ayaka) and are the left two spots in the parking lot. The parking lot, however, is on the right side of the restaurant. Clear?

Storefront

Generally, Korean restaurants in Japan will have the Kanji for Korea 韓国 on their sign somewhere. In this case it's at the upper left if you zoom in.

Ayaka has a good website where you can view the entire menu (then click on メニーユ). All the typical Korean dishes are available including a wide selection of bibimbap. They even have the Korean specialty soup samgyetang. If you make a trip to Seoul be sure to try it out at Tosokchon restaurant. But before you do, try this famous Korean dish out right here in Yokosuka.

I've provided copies of the menu below and will eventually get around to translating them. In the meantime you can go to their website and translate it with your browser. Katakana and too a lesser extent hiragana make up the majority of their menu, with only limited Kanji. So if you can sound out katakana and are already familiar with Korean type dishes you're in luck. Many of the kanji you can find on the key food kanji page.

They're open for lunch and dinner. I believe they are closed on Tuesdays and holidays.

They have a good selection of Korean drinks including makkoli (makgeolli, makgoli) as well as Nihonshu, Shochu and beer. I don't believe I've ever tried makkoli, however, it is the real drink of Korea and has been around much, much longer than soju. Soju is the "national drink" of Korea and is said to be "cheap but effective." You can see both in the picture above, with the makkoli in the white looking bottles and the bottles with something settled on the bottom (it's an unfiltered drink). Some soju is in the green bottles.

If you order one of the meals where cooking meat is involved, they'll place a gas grill on your table and do all the cooking for you. Just sit back and watch.

Above shows the pork kalbi set meal for 1250/person just as it's starting to cook. Minimum two people must order. Kalbi, onions, mushrooms, garlic.

Kalbi

Cold noodle lunch set

Lunch menu - all are sets that include salad and soup and possibly rice depending on your order

Nira Chijimi

Nira is a like a garlic chive. Chijimi is a Korean pancake. It's good.

Bulgogi set lunch

Shrimp rolls - not very Korean...

Kimchi - very Korean...

Garlic Stem greens

Negi - pickled

Sesame seed sweet black bean dessert. One and a half already "disappeared" due to
others at the table. I never eat any of the food before taking a picture first.