Launa ラウナ横須賀

Restaurant Launa serves up a wide variety of dishes in this husband and wife run venture. True to their name the cuisine is varied, but they are proud to be certified to serve the Yokosuka Navy Burger.

Launa in Hawaiian means to meet with, to socialize, or a friendly relationship. Their food represents this as a mix of Hawaii and Japan. Take a look at their menus below and you'll see that it is truly a "Launa" of cuisines. They are located at the head of Blue Street right between the Main and Womble gate. See the blog map for the exact location.

Initially I shied away from burger places in town because I wanted to focus more on Japanese style restaurants. But the Yokosuka Navy Burger, as it is called, has become a symbol of the city, so a food blog on Yokosuka can't leave these places out.

A little burger basics...
Burger in Japanese is バーガー and written in katakana which is for English words. Literal pronunciation is "ba- ga-." Many times the full "hamburger" will also be written out as ハンバーガー
In an example from Launa's menu we see: ヨコスカ　ネイビー　バーガー
This says Yokosuka Navy Burger or Yo-ko-su-ka ne-i-bi ba-ga. You'll notice it is also all in katakana which, in normal circumstances, is reserved for English words. But "Yokosuka" is written with katakana which means that Katakana can be used for Japanese words too. Yes sometimes this happens and it's only to confuse those of us learning Japanese. It gets even better when Hiragana is used for English words. Just see the review of Autorotei (fittingly named).

Not anyone can put a Yokosuka Navy Burger on their menu. They have to be certified by the City of Yokosuka. It needs to use all ground beef that is at least 20% fat, spices should be limited to salt and pepper so that the taste of the meat comes out, the bun must have sesame seeds on it, and the ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise must be served on the side - not on the burger. There must also be no filler ingredients like bread crumbs added to the meat.

Back in 2008 the City had a "revitalization" initiative. They wanted people to come to Yokosuka as a food destination, kind of like people go to Chinatown in Yokohama. So they worked with the base to develop the Yokosuka Navy Burger. The then Commander Naval Forces Japan (CNFJ) Rear Admiral James Kelly provided the recipe to the Mayor of Yokosuka. The City worked with a few restaurants and told them to stay within the guidelines but personalize the burger. Initially four restaurants in the city in 2009 were certified to sell the "Yokosuka Navy Burger" and Launa was one of them. Below you can see the official certification letter from the City of Yokosuka.

The City is also doing this with the Yokosuka Navy Curry initiative, using an authentic recipe passed down from the British Navy.

Aerial shot - Yokosuka Navy Burger

Side view

Official Certification from the City of Yokosuka - Jan 19, 2009

Picture with the Mayor

Launa is run by a young husband and wife team who met in Hawaii. They go back about once a year to visit they say, and their food is Hawaiian Isle and Japanese inspired. You'll find their decorations to be island themed as well, starting with the surfboard sign out front.

On one visit I had the fried chicken sandwich served up on a very large bun. Came with fresh cut tomatos, lettuce, onions, ketchup and mayo of course.

Fried Chicken burger

Huge Omurice

You'll also find some quintessential Japanese classics like omurice and pasta sashimi along with pizza and curry and many many other dishes. Some interesting ones include the yakiniku burger and the Loco Moco.

My other favorite English language restaurant site is Yokosuka Ichiban and they have a nice Launa review here.
Also, go the the gnavi site and click on the different menu tabs to see the full menu, but I've also posted it below.
There are also some coupons available on the gnavi and tabelog sites if you're able to work through the Japanese (10% off, one free drink, etc.)

Launa is home of the Megaton Burger which they claim is the biggest in Japan. It's a 100% beef burger served up on a huge bun (which the owners are posing with in the above photo). The Megaton will cost you about $22 but it's probably meant for sharing.

Is there anything after "Megaton?" - well the Sky Tree burger of course! Definitely a party plan burger and they warn you that you must order it ahead of time so they have time to prepare it and not run out of building materials!

Come on by this nice family run shop. They have a little one that needs to go to college someday and running a restaurant is not easy! With an expansive menu you are sure to find something you like.