Rin - Chinese 凛横須賀

Rin is another somewhat upscale Chinese restaurant in Yokosuka proper. Although located in an unusual back alley area, it stands out for its muted elegance.

The unusual entrance is located about 20 meters from the road down a small alley

Just past the large overpass by Chuo station and a dogleg left and then a dogleg right, you will find Rin. As always, you can find it on the blog map, or put this りん横須賀 into Google and a map will display.

Here is what the Google Streetview looks like. Amazingly, the streetcar vehicle went down this little road. 

Pepper steak set lunch

The restaurant's name, Rin is represented in Kanji as 凛. You can see this in the picture above outside of the restaurant. Rin has several meanings (Rin is the ON reading) and can mean cold, frigid, or bracing. It can also mean dignified or strict. Strict in Japanese is "kibishi" and is the KUN reading of the Kanji. This Kanji form for kibishi though is really an older kanji that is not used much anymore for that definition. The more common one for kibishi, or strict, is 厳しい. Now I don't use the kanji for "strict" any time nor is it a particularly good one to memorize. But I do know "kibishi" as it brings to mind my Japanese teacher. I envision a whip cracking with the sound "kibishi!" superimposed on that image.  I don't think my teacher reads my blog, so I'm OK.

As far as the "cold" or "frozen" meanings, the two little strokes on the left are the ice radical. Some common kanji with this radical are cold 冷 or frozen 凍. Frozen also shows up in "tougen" or "tundra" 凍原 which literally means "frozen meadow." This got me thinking that "frozen tundra" (of Green Bay Packer lore) is redundant.  But the media will never drop the term "frozen" from "frozen tundra" as it would lose its mystique. Upon further research, the term was coined by the now president of NFL films, who used it in his commentary on the legendary Superbowl "Ice Bowl" in 1967. The link here explains that Vince Lombardi did not like the term since it was redundant. The fact that I'm talking about this so much (on a Japanese food blog nonetheless...) might lead you to believe that I'm a Packer fan. Well I am. And I'm number 43,216 on the season ticket waiting list.

But I digress. Of course the meaning of this Kanji, as used for this restaurant, is "dignified" - which fits the restaurant just fine.

Pepper Steak

 I was led to Rin by a very dignified and smart friend, who is quite adept at finding these hidden places in Yokosuka. She also knows the owner and head chef. He used to work for the other Chinese restaurant I recently reviewed - Koh Ran - but then took over this place, remodeled it, and made it his own.

The pepper steak set lunch was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  You can see from the picture above it came with some greens, pickles, soup, rice, and a pudding dessert.

Summer special

The above lunch photo is the summer special, which I was unfortunately introduced to with only a few days left in summer. I will now need to wait nine more months.  I was able to only taste one aspect of this dish. You see shrimp, scallop, crab, shirasu, and a lot of vegetables and a great looking sauce. The part I got to taste was part of a jellyfish - a tentacle. It was a very odd texture - both crunchy (in a soft way) and slippery at the same time. That was the first time I've ever had jellyfish.

Normally I'm pretty good at taking photos of the menu, but I completely forgot or was distracted this time. I will add them after a future visit. In the meantime, you can see some additional photos, and if you use your browser translator can see the menus here. Then click on メニユー which is "menu" and you will see some other links to see their various menus. The katakana for menu is good to know.  Some pictures of a small part of the Japanese menu can be found here.

Rin has a wide range of dishes like most Chinese restaurants. Whatever you like, I'm sure you can find it on the menu.  It all seems well prepared with quality ingredients.

They are open for lunch from 11:00 to 3:00 p.m. Be advised that if you are meeting someone important here on a Wednesday, you will find it closed. Dinner is from 1700-2200.

the almond jelly dessert

nice interior - dignified you might say...

When you first look in from the front door, you'll only see a few tables and a bar. But don't be deterred. The second floor is where the main restaurant is and it's quite spacious. The kitchen is also located on the second floor.

The Chef and his staff

more of the nice interior