Nanafuku; one of the best chicken Kara-age I've had so far in town!

Area: about 100m northwest of Kokusai Center Station 国際センター駅 across the street from Family Mart
Restaurant;  Nanafuku  なな福
Info and Map:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23051314/

Hours:  Lunch 11:30am-2pm, Dinner 5pm-1am (3am on Fri, Sat or the night before a holiday)


I was gladly shown the one coin (here that means ¥500) menu, but unfortunately it's only for students; I was just happy to be mistaken for one.  I asked the waiter's recommendation and he was really pushing the karaage.  A local magazine cover posted on the restaurant's windows had pictures of this, so I decided to go with the recommendation.  The menu said an obanzai (small side dish) was included.  This included Korean-style intestines, nori tsukudani and tamago yaki.  The tsukudani was the saltiest I've ever had, on the other hand, the egg was not seasoned at all.

The miso soup had plenty of carrots, shiitake and fish.  What was nice about it was the soft, jelly-like collagen (lots of bones but that just required careful eating).  

The kara-age batter was not all that crispy but not soggy either and kept the chicken extremely moist.  It was seasoned nicely with just salt and pepper I think. This simple seasoning enhanced the flavour of the chicken.   The salad's dressing had a bit of sansho (Japanese pepper) and had some pretty pink daikon included.  I was actually very content to have gone with the recommendation; not only did it come with a variety of dishes, it was full of a variety of veggies (salad was different than the bed of purple cabbage lying underneath the kara-age, often the salad is the same as the garnish).  That's one thing I like about Japanese fried food, it usually comes with a mountain of veggies as well (usually shredded cabbage) to cut the greasiness.  

The meal also came with a drink of choice between coffee, tea, cola (they never call it just coke!) or juice.  All this for only ¥800!