"A travel story spewing douchebag"

My boy has a way with words. His Yelp review of Manpuku, the unfortunately named but kick-ass Japanese restaurant where we had lunch today:

At risk of being a travel story spewing douchebag, I have to relate what went into making my experience here so great:

In December, my wife and I booked an impromptu trip to Tokyo. We both had an amazing time there, and one of the great parts was the nearly ubiquitous curry house. It was very simple. Next to the door was a vending machine. Insert yen, press the button with a picture of a tasty looking dish, collect your receipt and hand it to the person behind the counter. In less then two minutes, a nice, cheap bowl of rice with curried meat was placed in front of you. For the hungry gaijin (foreigner), there was no better sight than the curry house. One sad thing was the difficulty of finding good Japanese curry rice in the Bay Area (surprising given the Japanese/Korean population around here!).

Fast forward to this afternoon, and my wife suggests Manpuku for lunch on the strength of her previous visit getting the $5 giant bowl of udon. We walk in, and it is the closest thing I have seen in America of the curry house. Walk up to the counter, and order from at the register rather than through a machine, but a similar idea. When I saw curry rice on the menu, my choice was made. I ordered the Chicken Curry Rice, a couple of nigiri, took the receipt and sat to wait for my food. It took slightly longer than in Tokyo, but maybe only 5 minutes. When my curry was placed in front of me, the first bite brought me back to the experience of a Tokyo curry house. The experience was even completed by the guy at the counter reading the paper, true Tokyo businessman style even if it was the NY Times and not the Japan Times. The nigiri was also very good (I got hamachi and tomago, the wife got shiro maguro and sake). Minus 1 star because Tokyo children are much quieter and better behaved than Berkeley children, but plus six stars for my best curry rice experience since Tokyo. The only thing that would have improved the deal would be a Japanese Toto toilet seat with a heated seat wash and dry functions.

I'll be back in a second!