MAI CHIBOIkusupiari

While Okonomiyakis can be easily found in inexpensive food courts and the culinary skill of Teppanyaki has made their way into expensive fine dining restaurants (we've tried both), perhaps what we want at the end of the day is just a tasty meal with good ingredients, cooked well by a decent chef and... to be enjoyed in a comfy environment. Not too underwhelming, nor overwhelming, just a good balance. I guess this 40-odd year old Mai Chibo brand would know, because they delivered just that. Without fanfare or theatrics of a fine dining teppanyaki, our beef steak was delivered juicy and tender with fried garlic chips, a signature companion of good teppanyaki steaks, gently sizzling on a not-too-hot hotplate... our okonomiyaki and yaki soba both arrived in hotplates too and was deftly drizzled on in thin strands of mayonnaise by the experienced server... Everything was seasoned to perfection, and every mouthful was comforting. The clean cut wooden table and padded booth seats helped in creating the cosy environment to enjoy this comfort food. Prices are affordable and some popular dishes come discounted as value sets. Overall, good meal.

Visited April 2023

Maichibo is a lovely spot in Chiba specializing in okonomiyaki, the Japanese savoury pancake cooked on a large steel hot-plate. I won’t hold it against you if you’ve never heard of okonomiyaki before. It’s the lesser known of Japan’s delectable dishes, but it’s certainly having a moment. The Mai Cou...rse is made up of Caesar salad and baked romaine lettuce with half boiled egg followed by tonpei-yaki pork omelette. The sauce was not too overpowering, instead, it was a great combination of the pork. Then there were grilled chicken, chiba’s beef steak 50g and Hokkaido’s grilled scallops which was pleasant rather than exciting, cooked just a fraction longer than I would have preferred. Then the main event – the Mix okonomiyaki. Its flavors—sweet and savory, spicy smoky —were instantly recognizable (as they would be to anyone who has been eating casual Japanese food of late), while the texture, simultaneously crunchy and creamy, hit all of my comfort food sweet spots. No wonder they call this stuff Osaka soul food. If you’ve been to Chiba only to go to Disneyland, this Japanese gem is the perfect reason to return. This is the true truth as I say it as it is…

Visited June 2019

This little place is on the 3rd floor of the Disney mall next to the Ambassador Hotel. We had a bar seat and watched them cook the food. Good steak and a pancake style dish filled with pork and veggies was tasty and popular. It was affordable Teppanaki which seems to be highly priced in Tokyo. Fun l...ittle place and we were the only foreigners.

Visited January 2019