by Paul English
After a heady diet of raw fish and ramen noodles, do you crave new flavors that remind you of home? My personal quest for the Holy Grail of food from home is Mexican. Mexican is not hte most popular flavor diversion here in Japan and the search for inviting and tasty Mexican fare is sometimes difficult.
In Yokohama there is one restaurant of note in the Sky Building, located next to the Sogo building in Yokohama Station. On the 29th floor you will find El Torito, a chain restaurant with a great view. The food is basically Mexican food with small portions, mild flavor and expensive prices. So, by Japanese standards, normal. One nice thing is the guacamole. They scoop the avacado at your table and mix it fresh for you there. It's my personal favorite prat of the meal there.
Luckily, I have several military friends who also have many cravings for South of the Border flavors. Recently, I was taken to a great Mexican restaurant on the other side of the prefecture. About a 10-minute walk from the Odakyu-Sagamihara station is Pancho Villa's. It's a small restaurant with a few tables downstairs and more upstairs. The food is fast and hot and reasonably priced. The owner is American and has lots of military clients, so the staff all speak English, and there are English menus. The food is more authentic Mexican, rather than the American Tex-Mex. They have 2 sauces you can choose from for most dishes - spicy and mild. The spicy has a nice kick (more of a habanero pepper sauce) but wasn't overly hot. The ingredients were all very fresh and tasty. Also, there was a nice variety of choices.
So, should you have a hankering for something fresh and new and a bit natsukashi, I suggest you give into your base instincts, pitch the udon into the trash, and find yourself a taco!