A gourmet family restaurant? Six reasons why you should go to a Denny’s in Japan

Have you ever been to a Denny’s in Japan? If not, Yoshio, one of the reporters from our Japanese site, thinks it would be worth your while to make a visit to the family restaurant when you’re in Japan. Why? Well, Denny’s in Japan has quite a varied and tasty menu that’s quite different from what you can get in the United States. In fact, Yoshio says that one of his American friends even calls Denny’s in Japan the “gourmet Denny’s”! So, today we bring you six reasons from Yoshio why Denny’s in Japan is a great eatery that you should visit if you have the chance, and may even be the first restaurant you should go to in Japan.

1. Fun snacks and toys sold in front of the register

When you open the door to a Denny’s in Japan, one of the first things you’ll see is a counter in front of the register that is filled with snacks and toys. Even when there’s a crowd and you have to wait a while to get a table, you can pass the time looking at the various goodies on offer, and kids are sure to be transfixed by the toys on display. Okay, so it may be a bit problematic for parents who have to deal with their children begging for a toy or treat, but they also sell products that adults can enjoy too, such as Denny’s original pancake mix, Denny’s special “Instant Jambalaya” and limited edition Denny’s 40th anniversary goods, so it’s actually good fun to take a look at all the goodies on sale.

▼Just look at all those toys! What child wouldn’t be delighted by a sight like that?

▼And yes, they have goodies for adults too, like the instant Jambalaya …

▼ … and Denny’s original pancake mix.

2. Great kids’ menu (currently featuring Pokémon)

Denny’s also has an awesome kids’ menu, which currently features items in collaboration with the ever popular Pokémon franchise.

▼The look of the menu alone should be enough to thrill kids.

▼Here’s the menu selection, including items like kid’s omurice (omelette filled with ketchup-flavored fried rice), a special kid’s meal plate, kid’s udon noodles and the Pokémon pancake.

▼The kids’ paper placemats comes with a traditional Japanese board game know as sugoroku.

▼Children also get to use cool Pokémon utensils and paper aprons.

▼Yup, with this paper apron, you don’t have to worry about spilling or dropping your food. It even has a pocket at the bottom!

▼And here’s the actual Pokémon pancake. Pikachu is almost too cute to eat!

3. Cool and fun special campaign menus

Denny’s in Japan regularly runs special campaigns where they offer menu items with a particular theme for a limited time. At the moment , they’re in the midst of a “Hawaiian Fair” campaign featuring Hawaii-related dishes. Such campaigns certainly make visits to Denny’s a lot more exciting!

▼The brightly colored menu heightens our sense of anticipation for the special campaign items.

▼Here’s the menu, featuring Hawaii-themed items like loco moco and macadamia nut pancakes.

4. From Japanese to typical western fare — a wide range of dishes to choose from

As a family restaurant, Denny’s is expected to offer a wide range of dishes, and they indeed do so, from Japanese to western-style fare. What is particularly impressive, though, is that the dishes are all quite tasty. True, there are joints that offer meals for less money, but the fact is we are always satisfied with the quality of the food we have at Denny’s. For this visit, we ordered the “butter chicken curry“, “creamy eggs omurice“, “Japanese-style meal with grilled pork flavored with salted rice malt” and “Angus sirloin roast beef“, and we have to say they all tasted wonderful! In our opinion, their food is easily the best among Japanese family restaurant chains.

▼This is the butter curry chicken, priced at 858 yen (US$8.38). The orange color of the curry certainly looks appetizing!

▼Here’s the creamy eggs omurice, which costs 833 yen ($8.14). See how creamy and smooth those eggs look, and the demi-glace sauce looks amazing!

▼How would you like the Japanese-style meal with grilled pork flavored with salted rice malt? This dish costs 1,108 yen ($10.82) and certainly looks well-balanced.

▼And this is the Angus sirloin roast beef priced at 1,880 yen ($18.05), which looks beautifully cooked.

▼Mmm… the anticipation makes our mouths water!

5. Great drinks

They also have some seriously cool drinks as well at Denny’s Japan. This time, we tried the “whole squeezed kiwi fresh” and the “green and fruits smoothie“. Both tasted superbly fresh, with the flavor of the ingredients coming through in a delightful way. If we had to guess, we would say that they probably make the drinks from scratch by mixing all the ingredients in a blender.

▼The beautifully colored whole squeezed kiwi fresh costs 381 yen ($3.72).

▼And the healthy looking green and fruits smoothie is priced at 429 yen ($4.19).

6. Desserts, desserts, desserts!

Who doesn’t love a nice sweet dessert to finish a meal, right? Well, we certainly recommend you try a dessert when you’re at Denny’s, because their sweets are another reason why you should dine there. Their fruit-based desserts are especially delectable, without being overly sweet. And since we of course couldn’t finish without dessert, we tried the “mini chocolate sundae” and the “mini peach fruit parfait”.

▼The mini chocolate parfait in a gorgeous white and brown bi-color which tantalizes with the promise of chocolate sweetness, costs 334 yen ($3.26).

▼The mini peach fruit parfait, priced at 415 yen ($4.05), combined the sweet flavor of peaches which are now in season with the aroma of a zesty orange cream sauce, which was absolutely heavenly.

We were also delighted and impressed that they brought us chilled spoons for the two parfaits we ordered. Making sure we have a cold spoon for a cold dessert is the kind of service that leaves us impressed with Denny’s in Japan.

So, did we convince you with the above six reasons to make a visit to Denny’s? Perhaps these pictures of their menu will help you make up your mind. Enjoy!