It's Time To Tiki Tiki!

The key to surviving Mr. TF's deployment, while I stay back in Japan, is The Plan!  The Plan has many, important layers.

1. Don't be too hard on myself.  Making it to the day's end with all dependents still alive is the only thing that needs to happen.
2.  My night-time buddy system.  I have a friend that I call at the end of every day to let her know we're ok. I don't want to suddenly kick the bucket and have Little TF stuck for days with my decomposing corpse.  Since we live off base, this could feasibly happen.
3.  Stay healthy in body.  The base offers too many Body Pump and Body Combat classes to let this one slide.
4.  Stay healthy in mind.  Have a couple of good books ready to go.
5.  Remembering to give myself a break.  Girls' Nights are on the schedule before deployment even begins.  This way, the sadness of saying goodbye is somewhat counterbalanced by the excitement about upcoming fun!
6.  To the end of number 5, I book a reliable sitter immediately after deciding on a date for Girls' Night!

Mr. TF deployed last week. The next evening, number four of The Plan kicked into gear. Girls' Night in Yokohama!  Credit for finding this restaurant needs to go to a friend of mine.  Two summers ago, pregnant and trying to find a smoke-free restaurant, she googled "smoke-free restaurants" in Yokohama.  Her fabulously successful find was Tiki Tiki!  In fact, we had such a great time that we had to go again, last week!

Tiki Tiki is a Hawaiian-themed restaurant, located a short distance from Yokohama Station.  When I say, "Hawaiian-themed," I'm not just talking about a few leis and coconuts (although there are plenty of those lurking about).  I'm talking about an all-out Hawaiian extravaganza!

The thatch-roofed bar.

In addition to the regular wine and cocktail lists, there is a whole page devoted to speciality drinks, complete with pictures.   It definitely took us awhile to narrow down the too-cute choices and pick just one!

I had the Chi-Chi, something citrus-y and delicious.  But really, does taste actually
matter when a drink is served in a coconut half and topped with a palm and orchids?

 The pretty drinks were priced between 840-1100 yen (give or take a bit).  Wine could also be ordered by the glass or by the carafe.

Another friend got the Pina Colada.  It was the best Pina Colada we'd ever tasted.  Hers was served not only
in a coconut half, but also on top of dry ice.  Steam volcano-ed over the edge throughout the meal. So fun!

The food, a fusion of Hawaiian (Well, I assume it's Hawaiian, as I've never actually been to Hawaii) and Japanese, was extensive and absolutely delicious. The menu was also in English. One of our group is pregnant and watching her seafood intake, and there were plenty of non-seafood options for her to choose from (See?  Great place for pregnant guests!  No indoor smoking and seafood-free options!)  In fact, the food was so delicious that, out of maybe 12 different dishes that we ordered, I only remembered to take one photo.  Too busy eating!

Pineapple fried rice.  This needs to be replicated in my kitchen.

Not quite convinced that Tiki Tiki is truly Girls' Night-worthy?  At 7pm, there is a hula dance performance!  Hopefully, you took some time to look extra cute...a dancer might pull you up front to show off some of your own hula moves!

Make sure you don't enjoy the food so much that you forget to leave some room for dessert!  Ice cream or cheesecake is always a good choice.  Or, you can take your Tiki Tiki experience up a notch and order what must be the largest parfait in Japan.

We ordered this for our group of seven.  The pineapple gives a sense of scale.  MONSTROUS.

 Wow.  Actually, I hope you left a lot of room.  This Dessert (A capitol D is required here, I think) is composed of layers and layers of whipped cream, chocolate bites, white cake, sherbet, raspberry syrup, canned peaches, and cornflakes.

Cornflakes?

Cornflakes pop up in lots of ice cream treats in Japan.  Just go with it.  They add great crunch.

This is what the beautiful topping looked like, before being mauled by seven women
whose husbands just deployed.  I can't show you the "after" photo.  It's embarrassing.

 Tiki Tiki awaits your next Girls' Night, with plenty of seating for both small groups and large.  Deployment doesn't have to be an endless stretch of boring, solitary nights!  Rather, look at deployment as your chance to dine at as many themed restaurants as possible!

Tiki Tiki is also very reasonably priced.  We chose to eat family-style, ordering many dishes and  everyone trying a little of each.  In addition to a "pretty" drink apiece, we ordered two carafes of wine for the group.  Two girls ended up not drinking any wine.  We also had that massive parfait!  When we split up the check seven ways, the amount for the girls who shared the carafes of wine came out to 2,900 yen. We though it an extremely reasonable price for a meal that included a super-cute drink, wine, and the largest parfait in Japan!

Entrance to Tiki Tiki.

Tiki Tiki is located a five minute walk outside of Yokohama Station.  Exit the station via the west exit.  Look for More department store.  Keeping the department store to your left and the station to your right, follow the street away from the station, across a small river and under an overpass.  Tiki Tiki is in the first, underground floor of the first building on the left, just after you cross the bridge.  There is a large, Tiki Tiki signboard at the top of the descending stairs.  Happy Hour is from 5-6, with drinks at 50% off.


Click here to print a 10% coupon.  Make sure to present it to your server before you order! We forgot. A map of the location can also be found at the same link.  Advance phone reservations are very much recommended and can be made in English.  Tiki Tiki also accepts credit cards.  Prefer to stay in Tokyo?  Tiki Tiki can also be enjoyed at its Shinjuku location.

Tiki Tiki Yokohama Address:
Sotetsu Iwasaki Gakuen Bldg. B1F, 2-17-1 Tsuruya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 221-0835
Phone: 045-312-3397


Disclaimer:  I do my best to make sure all my information is accurate.  However, details may change or I may just be flat-out wrong.  Please let me know if something needs a correction.  Thank-you!