Decent Tacos Near Me!?

I can't believe I am writing this post. Decent tacos in Tsuchiura!? This can't be true, but it is. Last year, I wrote about a Mexican izakaya called Faiga that opened up near Tsuchiura station. If you are interested in reading about that post, here is the link:

https://regaladom24.wixsite.com/website/post/the-taco-craze-has-come

Needless to say, I was not happy with my experience in Faiga and had given up on the fact that good tacos will ever be available in Tsuchiura. But then, one Tuesday night, the Ibaraki Eats Duo was in Arakawaoki. We were driving around when we found a small shop by the station. The sign outside had タコス, which is tacos in katakana, written on it. We decided to give this small restaurant a chance. That restaurant is called Cafe Jammin'.

Cafe Jammin'

Cafe Jammin' is located at the east exit of Arakawaoki station. You go down the stairs from the train station's gate and you can see the cafe right in front of you. I believe this place used to be a bar but now it's a cafe and a small one at that. I should mention that Jammin' is only open till 18:00. So if you are thinking of having a late dinner there, you are out of luck.

Inside

Inside Cafe Jammin', you can see the kitchen area which is surrounded by bar stools. There is one table section that can fit up to four people. There is also a display case by the entrance that has different beers, craft beers, cakes, and pies. (More on that later.) I should also mention that Jammin' has no restroom. You will have to walk to the station's first floor restroom which is just a 20 second walk.

My wife and I sat at the table section and checked out the menu, ready to order some tacos.

The Menu

Sorry my fellow English speakers, the menu is in Japanese. Not to worry, I will translate. First off, let's start with the different types of tacos in the tacos section. From top to bottom the menu has pork carnitas, chicken, chili beans, beef, shrimp, prosciutto potato (what?), coriander curry, and chili sauce. The toppings section has jalapenos, coriander, guacamole, and cheese. The side section has nuts, carnitas salad, the chef's recommended snack, guacamole and chips, chili beans and cheese, pickled celery, and finally jerk chicken. (Apparently, all taco places in Japan have to have jerk chicken on their menu.) At the very top of the menu in pink is the Cuban sandwich. Cuban sandwiches and tacos!? You have captured my heart Jammin'.

The Ibaraki Eats Duo ordered four different tacos, a side of cheese and guacamole, the Cuban sandwich, and some dessert.

The Tacos

The tacos came arranged quite nicely with the extra guacamole and cheese on the side. Everything looked amazing. There was also a side of mild salsa. The tacos we ordered were the carnitas, chicken, shrimp, and coriander curry.

The first taco we tried was the shrimp taco. After my first bite, I was extremely impressed. The shrimp was incredible and were cooked in a very tasty salsa sauce that made my day.

The next taco was the coriander curry taco. This taco was also excellent. The curry wasn't spicy at all, but it did have an Indonesian style taste to it. The coriander was a nice touch.

The next was the carnitas. This was the weakest taco of the bunch. It came with diced onions which was nice, but the carnitas didn't really have any flavor to them. They were quite meaty which I liked, but they needed some sauce or something. Adding the salsa helped a bit.

Finally, we come to the chicken taco. Another winner in my opinion. The chicken was nice and tender and went really well with the extra side of guacamole.

As far as the tortillas go, they are homemade. There was corn and flour in there like there should be, but I believe these tortillas lean more to the flour side. I am not sure if the guacamole was homemade but it did taste like it.

My wife and I were extremely happy with our tacos. We are so happy to have delicious tacos close to where we live. Are they better than a certain place in Moriya that I always talk about? Not really, but they are pretty good. I can't wait to try the rest of the menu.

When we finished out tacos it was close to 17:45. We had to be home by 18:00 so we got two things to go. The Cuban sandwich and our dessert.

The "Cuban" Sandwich

Ok. I cannot in all consciousness call this a Cuban sandwich. It isn't. It is a pulled pork sandwich. Sorry Jammin' but you need to change the name. That is not to say that it was a bad sandwich. Not at all. It was a very tasty pulled pork sandwich. The bread was panini pressed which was fantastic, the pulled pork was meaty and had a sweet BBQ sauce to it, and the sandwich came with some salsa if you wanted to spice things up. It also comes with a very small portion of potato salad. Biting into that sandwich and getting that initial crunch with the panini bread followed by the meaty pulled pork was an excellent experience. I do want to have this sandwich again, but as I wrote earlier, it isn't a Cuban sandwich.

Cherry Cheesecake

Cherry Cheesecake. That's all my wife needed to see. She saw that on the display case and decided on that before we decided on anything else when we visited Jammin'. I know what you might be thinking. "What kind of randomness is this, Mr. Ibaraki Eats? Is this a taco place, a sandwich shop, or a cake shop?" It's all three, plus a craft beer place.

I implore you, do not underestimate the desserts at Jammin'. I honestly thought the cherry cheesecake would just be OK. It wasn't OK, it was beyond magnificent. My wife took a bite out of the cheesecake, and gave me a look that said "We need to go back and get this again. Preferably eight slices." After I took a bite, I think I had the same look. The cheesecake was so soft and creamy, and the cherries were at the bottom of the cheesecake and baked into the crust. It was like eating a dessert made for royalty. The only thing that we were upset about is that we only bought one slice. We would have bought the whole cheesecake if we knew how amazing it was going to be.

Jammin' was a great experience and I am so happy that it is close to where I live. Finally! Tsuchiura has decent tacos! Not only decent tacos, but amazing cheesecake. My wife and I are definitely going back when we can. Most likely on a Tuesday for Taco Tuesday.

So if you are hanging around Arakawaoki station and would like to have some delicious tacos with an amazing dessert, why not give Cafe Jammin' a try? Who knows, you might see us there, me enjoying the shrimp tacos and my wife ordering all the cheesecake in the display.

Enjoy!

For more information on Cafe Jammin', check out their Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/cafe_jamming_/