Saturday, February 22, 2014

Hub - British Pub ハブ・英国風パブ 022-722-8682

Address:  仙台市青葉区中央1-7-6西原ビル1F. Located near the AER Building on the first section of Clis Road (ハピナ名掛丁),next to the 77 Bank.
Map:  Scroll down below.
Open Sunday thru Thursdays from 4 pm till midnight.  Fridays and Saturdays from 4 pm till 2 am.  
Happy Hour is from 4 pm till 7 pm everyday.
Last Saturday, on the ill-fated day of eleven inches of snowfall in Sendai, our company held an event at the Hub, a new British-style pub that opened last November conveniently near the Sendai JR Train and Subway stations.
We originally reserved a private back room for twenty-five guests, requesting the Hub’s 3500 yen Party Menu which included eight dishes plus a two-hour nomihoudai.  Unfortunately, due to the severe weather, we informed the pub upon entering that we only expected fifteen members of our party to show up, and we apologized for this sudden change in size.  The staff was very accommodating and did not charge us for the unexpected ten no-shows.
As our party that braved the treacherous elements arrived, we started off with a very British Coronation Chicken Salad, which was quite delicious, though, since I am of Mexican-American descent, was a bit unsure how authentic this actually was.  Well, it fooled me if it wasn’t truly English!

ハブコロネーションサラダ

Next came the sliced roast beef with au jus sauce, which was good because it was just regular roast beef; nothing fancy, but they didn’t screw it up, either.  

ローストビーフ

Then, the smoked salmon with トントロ (fatty pork meat from the cheek to the shoulder).  Again, the pork, like the roast beef, wasn’t contaminated with any exotic or fusion-type spices, thus it was pleasing just as it was.  The salmon, well, I don’t care for seafood that much, so I didn’t even attempt to try it at first.  But to its credit, when I did decide that I should sample it for this blog, the other guests had already consumed it all.

トントロ&スモークサーモン

After a bit of a break came the thick-cut bacon, which was scrumptious! 

厚切りベーコン

And soon after the spicy Buffalo wings were delivered.  The meat on these wings was a little scarce, but I really enjoyed the spice.  Another round of these would have been nice!  

バッファローチキン

Following the enjoyable bacon and wings were the fish and chips.  Considering that the Hub is a British pub, this serving was probably the low point of the dining experience.  Visually, it was difficult to discern which was a fish nugget and which was a potato wedge.  Though I am not a fan of seafood (didn’t I mention that?), I thought it my duty to partake in a fishy morsel.  It wasn’t bad, but one was enough.  I didn’t hear anyone at our tables raving about the fish, and in fact, many were quite confused as I was on the fish or potato conundrum.

Fish & Chips

The seventh platter was a tomato sauce-based spaghetti.   There was nothing exceptional about this pasta, but it was tasty and seemed to hit the spot.

パスタ

The finale was generous slices of chocolate cake.  Like most of the meal, this was not remarkable in any foodie sense, but like most of the meal; it fit in nicely and complimented the fare.

デザート

Oh, and something that you usually don’t find with other izakaya’s party plans:  a giant cocktail!
One of our staff, Fong, was daring enough to order the Tower Cocktail, a 12% alcohol concoction of vodka, tequila, rum, and bourbon with lots of limes in a, … well, …, towering glass that resembled a giant urine sample beaker (the coloring of the cocktail didn’t help diffuse this image, either).  Strong and sweet, a couple more of these beakers were ordered for all the tables.

タワーカクテル

To add to the jovial atmosphere of the evening, a beer was requested in the same arm-length biology class glass as the Tower Cocktail.  The recipient soon discovered that a beaker of beer is not easily disposed of.  I recommend you order the Tower Cocktail, but not the Tower Beer.

My friend, Mike, with a beaker of beer

The foreign staff of my company all seemed to be in agreement that this was one of the better establishments in which to hold a party.  Nothing was outstanding, but almost everything was more than satisfactory.  We also concurred that the Hub would be on the top of our list for our next event or gathering.
As I mentioned before, we were placed in a private back room, while other patrons were seated in the spacious and lively front area.   The pub does truly hold an authentic British-style ambience (once again, coming from the viewpoint of a Mexican-American, but who has been to England), and it seems very popular with the Japanese citizens of Sendai.  
I cannot vouch for this pub as a hangout if you are out with a friend or two, but if you have a party to organize, I would highly recommend the Hub! 



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Sunday, February 16, 2014

Happy Happy Melon Pan Truck: Today and Tomorrow

Website:  http://happy-happy.jp/shop/index.html

To read a previous post on Happy Happy Melon Pan, please click HERE.

Sorry that this is a late notice, but the famous melon pan truck will be parked in front of Daiei Department Store today, Sunday, February 16th and tomorrow, Monday, February 17th.

Since this is the sixth month in a row that Happy Happy has come to Sendai, I have a feeling that they'll come again next month, too.

Happy Eating!