Night view. (Photo: Tomoko Kamishima)

Giraffe in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai

Casual dining and drinks at Landmark Tower

Night view. (Photo: Tomoko Kamishima)
Tomoko Kamishima   - 3 min read

'Giraffe' is quite a casual (and relaxing) dining restaurant on the 5th floor of Yokohama Landmark Tower. The exterior decoration is simple blue and we can see inside through big glass windows. There are tables around the perimeter of the room, a kitchen in the middle and a counter bar on the left side of the kitchen. A counter at the back has a Minato Mirai view, including a little bit of Cosmo Clock 21 and the Nippon-Maru schooner.

There are huge numbers of restaurants with nice views around here, but they are usually busy, busy, busy. Especially on weekends and during the holiday seasons, kids are running around and people are making long lines for lunch. To tell the truth, the food here is average, but it provides a kind of refuge from noise.

Lunchtime

From 11:30am to 2:30pm, the restaurant has a self-service system. At first, order your meal and drink at the counter near the entrance. A few kinds of pastas and curry are available. Pay there and grab a table wherever you like. Your lunch will be brought to your table within a few quick minutes.

Dinner & Bar

From 5:30PM, their dinner and bar time starts. If you are lucky enough to get a window side table, the night scenery is really enjoyable. They have Guinness beer on tap, many kinds of cocktails, and wine. They have a big table near the entrance and up to 8 people can be seated there. My husband and I had a romantic date here the other night. As we sipped tasty cocktails and munched on olives, pizza and spicy tandori chicken, we were reminded once again about how nice it is to live in Yokohama. This area of the city is really pretty, and Giraffe is a place where you can just kick back and enjoy yourself.

By the way, the interior of this restaurant is done up in a ship theme. You might notice two ship tapestries near the entrance. These are the Nippon-Maru and the Hikawa-Maru, ships which are both moored at piers in Yokohama. If you are interested in visiting them, take a look at the links below. The ship tapestries are made of the Japanese cotton cloth, Tenugui. You can see varieties of Tenugui at the Edonoren store on the same 5th floor.

Tomoko Kamishima

Tomoko Kamishima @tomoko.kamishima

Japan is a small island nation, but we have a huge number of surprising things to discover here. Many of these delights can be found when you step off the main street onto small side paths. I really enjoy studying about and researching various aspects of traditional Japanese culture, and then sha...