Eating through The Castle. After a rainy and hectic day on Monday, I visited Samurai on Miller in Mill Valley and ordered their signature "Samurai Castle". Usually I share it with another friend, but I took home a doggie bag this time --- lots of food as you will see.

The first Castle course is miso soup, and Samurai's miso was hot and well made. Samurai also serves Tejava as its offering for iced tea lovers. It's nice to have a consistently good tea product.

Following on the heels of the miso is a simmered dish, a couple potato pieces, carrots and onion. It's very typical and quite tasty.

Next up - The Castle! It's really a fun theme. You break apart The Castle to find:

Cucumbers, sushi and sashimi! The maguro sashimi (tuna) was quite fresh and smooth on the tongue. Sorry, my photos this time are a little blurry in low light. I have ordered a new near-professional camera on the recommendation of a professional photographer friend. I'm looking forward to its arrival soon!

When you see this coming, you can't believe it's intended for one diner! Mixed tempura with several prawns, teriyaki salmon, garlic chicken with rice and vegetables.

And the last hurrah, Green Tea Ice Cream. Can you believe all this food comes 'standard' at $20.50??? It's very splitable by ordering and extra miso and rice, or do as I did, take a doggie bag home. They did an unbeliveable job of wrapping it to be secure, putting the boxes in plastic before putting in the bag. Samurai is not an upscale fussy restaurant, but is like a family style restaurant in Japan (although portions are much bigger here). There were several children in the restaurant who were made to feel welcome, and friendly and prompt service. It's a place I enjoy going just to relax and have 'comfort' Japanese fare.