I’m a fan of Italian food, though most of what I eat is made by a chef named Boyardee and comes from a can.
So when I had the opportunity for a kid-free night out with my wife, we jumped at the opportunity to try what people at Yokota Air Base, Japan, call “that Italian restaurant in Fussa.”
Un Quinto is in a tiny building only a short walk from the base’s main gate. The restaurant seats only 28, and 10 of those seats are on an outdoor terrace.
The decor isn’t what you’d expect from an Italian restaurant. The bare concrete walls are covered in graffiti, and there are no red-and-white checkered tablecloths.
My wife ordered the lasagna (1,480 yen, or about $13.30) while I tried the penne pasta with gorgonzola cheese cream (1,680 yen, or about $15.15).
While waiting, we tried a free fried-octopus appetizer and found it to be incredibly chewy and somewhat spicy, but not unpleasantly so. It was tasty but hard to swallow; you could chew and chew without actually reducing its size. I’d never had octopus, so this might have been the best way to try it.
The lasagna was nothing special, but the penne pasta was perfectly cooked with a sauce that was creamy and delicious.
Other entrees include grilled swordfish with herbs (1,980 yen, or about $17.90) and stewed beef cheek with red wine (2,480 yen, or about $22.40), while pappardelle with shrimp and americaine sauce (1,580 yen, or about $14.30) and homemade pasta with sausage and broccoli are among a plethora of other pasta offerings. For an extra 200 yen, you can upgrade your pasta to “large size.”
We also ordered sangria. I am about as far from a wine expert as you can be, but even I knew something was up when the sangria wasn’t red. The menu says it’s made with white wine. It tasted fine, though, so I can confidently say it was the finest white-wine sangria I’ve ever had.
When the check came, it was relatively painless. Dinner for two cost about 5,000 yen (about $45). You will have to pay with cash because no cards are accepted.
Final verdict: The meal was easily worth the price, and it’s in the right location for Americans at Yokota. I’d go back.
Un Quinto
Location: 2270 Fussa, Fussa-shi, Tokyo-to 197-0011, Japan. Walk out the main gate at Yokota Air Base. Cross the street and turn left. Un Quinto is about 100-150 meters on your right.
Hours: Open 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. for dinner daily.
Prices: Entrees average about 1,500 yen (about $13.50).
Dress: Casual
Information: 042-552-6052
