Coming from the United States, Thanksgiving is ubiquitous with family gatherings, Black Friday shopping, and a turkey dinner. While living abroad family gatherings have been a bit hard to come by. They’ve been substituted with gatherings with friends. While not a true “Black Friday”, Japan does have sales around that time of year. That leaves the turkey dinner. Since Japan does not really celebrate the western style Thanksgiving (and by not really, we mean not at all) we had resigned ourselves to going without this year. That was until a friend of ours mentioned that she saw an ad about a special Thanksgiving meal at The Drunken Duck in Mito. With reservations made we quickly got ready and headed over.
The venue was The Drunken Duck a restaurant and bar featuring largely western style food. They had an extensive menu of burgers, sides, and even Mexican food with hints of Japanese and Mito city flair (Mito Natto Burger). Located just south of Mito city hall, the restaurant was a 12 minute walk from Mito Station.
The Drunken Duck Thanksgiving Menu
The menu was simple with just two options. Either the Thanksgiving dinner plate or the dinner course, which came with the dinner plate plus three starters and a glass of sparkling wine (champagne). Seeing as this was a great chance to celebrate we decided to go big and go with the full Thanksgiving dinner course.
The Drunken Duck Thanksgiving Appetizer Review
The course started off with a full glass of sparkling wine (champagne). Shortly after came a white plate featuring the three starters. From right to left we had camembert & cranberry bruschetta, a bacon mac & cheese fry with chipotle sauce, and truffle cream cheese with salami. The bacon mac & cheese fry with chipotle sauce had a nice crisp, but the chipotle sauce was a little too spicy for us. It was just okay.
The real stars of the show for us were the camembert & cranberry bruschetta and the truffle cream cheese with salami. The camembert & cranberry bruschetta was a wonderful mix of toasted bread, with the smooth and creamy taste of the camembert, mixed with the sweetness of the cranberries. It was quite nice. Equally as good was the truffle cream cheese with salami. It had a really nice balance between the saltiness of the salami and the creaminess of the truffle cream cheese.
The Drunken Duck Thanksgiving Main Course Review
The main course was the roast turkey dinner that came with a generous helping of turkey slices, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, a spoonful of cranberry, and a side of steamed vegetables. The turkey was nicely cooked, had good flavor, and most importantly was not dry. The stuffing was quite moist and appeared to have been cooking inside the turkey. The mashed potatoes were wonderful and instantly reminded us of home. The gravy had good flavor, went well with everything, and helped tie the meal together. The spoonful of cranberry was a nice addition to the meal. The steamed vegetable were soft, but not mushy.
The Drunken Duck Thanksgiving Dessert Review
For dessert we had a slice of pumpkin pie that was drizzled with caramel and whipped cream. The pumpkin pie was more like a tart in our opinion. It had a light pumpkin taste that went well with the caramel and whipped cream.
Priced at ¥3,000 we thought the dinner course was moderately priced for what you get. We recommend getting the full dinner course. Even though we don’t really drink, we felt that the three starters and the pumpkin pie were well worth the additional ¥1,220. We gave a friend our glasses of sparkling wine (champagne).
Final Thoughts
Going in, our expectations for the meal were pretty low. We are pleased to report that the Thanksgiving dinner course at The Drunken Duck met and exceeded our expectations. If you’re looking for a Thanksgiving dinner in the greater Mito area we highly recommend Thanksgiving at The Drunken Duck in Mito. We enjoyed the meal so much that we will be going again later this week. The Drunken Duck also has a location in Hitachinaka which is close to Katsuta Station.
Here is the link for their website.
Note: Advance reservation is needed for the Thanksgiving Dinner Plate/Course.
More to Come…