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Shrimp as star

By on April 4, 2008

 

Forrest Gump, Tom Hank’s popular 1994 movie, is one of the most heart-warming family dramas of recent years. In the movie, the title character Forrest and his friend Bubba dreamed of running a fleet of shrimp fishing boats, and this became the inspiration for the US-based Bubba Gump Shrimp chain. There are currently three restaurants in Japan, and our family visited the Lalaport Toyosu mall location.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Bubba Gump Shrimp is filled with happy family groups enjoying American-style meals (and portions) with a view out over the water. The concept here is to provide a dining experience that will be enjoyed by everyone, from tiny tots through to grandparents. Your servers will bring crayons and paper to help smaller diners wile away the time until the food arrives. There are also children’s books in the entrance that youngsters can access freely.

No prizes for guessing that the star of the menu is shrimp. However, Bubba Gump offers an array of dishes to please all palates, with an emphasis on Southern and Creole styles. The children’s menu features four choices and my conservative kids went with the kid’s meat sauce pasta. All children’s meals come with French fries and a dessert, served in a snazzy boat-shaped container. My girls rounded out their meal with Shirley Temples from the children’s drink menu—a touch of kiddy class!

Kids Popcorn Shrimp

The adults’ drinks menu features a wide range of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and I was spoilt for choice. At our waiter’s recommendation, I decided on Speckled Lemonade,  a refreshing blend of freshly squeezed lemonade mixed with strawberries. The dishes are imaginatively named and I selected Of Course We Have Scampi! for my main course, which features stir fried shrimp and vegetables with a dash of lemon, served over pasta.

Naturally, we just had to try dessert and settled on sharing the Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae. This decadent blend of cookie, ice cream and chocolate sauce was more than enough for the three of us, and rounded out a truly wonderful meal.

The restaurant’s decor features scenes and memorabilia from Forrest Gump, and movie-themed items are all available at the little gift shop at the front of the store. If your children haven’t already seen the movie, they’re sure to want to after a visit to Bubba Gump Shrimp!

Well-fed, my girls and I headed out into the sunshine and worked off some of our meal at Toyosu Park, adjacent to the Lalaport Toyosu mall. While my children enjoyed the innovative play equipment in the park, I made a mental note to dig out our Forrest Gump video, so we could cap off a wonderful family weekend together, by watching a truly inspirational movie.

 

Closest Sta: 3 mins. from Toyosu Sta.
3F Urban Docks LaLaport Toyosu, 2-4-9 Toyosu, Koto-ku. (03) 6910-1442

 

About Louise George Kittaka