Baby Face Planets

It's the name of a restaurant, really

Okay, with a name like this, it's gotta be awesome, right? It seems to always be shortened to ベビフェ (Baby-Fay) in Japanese. We found out it's a chain which was started in Nara. We walked past this restaurant a lot and it was always crowded, so we put it on the list of places to try. Then I heard from a student that she loves that restaurant, reconfirming our interest to try it. In the local free paper, we noticed a coupon for an all you can eat special, (which my husband loves) so he spontaneously decided to go two days later. We didn't know from the advertisement that the special was not available at lunch time (starting at 11:00), so we came back at 16:00 to take advantage of it. The deal was 1500 yen plus tax for two hours all you can eat omrice, pilaf (fried rice), and pasta dishes. It also included 'soft drinks,' and the selection was more fresh juices than sodas, which were so nice. (Guava and mango juice aren't so common in Japan, so those were awesome and filling, but they also have oolong tea and Calpis, if that's more your thing.) There was a special seasonal menu, so we enjoyed kabocha pilaf. Each of the three types of menus had at least ten options, so there was no shortage of choices. We got a total of eight dishes ('SS' size, the smallest, is still large enough for most Japanese women to be full with) to share between the two of us. Quality was really nice, including plenty of seafood. Most of the dishes were rich and they were all heavy on carbohydrates, on top of the yummy fruit juice, so we felt full quickly. Some notable menu items we tried were the 'adult' creamy seafood pasta, smoked salmon and clam pilaf, and lasagna rice omelette. Everything was made to order and brought to our table. There are tons of other options at this restaurant - it seems great for families but also for drinking parties. The regular price for what we got would be 2000 yen plus tax I think. We pretty much got the drink set for free. We'll be on the lookout for more coupons for Baby Face. We got lucky on the timing, because the day after we went, the location in our city closed for renovation for a few weeks. Menu uses some English and has lots of pictures, but I wouldn't say they have an English menu. Total for two people was 3240 including tax.