Situated in a small alleyway between the CITS Building and the Peninsula Hotel, a colossal 5 meter barrel reigns as the entryway to Mollika Japanese Restaurant (or Molik Janpanese Restauan as it business cards proclaim). It is a tiny hut of a Japanese restaurant serving up budget lunch specials (¥25-35) with a lineup of sushi and grilled meats.

The interior of the restaurant was adorned with bamboo motifs and sandy-colored furniture. We seated ourselves next to a wide window in the sunny exterior room and a smiling waitress handed us a menu. We looked at the menu, read the nonsensical English descriptions, and immediately looked to the waitress for help.

Dining at a budget Japanese restaurant with a rampant Chinglish problem usually starts with laughter (upon reading the menu) and ends in laduzi (post eating off the menu). Poor, itty-bitty Mollika suffers from a big Chinglish problem. Luckily for it, it’s so damn cute from its waitstaff to décor that we waded through the extensive menu with our waitress and ordered anyways.

Our California rolls (¥55) actually came with avocado and were rolled liberally with roe. The scarily named Green Caterpillar Sushi (¥48) was a not-so-scary and very delicious combo of eel rolled in rice and topped with a thin petal of cucumber. The least impressive part of the meal had to be the Assorted Sushi Set Meal (¥35) where our senses felt assaulted by wasabi; however, the buckwheat noodles that came with it were quite good. The best part was that, after the meal, our wallets were still full and the Pepto Bismal pills were (and would continue to remain) untouched.

A solid lunch and dinner place for those who work in the area (and even those who don’t), Mollika is unbeatable in homespun charm.