Fine dining is all good and well but it’s not really for me. I’ve experienced it a few times and of course the cuisine has been great but I’m well and truly out of my comfort zone, and somewhat struggle to enjoy dishes which I know cost a fortune! Right at the other end of the scale was this grubby little shack of a place with a range of retro vending machines providing food for anyone dropping by.

Back in early August I noticed this place en-route to find a Thai temple in the middle of the countryside in Chiba Prefecture. Auto Parlor Shioya (935-4 Saruyama, Narita, Chiba-ken) may have an address in Narita but it’s 11 kilometres north of the international airport so not exactly somewhere you can pop out to experience whilst in transit or whatever! It is located 18 minutes on foot from Namegawa station which is a couple of stops north of Narita station on the JR Narita Line.

This was an incredibly hot and humid summer day in Japan and on entering the place my priority was a bottle of Pocari Sweat sports drink as well as water. There was an electric fan in the corner so I stood in front of that for a bit too whilst a couple of schoolboys were sat at the nearby table munching on a couple of burgers.

After a short break I decided to take a closer look at the old-fashioned machines with the most noticeable being the soba and udon noodles one which was also present at the two main vending machine places I’ve previously been to in Gunma and Kanagawa Prefectures.

As I wasn’t starving by any means, I only bought a burger and a few drinks. Yes, that really is enough for it to qualify as a “dining out” experience! The variety of burgers here was sadly limited to just two so I coughed up ¥280 for a cheeseburger which certainly won’t win any awards for it’s scrunched up appearance!

The taste was satisfying enough on this particular day but it really was no better than the much cheaper ones you can buy in convenience stores or supermarkets.

Along with the usual bottled drinks there were a couple of other machines selling different beverages but overall there wasn’t too much on offer beyond the aforementioned two food options. After those, the one dispensing cup noodles was probably the most interesting as a couple of the others were sadly out of order.

Before departing for the station, I finally decided to buy something I’d never seen before. I’m not exactly sure of its contents but it was basically some kind of cold ramen soup and I probably wouldn’t recommend it to be fair! You’ve gotta try these things though, and I’m certainly glad that I had enough time to experience a place I’d never seen anywhere online before.

Bonus: Before all of that I had been on an adventure to find Wat Paknam; a rare Thai temple to be found deep in the countryside of the region.

Click here to read ‘Wat Is A Thai Temple Doing In The Middle Of Nowhere!’

Click here to read ‘Jihanki Shokudo (Vending Machine Restaurant)’

Click here to read ‘Dining Out: Vending Machine Stand In Tokyo’ 

Click here to read ‘The 100 Yen Burger Vending Machine Restaurant’