Fleming Restaurant: Your must-visit foodstop on Tinian

One of the most popular, the oldest, and a must-visit restaurant on Tinian is the Fleming Restaurant in San Jose.

I got the chance to check out this place with Tinian entrepreneur Susan Cruz one Sunday for lunch a few weeks back, and loved the place at first sight.

The first thing that caught my attention was the extension cottage outside the main restaurant, an open space with vines hanging from the trellis, comfortable wooden tables and chairs, and an odd assortment of seashells and native decorations all creatively crafted together and placed in strategic locations to portray a unique mix of the antique and modern.

Adorning the walls of the restaurant were photographs taken before and after the World War II, underwater wonders of Tinian, and pieces of history captured through the lens. Beautiful draperies of shells of all sizes, shapes and colors hung from the huge glass windows.

I went for the Sunday specials of beef broccoli with rice while buddy Edwin opted for the spicy beef with bell peppers. Susan went for Fleming’s bowl of hot noodles and crispy, breaded shrimp. The servings were quite generous and we could hardly finish our food which came with side dishes and bottomless ice tea.

Start your day with a hearty breakfast from any of the $7 sets from 7 a.m. all the way to 11 a.m. Choices vary from the Fleming style bacon, Portuguese  sausage, scrambled eggs, salad, fruit and toast, or local style such as Taga omelet, corn beef sauté, tuna sauté, weekender specials, or the Japanese style breakfast. You can also go for the $10 omelet meals.

Fleming Restaurant offers varied specialties for lunch and dinner every day. Try their hamburger steak and deep fried shrimp or grilled fish on Mondays, sweet and sour fish and chicken cutlet or pork ginger on Tuesdays, fried pork chop and pork cutlet or Yasai itame on Wednesdays, chicken cutlet and minced cutlet or teriyaki fish on Thursdays, fried fish and buttered shrimp or lumpia shanghai (spring rolls) on Fridays, fried chicken and teriyaki chicken or tofu tempura on Saturdays, all at a budget-friendly price range.

One must-try item at  Fleming Restaurant is its famed special Fleming bento consisting of deep fried breaded shrimp and tenderloin steak, or the regular bento of fried fish and hamburger steak.

Fleming Restaurant also serves a unique style of Japanese traditional cooking for dinner with the main course cooked right on your table so you get to enjoy not only the flavors but also the mouth-watering aroma to complete your dining experience.  Go for a tenderloin steak and grilled mahi-mahi, or top round steak and chicken teriyaki at $35 per person. Each order comes with a shrimp appetizer, green salad, garlic rice, veggie sauté, and ice cream for dessert.  Get your fill from the restaurant’s endless choices and leave the place satisfied.

If you are craving for something that is not offered on the menu, just say so and Fleming Restaurant will go an extra mile to prepare it for you.

Fleming Restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast to lunch, and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner. All major credit cards are accepted.

For reservations, call 433-3232.