Tokyo Izakaya Part 3 東京の居酒屋 パート３

Shuan Suiko、Oshiage 酒庵 酔香 押上

Despite some residual effects from the night before with Dave and Tobias, we recovered well enough to visit Suiko in Oshiage near the Skytree. This is also another recommendation from Jon of EOITWJ. Being full fledged tourists, we spent some time in Asakusa 浅草 including Kappabashi 合羽橋 (We have been in Asakusa so many times but we still visit every time we are in Tokyo). We even went up the Skytree before visiting Suiko.

From Oshiage station, we consulted the map from their website (Beta version of Google map pedestrian edition gave extremely convoluted routes) and walked down the street of Oshiage. It had an atmosphere not unlike Musashi Koyama we had visited a few nights ago. The speeding bikes on the sidewalk lent an air of risk and excitement that was missing at Musahi Koyama. We arrived at Suiko but we were about 30 minutes early. So, we walked to the  small bridge (Jikkenbashi 十間橋) over the canal (kita-jikken-gawa, 北十間川) from Sumida river 隅田川. Surprisingly, quite a few people crowded the sidewalk of the bridge; some with heavy duty cameras and tripods. We asked what was going on and they explained that this was a perfect spot to take a night time picture of the Skytree because its lights would be reflected in the water of the canal. They were waiting for the sun to go down but advised that we shouldn't take pictures right at sunset but should wait until it got darker so the lights would be more visible. They were full of helpful advise and all but gave us aperture and f-stop. It must have been at least an hour before sunset but people had already staked out their prime positions. They were very dedicated amateur photographers. In any case, we left them to their task and went back to Suiko.

We stepped into the izakaya and it was like stepping back in time. The master, Sugawara-san 菅原さん told us that it was originally an old liquor store or “Sakaya” 酒屋. He bought it, restored it, and made it his Sake bar/Izakaya in 2010--about 4 years ago. The store front really looked like an old  “Sakaya” 酒屋. It reminded me of those I saw in my (very) early childhood. I even remembered that Sakaya sold,  miso and soy sauce in addition to sake (at least the one near my parents’ house did). You could even buy the sake or other items in the exact amount you wanted. To do this, you had to bring your own containers. So if you could afford only 1-go 一合, which is 180ml, of sake, you would bring your Tokkuri 徳利 container and they would sell you just 1-go of sake). In any case, I could easily imagine what this place was like when it was still a store. It must have been a very old fashioned “Sakaya”.

The inside was like the outside, nicely restored with dark wood and large sake bottles lining the shelves around the perimeter. I felt like I was in my mother's house except the sliding doors moved smoothly and didn't stick.The counter was L-shaped and sits about 10. We were the second group of the evening. Mr. Sugawara and his wife were somewhat reserved and polite yet very friendly and interactive when we asked questions. We started with his recommendation of both dry and non-dry sake. These were the first three he offered.

All sake tasted great. It is amazing that you can have this high quality from Junmai, Junmai Ginjo classes.  I will mostly just list what we tasted.

(From left to right)
1. 鳳凰美田　剣　辛口純米　瓶燗火入, 栃木県, Houou Biden,  “Tsurugi”, Dry Junmai, Pasteurized in the bottle, Tochigi prefecture.
2. 川鶴　ひやおろし 讃岐 よいまい 純米無濾過, 香川県, Kawa-tsuru, Hiya-oroshi, Non-filtered, Junmai, Kagawa prefecture.
3. 雪の茅舎 純米吟醸 ひやおろし, 秋田県, Yuki-no Bosha, Hiya-oroshi, Junmai Ginjo, Akita prefecture.

The otoshi お通し were one of the most extensive we have ever seen (that was until we visited Shuhai 酒杯 in Akita 秋田 few days later). These otoshi items reflect Mr. Sugawara’s approach to foods which compliment sake. Six items were served in this seemingly custom made plate of six compartments. Although we cannot recall all the details, this is what we remembered; the boiled peanuts in a shell (left upper) was surprising. We thought this type of peanut preparation happened only in the Southern states of the U.S. like Georgia. Boiling it brought out the “legume” rather than the "nut" flavor of peanuts and made them a more suitable snack for sake. The upper middle is “Shira-ae” 白和え with persimmon and walnuts. My wife liked it very much and whispered to me “Can you make this at home?” (Of course I can, dear.) Right upper is fried and seasoned vegetables somewhat like “age-bitashi” 揚げ浸し, lower left is asparagus with Japanese-style dressing, the lower center is potato salad with smoked pickled daikon (“Iburi-gakko" いぶりがっこ from Akita). The last is nice gentle tasting つくね “ground chicken ball”. All of these food really complemented but not compete with the subtle favors of sake.

The second dish we had was this bonito tataki or "katsuo no tataki" 鰹のたたき (this must be “modori-gatsuo” 戻り鰹 or “returning bonito”; the main bonito season is spring but it comes back in the fall). This was excellent but the sauce was miso-based which is, to me, a bit unusual for bonito and was fairly assertive for the delicate flavors of the fish.

The above was the second round.
(From left to right)

1. 聖　無濾過　生酒、群馬県, Hijiri, Muroka, Namazake, Gunma prefecture.  This is a bit of mystery sake. A portion of the main label appears to be painted over and I did not take a clear picture of the sub-label but I can see that  it was non-filtered and un-pasteurized. I have to guess this is the “junmai” class. If I remember correctly, it still had slight effervescence with gentle clean taste. The master may have gotten a special sake from this brewery.
2. 繁桝 特別純米 ひやおろし、福岡県, Shigemasu, Tokubetsu-junmai, Hiya-oroshi, Fukuoka prefecture. This is a rather dry sake but nice rounded flavor.
3. 貴 純米吟醸 備前雄町,  山口県, Taka, Junmai Ginjou, Bizen Omachi, Yamaguchi prefecture. This is clean tasting with some acidity at the end and we really liked this one. We ordered "Taka" as this evening’s sake for us.

We felt the same way at “Honoka” that the depth and width of sake you can taste in Japan is amazing. We learned that many sake are very seasonal and available only for a specific period. For example, "hiya-oroshi" and "aki-agari" are only available in autumn. Unpasteurized sake are not readily available in the U.S. and you have to come to Japan to taste it.

We did not know what “hiya-oroshi” ひやおろし meant until then and we asked Mr. Sugawara. He was very kind to explain that “Shinshu” 新酒 or new sake in the Spring (which could be a bit sharp or un-balanced) was pasteurized (either in the bottle or in the tank) and then aged until fall to make it a  more round and mature sake. Later we also learned the process called “Aki-oroshi” 秋おろし when we visited “Tako Grill” in Kuroishi, in which un-pasteurized shinshu 新酒 was low-temperature aged in minus 4 degree Celsius (that is below freezing) until fall; different kinds of aging process to the same aim of making great sake. In any case, these are the class of sake we can enjoy only in fall.

With our “Taka”, we ordered more food. Our memory is fuzzy from around this time but we had nice assortment of home-made smoked items, mizu-nasu 水茄子 or special eggplant which is being eaten raw, and more.

As we were enjoying the sake and food, we noticed a tabby cat looking out longingly from the inner tatami room through the glass portion of shouji 障子 sliding doors. Occasionally, Mrs. Sugawara opened the door and played with the cat. This cat was so adorable and entertained us for some time.

It so happened that Mr. Sugawara was from Akita 秋田. Since we are heading to Akita next, I asked his recommendation of Izakaya. Without hesitation “Shuhai” 酒杯 was mentioned. I have also noted this place since it was mentioned in one of the Izakaya books by Kazuhiko Ota 太田和彦. He said he worked with the master of Shuhai and every time he visit Akita he would stop by. We ended up going to Shuhai which is the subject of another post.

To avoid any ill effects  the next morning, we called it quits sort of early and said good night and "gochisou-sama" ごちそうさま to both Mr and Mrs Sugawara. We were curious what happened to the photographers on the Jikken bridge and walked back to the bridge. There were many more photographers camped out than before, some with professional large frame cameras and some with point-and-shoot cameras. My wife joined in (with her Nikon DSL) and snapped the picture below. We thought our timing was pretty good. While the other photographers waited on the bridge for the sun to go down and darkness to deepen, we retired to the izakaya for some good food and drink, arrived at just the right moment and snapped the pic over the heads of the other photographers--not bad.

We leisurely walked back to Oshiage station at the base of the Skytree in the nice cool evening. We passed numerous small eating places. Some were empty, some had several old men in undershirts drinking and talking, others full of businessmen in suits. It was quite a diorama of life in the town. What a wonderful day we had. No confusing subway transfer this time to get to our hotel.

Hiyaoroshi Sake Dewanoyuki “Sho-nai Bijin” 出羽ノ雪 庄内美人 ひやおろし

It is the season for “Hiyaoroshi ひやおろし” or “Akiagari 秋上がり” sake. As I mentioned in the previous post, this type of sake is bottled in the spring and cold-aged until the following fall. It is considered a seasonal sake and available in autumn in limited quantity. We can now enjoy some of the hiyaoroshi sake without visiting Japan in autumn thanks to “Tippsy sake”. This year we got two kinds. The frist one we tried is one from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 (which is known for many excellent sake breweries; some are considered  “cult” sake such as “Juuyondai” 十四代.) called  Dewanoyuki Shonai Bijin Hiya-oroshi” 出羽ノ雪庄内美人. It is “kimoto-junnmai 生酛純米 made from sake rice varieties Dewakirari 出羽きらりand Miyamanishiki 美山錦. We tasted it cold. We really like it. It has nice rich “umami” and nice fruity finish but dry and not yeasty. 

Of course, to enjoy a good sake like this, we need good “sake-no-sakana 酒の肴” drinking snacks. This is what I served. From top left clockwise; sugar snap peas in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし, Wakame sea weed in ponzu sesami oil dressing わかめのポン酢胡麻油あえ, in the next square dish are seasoned boiled egg or “ajitama” 味玉 and pickled daikon and cucumber 大根と胡瓜の漬物, in a round small dish is  urchin shutou ウニの酒盗, in the small bowl is herring in wine sauce (from the jar) which I added sour cream dill sauce. 

While we really like both of them, among the two hiya-oroshi sake we tried this year we particularly liked Sho-nai Bijin. (the other one will be posted soon).

Hiyaoroshi sake ひやおろし

When we traveled to Japan, we ususally chose late spring early summer to avoid the rainy 梅雨 and typhoon 台風 seasons.  We could not handle the heat and humidity of summer months.  Over the years, we made some exceptions. We visited Japan once in winter to attend New Year with my family and twice in late September and October just barly evading typhoons (in 2013 and 2017). It is nice to visit Japan in fall, since it is the harvest season with great produce especially fruits and vegetables. Seeing golden rice paddies at sunset from the Shikansen is something to remember.  In addition, we could enjoy seasonal sake only available in the fall which is the main point of  this post.

In 2013, we visted “Tako Grill” in Kuroishi 黒石, Aomori 青森. Chef Kudo 工藤 opened this Japanese Tako Grill after he left “Tako Grill” in Bethesda and went back to his home town in Japan. When we visited, he served us local Kuroishi sake  “Kikunoi Akiagari”  菊乃井　秋あがり. We really liked this sake.  We liked it so much Chef Kudo had to send a waitress out to get more from the brewery since we drank what he had at hand. 

The “Hiyaoroshi” 冷やおろし or “Akiagari” 秋あがり is a seasonal sake and is only available in the fall. My undestanding is that the sake is brewed during the winter and bottled in the spring. It is pasturized or “hi-ire” 火入 and then stored in a cold environment until fall when outside temperatures get cold.  Up until now we thought the only way we could enjoy “hiyaoroshi” was to go back to  Japan in the fall. Now, we discovered we can get “hiyaoroshi” sake in the U.S. from  Tippsy sake.  Recently we got two hiyaoroshi from them; one is “Otokoyama” from Asahikawa, Hokkaido 男山、旭川 (right) and Koshi-no-homare from Niigata 越の誉, 新潟 (left). Both are junmai class sake.

We first tasted "otokoyama" (meaning "manly mountain") . The label shows what looks like baby seals drinking sake. (We momentarily contemplated whether this image suggested under-age drinking…by seals)? This is a very nice sake. Although it is "tokubetsu junmai",  it does not have any yeasty smell/taste but is rather dry with rich complex flavor and some fruitiness up-front. We had this with imitation negitoro and it went very well.

The next evening, we had "Koshi-no-homare" (meaning "pride of Echigo 越後" - old name for Niigata). Reportedly, this sake was buried under snow for 250 days. A snow crystal is the only image on the label. This sake tasted a bit lighter up-front than the "otokoyama". It has nice after-taste flavors. We had this with an assortment of drinking snacks.

Although we tend to favor "Otokoyama" (and that is not just because I am from Hokkaido), we are very happy with either one. It is so nice that Tippsy sake brought "hiyaoroshi" sake to U.S.

Ice Breaker “Summer” Sake 玉川アイスブレイカー酒

Some days ago when we did our usual take-out sashimi and sushi from Tako Grill, I spotted a sake called “Ice Breaker”. I immediately recognized the distinct blue label with the penguins on it. This is the sake we had at Kyoto Izakaya “Kura-Kura” 蔵倉 in 2015. At that time, this is what we posted:

“ Although I never tasted this sake, I remember reading about it on the Internet. I remember reading that it was brewed by the first and only foreigner (British) sake master Philp Harper at Kinoshita Shuzou 玉川木下酒造 in Kyoto. Seeing the distinctive blue label with the Penguin on it, I had to taste this one as the next sake. The sommelier/wife (?) commented "Oh, you like summer sake". This is junmai ginjou genshu, non-filtered 純米吟醸無濾過生原酒 made from Nihonbare 日本晴 sake rice. I think this was a new sake just released. We tried it first like regular cold sake. It was OK but not great. Then I remembered that the idea behind this sake is that it can be drunk on the rocks which would be particularly refreshing in the hot Kyoto summer. Since it is genshu (not diluted and of high alcohol content), it would withstand the ice. (And how could anyone be hot after seeing that label?) My wife provided some ice cubes from her oolong tea to test my theory. We thought it actually tasted much better so we requested more ice and drank it frosty cold. This was a rather clean sake and we did not notice the high alcohol.”

Since the weather was getting a bit warmer I decided the time had come to open the bottle. Out of curiosity I went to the Japanese Tamagawa brewery web site which interestingly is in English (which makes sense given the brew master is British). I noticed several differences between the description on the web site and the bottle I had in the refridgerator. According to the website the sake is available in both the 500 ML and the usual 1.6L size (1 shou-bin 一升瓶) bottles in Japan. As far as I know, only the 500ml size is available in the U.S. which is a rather unusual size (usual size is 720ml). In addition, while the sake in the fridge and described on the web site were both summer sakes; available between May and August, the brew years were different. The brew year for the sake sold in Japan was advertised as 2023 which means it was brewed from the winter of 2023 to spring 2024 making it a newly released sake. In contrast, the brew year for the bottle we had was listed as 2022 meaning it was brewed from winter 2022 to spring 2023 making it one year older than the ones advertised on the Japanese web site (see addendum below).  I do not know how this sake was aged; whether cold aged like “Hiyaoroshi” ひやおろし or room temperature aged. However it was aged, when we opened the year old bottle, the sake was clear and very fresh tasting (Not like “ko-shu” 古酒 which can be darker colored and funky tasting). We had it first chilled and then on-the-rocks. Chilled it tasted dry but not bone dry. It had nice assertive flavors but was not yeasty or too fruity. On-the-rocks, many of the assertive forward flavors became muted but interestingly more flavors appeared to emerge making the overall flavor much more complex. This characteristic moved this sake straight to the top of our list of favorite sakes. This is the sake we will serve for those “special occasions” which require something extra. Ice cold sake is perfect for hot humid summer (we have our share of those kind of days in Washington DC area but nothing comparable to a Kyoto summer.) In any case, we really enjoyed this sake.

The night we tasted the sake we had a small amount of toro トロ and tai 鯛 (sea bream) sashimi. I also served Russian marinate salmon ロシア漬け and salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き along with pickled daikon, cucumber and blanched sugar snap.

The next time, I went to Tako Grill, this sake was not available any longer. It was available from our trusty “Tippsy sake” so we ordered a few bottles for coming summer.

Addendum: While I was looking at Japanese food blogs, I came across the description and picture of “Ice Breaker” sake. The picture clearly shows “2022BY” in the label (the blog post is dated as “5/18/2024). So, it is likely that all Ice Breaker sake, either in Japan and US, available this year is “2022BY”. One year aging may be attributable for the flavors of this sake.

Hiyaoroshi #2 and Uni tasting 冷やおろし＃２、海水うに

This is a continuation of our exploration of the “Hiyaoroshi” sake ひやおろし we recently acquired (with a complementary uni tasting on the side.) As I mentioned before, this sake is seasonal; only available in autumn and until recently, the only way to enjoy this seasonal sake was to visit Japan in autumn. This fall, however, thanks to Tippsy sake, we could enjoy hiyaoroshi here in U.S. So far, we’ve tried 5 different hiyaoroshi sakes. All of them were “Junmai” class but the aging process really “kicked them up a notch” making them taste superior to regular Junmai sake. All the hiyaoroshi we tasted had rich savory and complex flavors with some fruity floral characteristics. We tasted (from left to right) three sakes; “Ooyama”, “Gokyo” and “Kisoji”.

1. Ooyama 大山 (meaning “big mountain”) is from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 (which is famous for many excellent and “cult” sakes including “Juyondai”  十四代). The brewery is “Katou Kahashirou” 加藤嘉八郎酒造. This sake is called “Tokubetsu junnmai” 特別純米. “Tokubetsu" means “special”. My understanding is that this designation does not have an official definition, but usually the rice is polished to 60%. This is the same level of polishing as “Ginjou” 吟醸酒. So, by definition, this type of “Tokubetsu junmai” could also be sold as “Ginjo”. It is up to the brewer to decide what to call it. Junmai is usually characterized by robust and rich flavors while ginjo is characterized by more elegant crisp fruity flavors. So, depending on the aim of the particular sake, the brewer could call it either way. We really like this sake. Quite rich and dry with some acidity．

2. Gokyo 五橋 (meaning “five bridges”  indicating a famous 5 arched bridge called “Kintai kyo” 錦帯橋 spanning Nishiki-river 錦川 in the city of Iwakuni 岩国 (where the brewery “Sakai shuzou”  酒井酒造 is located).  This is labeled as “Junmai”  but again RPR (rice polishing ratio) is reportedly 60%. The flavor profile is very similar to the previous sake; again rich, savory with hint of fruit.

3. Kisoji 木曽路 (meaning “Kiso route ” which is the mountainous route connecting Tokyo or “Edo” to Kyoto in Kiso now a part of Nagano prefecture 長野県.) (Digression alert: We have visited Kiso. It is famous for “Hinoki” trees and deep forested mountains. We brought some Hinoki products from Kiso back with us from our trip and we are still using them after all these years.) The brewery is called “Yukawa brewery” 湯川酒造. It is again “Junmai” class with RPR of 70%. However, it is made using an ancient labor intensive techniqu called “Yamahai” 山廃. This sake is probably our favorite among the five hiyaoroshi we tried.  In addition to a rich savory taste it has some fruitiness with nice crisp acidity (maybe due to the “Yamahai” process).

We are happy with any one of the hiyaoroshi sakes we tried. We hope Tippsy sake continues bring hiyaoroshi next fall. 

Of course, with such libation we needed a good food to accompany it. We got some fresh uni from maruhide 丸秀, prepared two ways. One was uni preserved in salt water or “Kaisui uni” 海水うに (on the left). The other was regular uni preserved with  potassium alum, (in the center). I thought the regular uni had a better texture but my wife tasted a hint of the alum. Of course, the salt water uni was presented as nature intended. I also served “ikura” salmon roe which was marinated in concentrated Japanese noodle sauce or “mentsuyu” 麺つゆ in a cucumber cup.

The sake and these uni (plus the ikura) were made for each other. They went so well together. What a treat!

Negitoro from "nakaochi" tuna 中落ちでネギトロ

 Our Japanese grocery store "Maruichi", gets a bluefin tuna for sale once a month (I assume from NY).  The date is not fixed and you have to look it up on their website. Since it often arrives on a Friday and because of my work schedule I shop on a Saturday I usually get there the day after they received the tuna. As a result I have the “pick” of what is left over from the previous day and the types of tuna portions and quality available are a bit unpredictable. Nonetheless, I was able to get some pretty decent tuna sashimi. On one of such expedition, I got a segment of tuna back bone with some meat attached. We had a similar item at "Maguro Ganchi" まぐろがんち in Kanazawa 金沢 some years ago. The dish called "negitoro" ネギトロ is supposedly made from "nakaochi" 中落ち and "sukimi" すきみ tuna meat. Sukimi is the fatty meat just under the skin. I made "negitoro" from this nakaochi tuna.

Using a spoon (or more traditionally using a shell), you can removed most of the meat from the back bone and ribs. As you can guess, this is very reasonably priced but tastes good. Many Japanese Izakaya often serve this nakaochi as a sashimi or Korean style marinaded tuna called "Yukke".

Since this nakaochi was not really fatty, I made my usual pseudo-negitoro with the addition of mayonnaise. 

As usual, we had this with a slice of cucumber wrapped up in small rectangle of nori. We had this with "Otokoyama hiyaoroshi"男山ひやおろし...a perfect match!