Kushiwakamaru, Nakameguro 串若丸、中目黒

This evening, we met with our Izakaya friends, Tobias and Dave and their wives. We went to a Yakitori place called "Kushiwakamaru" 串若丸 in Nakameguro 中目黒. Since we were a party of six, finding an authentic Izakaya which could accommodate such a large group was not easy and this place was a perfect choice.

We arrived around 7pm (the place opens at 5pm), it was full so we waited in queue (sitting on the row of chairs provided outside for that purpose as shown in the picture below) for 15 minutes or so before being seated at a table.

 

It was a noisy, smoky, perfectly authentic yakitori-ya 焼き鳥屋. It would have been fun to sit at the counter but being such a large group we were glad to settle in at the corner table provided. I have to say yakitoris are fun but even more fun when they are enjoyed with good friends.  We had such a great time! With all the conversation, and laughter, sociability took center stage and I forgot to take pictures. I only took one food picture and that was after we had eaten most of the food (I am not as disciplined as many other food bloggers).

They served an interesting otoshi appetizer  "Shirasu-oroshi" しらすおろしwhich was grated daikon topped with "jako"( or "shirasu", dried small bait fish) in sweet vinegar sauce. It was good but the portion was huge and we (my wife and I) could not finish it. Before we started on the yakitori, we had fava beans (soramame ソラマメ), herring roe on kelp (komochi konbu 子持ち昆布), and Kushiwakamaru salad. We ordered every species of drink; beer, white wine, and sake to accommodate all preferences at the table (we had sake). It is interesting that this Yakitori-ya had wine.



Tobias and Dave ordered so many interesting and delicious yakitori, I cannot recall them all. I remember chicken tenderloin with pesto, Hokkaido potato with butter, pork belly wrapped wedges of tomato, small Japanese green pepper (piiman ピーマン) stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. The number of skewers in the large cup in the picture above, indicate that we did not leave hungry. Fully fed and watered, we staggered off to the next place for dessert and nightcaps.

Everything was really excellent. Although the place is authentic and old fashioned Yakitori-ya, the menu had some new yakitori items which are not traditional adding to the interest. We would like to add a special "shout out" thanks to Tobias, Dave and company for introducing us to one of their izakaya treasures and sharing it with us in such a good time.

Izakaya in Tokyo; Ichi-no-kura 一ノ蔵八重洲店 東京

This evening, we struck out for the first Izakaya we wanted try and we ended up retreating to our second choice/plan B/backup called "Ichi no kura" 一ノ倉 which was just minutes from the hotel. This is one of seven middle-of-the-road chain Izakaya run by Kuramochi shouji 倉持商事.


It is located on the basement floor. This was fairly large and a bit (comfortably) down at the heel. We were able to sit side by side enjoying the view of the rest of the restaurant. The clientele that night were of an older generation (not including us this time). Although this was on the basement floor, there was a sort of mezzanine level to the dining room. From our vantage point we could just see the bottom of the tables and a forest of legs. In front of our table, was a bank of large glass front refrigerated cases.  They contained quite a collection of sake lined up in large "isshoubin" 一升瓶, magnum bottles containing 1.8 liter or close to 2 quarts. All sake was served in a tall small bottle/carafe which holds 2 go or 360ml. The staff appeared every few minutes to pour the sake from the "mother ship" isshoubin into carafes, for customers, using a funnel kept in the refrigerated case. They filled the carafes in one swift practiced movement (not a drop was spilled). We started with Uragasumi sake from Miyagi 浦霞　純米吟醸.

Once we settled on sake, we looked at the menu. We were presented with two menus, one was a printed "regular menu" which had all the "usual suspects" presented at any Izakaya such as Yakitori. The second menu presented "today's specials". It was a copy of a hand written menu (see below). As usual, we started with sashimi; we chose big eye tuna,  kawahagi かわはぎ (with its liver) and kuro-soi Rockfish 黒そい.




They were served rather nicely as seen below. Clearly this was prepared by somebody with the skills of a chef and done on site (not by a part time guy filling in or shipped from a central-off site location as appears to be the case with some chain izakaya). The tuna was not as good as Hayase’s the night before but, for Big-eye tuna, it was more than OK. I love kawahagi with its liver dissolved in soy sauce as a sauce and this dish reminded me of why I like it so much.



Some portion of the tuna was made it to a small rolls wrapped in nori.



We had grilled semi-dried firefly squid which was very unusual and good. My wife, who is a devotee of firefly squid particularly liked it.  We also ordered deep fried "Chiai" of tuna. This is dark red meat of tuna which has a gamey flavor. It was nicely done and this was quite a good dish (behind the combination sashimi in the picture above and a picture below).



We ordered more food such as grilled Kuro-soi kama (grilled Rockfish collar) and some yakitori but  I did not take any more pictures.

After finishing our first sake,  I found ginjou sake brewed in Nagano 長野 by a winery called  Sogga pere et fils ソガペールエフィス in the sake list on the wall. We tasted one of the variations 2 year’s ago at another Izakaya called Honoka 穂のか in Musashi-Koyama  武蔵小山. The sake was brewed as a hobby by the wine maker. The one we chose this time was not great; too simple and not much taste or complexity (since this was the most expensive sake we tried, this was not a good choice). Then, for the final round, we settled on “Yamato shizuku” やまとしずく from Akita 秋田 (which we had 2 years ago at the Akita Izakaya called "Shu-hai" 酒盃.) Turns out this place was pretty good and the bill came in at a very reasonable $86 (10,390yen).　

Izakaya in Tokyo: Sensaigyo Hayase 鮮菜魚早瀬, 京橋 東京

Our visit to Japan started with a 5 day stay in Tokyo. We arrived in the early evening at our hotel in Kyobashi 京橋 area.  For the evening, we went across  the street to the Kyobashi branch of a nation-wide chain Izakaya called "Kaisen Izakaya Hananomai" 海鮮居酒屋はなの舞 run by the Chimney group.  It was located on the basement floor of a business building. It was not big (some chain Izakaya stores can be very large), reportedly seating about 60 guests. The interior felt rather cramped and smoky. The name of the place is preambled by a word "Kaisen" meaning "fresh sea food". The group is known for providing good seafood at cheap prices because they purchase in large quantities for the chain.  For us, however, we chose this place because it was just across the street from our hotel and, in our seriously jet lagged state, it seemed a good choice.

To test the quality of the fresh fish, we ordered combination sashimi first. It was not bad but not excellent either.  We followed that with firefly squid okizuke, some yakitori (neck meat せせり, ”last part over the fence”　ぽんじり and, harami diaphragm　はらみ). We, then, had a non-descript green leaf tempura which was advertized as "today's special" and was "recommended". This was called Ashitaba 明日葉 from Hachijoujima island 八丈島 far off south of Tokyo bay. This green was touted as having all kinds of health benefits. The fact that it was not in evidence on any other of the tables despite being the special of the day should have been our first clue. Regardless, of its health properties the serving was huge and had no particular taste. It was just a fried tempura batter delivery system. Not being devotes of fried flour we partook of some of the greens and left the rest. The sake list was not extensive but adequate. On one side of our table was a chain smoking woman (it has been quite some time since we have been in such a smoke filled environment) and her friend. The smoking women spent the entire time when she wasn’t puffing on her cigarette, pontificating. On the other side were some salary men dragging out the several plates of food they were sharing at a ratio of 2:1 drinks. The final tab was just $63 which is very reasonable. The place was not the best but a lot of fun especially the first night while suffering from jet lag.

The next evening, we set out for our first real Izakaya called “Sensaigyo Hayase” 鮮菜魚早瀬 meaning "fresh vegetable and fish Hayase".  We found this place from Tabelog. This was reportedly owned by a Tuna fish wholesaler from Tsukiji market and, therefore, famous for the quality of tuna. It was in the basement of a non-descript building which was walking distance from our hotel.

The basement floor Izakaya was rather large and it appeared that many groups were in the back rooms already becoming quite boisterous. The place was a bit smoky. Three salary men sat at the table next to ours, one appeared to be the head honcho the other two were clearly underlings. The head honcho was pontificated about everything and then the topic fell on the necklace (chain) he was wearing. He told them that this necklace had a magical power and could make the wearer strong. To make his point, Head-honcho-the-demonstrator jumped up and made the other guy (underling-subject) stand. He then told his subject to put out his arms. The demonstrator then easily pushed the other fellows arms down with his hands. Then the demonstrator put the necklace on his subject. Again he asked him to raise his arms but this time…Magic.  The demonstrator was unable to push down his subject’s arms; QED. We were not sure if he had successfully made his point but sometimes the side shows at izakaya can be entertaining.

Meanwhile, we examined the menu and ordered sashim and sake. The sashimi plate was beautiful. The quality of the sashimi was wonderful especially the akami and chu-toro of tuna. The quality of tuna is the selling point of this place since it is run by a tuna wholesaler at Tsukiji. We had a large grilled fish (kuro mutsu 黒ムツ); lots of bones but nice firm oily white meat, fermented squid (shiokara 塩辛) with uni, hamo 鱧 (Conger eel), simmered pork belly 角煮, and some black sesame noodles.  The sake was good.

It was called Junmai Ginjou Hayaseura 純米吟醸早瀬浦, Yamada nishiki 山田錦 from Fukui prefecture 福井県.  During our feast, the three guys next door decided to leave. To my surprise, one of the underlings paid and the head honcho did not.

Sashimi plate.

Grilled Kuro-mutsu.



Hamo, we have eaten good portions before taking this picture.

 

Pork Kakuni.



The total bill was the most expensive so far at $137 (16,522yen) but still a good price especially considering the quality of food and sake and favorable yen-dollar exchange rate. This place does not have the atmosphere of an authentic Izakaya but the service was good as was the quality of the food. It had the feel of a higher end chain Izakaya.

New small containers with three appetizers

When we visit Kyoto, we always go to Nishiki market 錦市場. Among the stores we visit is a small china store called "Kawazen touki" 河善陶器.  This time we found the store basically unchanged from previous visits except the proprietor (and us as well) were somewhat older. This place has a collection of small bowls and containers. We have not yet seen such things anywhere else (even in Kappabashi 河童橋). They come in essentially two sizes--very small and small. On one visit we heard one Chinese woman ask her companion, in English, what the dishes were used for and the woman answered, "for dolls" i.e. toys. We chortled about that statement for some time. On this visit we picked out two sets of the small sized dishes and a few extras.

On this trip we also got more small sake cups from Kita-ichi glass in Otaru 北市グラス、小樽, Hokkaido. One of them is shown here; a rather tall one with a frosted inside. We bought a set of 4 but when we used it for the first time, I broke one of them. Oh, well...glass and I do not always get along. In any case, I was looking for an occasion when I could use these new containers. Since we did not have anything special to eat and I did not have time to go to the Japanese grocery store, I decided to make something from what we already had in the refrigerator or freezer.

So, here are three small appetizers presented in the new containers. From the left, grated daikon and jako garnished with tobiko and edamame, center is peanuts in sweet miso with walnuts, the right is chicken (barbecued) and green beans dressed in sesame mayonnaise.

The one below was inspired by an otoshi dish we had in a Yakitori place called "Kushiwakamaru" in Naka-meguro (Dave, Tobias and their wives went there with us and we had a grand time). It is grated daikon with jako (dried small bait fish) dressed in sweet vinegar. At Kushiwaka-maru, the amount they gave us was so large that we (my wife and I) could not finish it. But this time, I made only a small amount that we could handle. Since I happened to have tobiko (previously frozen) and edamame (left over from a salad my wife made that day). I used these as garnish for additional color in the dish.

The center dish was inspired by the breakfast we had in Wakamatsu Honten 若松本店, a Japanese Ryokan in Narita where we always stay on our last night in Japan. Being a ryokan, they give us a grand spread of food for dinner and breakfast. I should have taken pictures. One of the dishes among so many served for our breakfast was peanuts in sweet miso, a Chiba 千葉 prefecture speciality (where Narita is located). While my rendition was not bad I will have to work on improving it. Initially my intention was to use walnuts as the basic ingredient. (I thought I could take a shortcut by stealing some of the walnuts my wife had roasted for her grain salads. While I had no problem snarfing the edamame because it was left over, I was not so fortunate with the walnuts. She caught me before I could amass a sufficient amount and I had to revert back to using peanuts) which were the main ingredient for this dish served at the roykan.  This is how I made it. I put miso in a small sauce pan and added mirin and sugar. I mixed well and gently heated up the mixture until the consistency came back almost to the original miso. I then added ground walnuts (ground in a Japanese suribachi mortar) and further mixed. I then added peanuts (dry roasted lightly salted). It tasted very similar to what we had but was a bit too salty. I may use peanut butter in the next try.

The last one is shredded chicken (which we barbecued few days ago) and small pieces of cooked green beans and dressed then in sesame mayonnaise (mayo, sesame paste and soy sauce).

For three quick appetizers to inaugurate our new containers, these were quite ok. The peanuts in sweet miso was a bit too salty by itself but would have been perfect with rice. This dish definitely requires more improvement. Sake in a new glass also somehow tasted better. 

Chicken and green beans in sesame dressing

These are nothing new but several rather good healthy appetizers. I could make these quickly because I already had cooked chicken breast and cooked green beans.



Traditionally the chicken breast or tenderloin would have been sake steamed but since I had barbecued whole chicken, I removed the tenderloins and hand shredded them into thin strands along the grain of the meat.



I also had haricot vert (small green beans) which I cooked in salted boiling water for a few minutes and let cool quickly. (I prefer using a fan to cool veggies rather than soaking them in ice water because the ice water would make the green beans taste water logged.) Using a fan, the green beans are cooked but still crunchy and keeps its color. I cut the green beans into 1 and 1/2 inch long pieces.



Dressing:

White roasted sesame seeds:  1tsp, although they are pre-roasted, I dry roasted them again in a frying pan and ground them in a Japanese mortar or suribachi until they became somewhat pasty but some of the sesame seeds were just coarsely ground.

White sesame paste (shiro nerigoma): 1 tsp, This comes in a plastic pouch or can.

Sugar, soy sauce and rice vinegar

I put the sesame paste and ground sesame in the Japanese mortar, added sugar (1/2 tsp), soy sauce (1/2 tsp) and rice vinegar (1/3 tsp). I checked the consistency of the dressing, tasted and adjusted the seasoning and liquids. I dressed both the chicken and green beans with the dressing and garnished with more whole roasted sesame seeds.

This is a tried and true good starter to have with for sake.

Daikon steak with cheese

I made this dish sometime ago. I must have seen this dish on the Internet. The most time consuming part of the preparation is boiling the daikon. Once that is done, the actual cooking is quick and easy.



I first pre-cooked the daikon as usual; I peeled the skin and cut the daikon into 1 inch thick rounds. I placed them in cold water with several kernels of raw rice, simmered for 20 minutes or until the daikon was cooked.

I first cut the daikon round in half. Using a small paring knife, I made a slit leaving the edge intact. I then inserted the slices of cheese (Any melting cheese will work. Here I used smoked cheddar). You may have to trim the corners of the cheese to make the slices fit. (left upper).

I put a pat of butter in a non-stick frying pan on low heat and started cooking the stuffed daikon (right upper). When the edges got slightly brown (in about 2-3 minutes), I turned them over (left lower). After a few more minutes of cooking I added just a small mount of soy sauce (right lower). I turned the stuffed daikon so that soy sauce covered all sides.



Certainly this is an interesting dish. We are not crazy about it but it is a nice small dish that goes with any drink. If you already have pre-cooked daikon for other dishes such as oden, this is certainly worth a try.

baked potato with bacon fat

Did I tell you that my wife is in pursuit of the ultimate oven fried potato? This is another attempt. The previous time, she parboiled the potatoes with the addition of baking soda and used duck fat. This time, she replaced duck fat with bacon dripping. As before she flavored the potatoes with fresh chopped rosemary.



The process was same as before, parboiling the white potatoes with the addition of baking soda. The main difference is that she added bacon dripping instead of duck fat. She also used all purpose (AP) potatoes instead of yukon gold.

The final result? It was very good oven fried potatoes but we did not taste much bacon flavor. We smelled the bacon while the potatoes were baking but somehow that did not translate into the flavor. We felt the same about the duck fat potatoes. Also the use of AP instead of Yukon gold potatoes doesn’t seemed to have mattered either. Maybe, for us, just olive oil would do the trick and that would be slightly healthier.