Hanbei, Shibuya 半兵ヱ、渋谷
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 7:59PM | Dave 
Hanbei is Disneyland. Or at least, probably what Disneyland would do if they had a Showa-land “attraction,” only without the endless queues of people having “fun.”
My esteemed colleague, the very same who introduced me to the delights of Lad’s Dining, recommended Hanbei (funny, I assume it’s the close proximity of Lad’s Bunny Bar that led him to stumble upon Hanbei…) as it was cheap, fun and “old-style.” And so it is.
Situated behind and to the right of Mark City, not far from the Keio Inokashira line entrance and that famous yakitori place that always has smoke billowing from it, it’s fairly easy to find thanks to the old yellow backlit street sign at the top of the stairs leading down to this basement izakaya. Prices and food are basement too.
The interior is jam packed with old posters – film, TV, consumer products etc. – and nice old metal (tin?) advertising plates for soft drinks, medicines and stores. Showa era toys and robots adorn the place here and there while all the while once-famous songs (rather military sounding at times) fill the air. It’s colourful and actually rather entertaining.
Clientele-wise, there’s a good mix of young couples, students, giggly semi-legal girls and chain smoking salarymen. Thus, it’s also pretty lively most of the time, but in a fun, “don’t need to care about those around you” way. The service can be good if you get the floor staff, and a little slow and surly if you request anything from the kitchen staff populating the semi-open kitchen that dominates the room.
As I said, it’s cheap. Very cheap. Certainly not as expensive as this place. While this is great as far as beer, kaku-highball and Hoppi goes, it has a decidedly negative impact on the food.
Put simply, the “cuisine” on offer is miniscule, and of a lesser quality than that served up at holes such as Watami. The o-shinko moriawase usually provides a limp selection of cucumber, red cabbage, takuan and/or daikon, three pieces of each if you are a party of three, and four if you’re a party of… The octopus tempura wasn’t that bad, sure it’s oily and limp, but also strangely compelling after a dozen drinks or so. The chicken karaage come with a sparkler and tiny cocktail Hinomaru Japanese flag thrust in them. Need I say more?
The okonomiyaki, which cost around ¥300 is resoundingly poor. I regret to announce that this sorry affair turned out to be my esteemed colleague’s introduction to the dish. Same goes for the yakisoba too. Really, really bad. The kushi and yakitori are also very small, but then they cost no more than a ¥100 a stick. Probably the best I’ve had over several visits (I’m glutton for punishment, okay) were the onigiri. But then, how easy can it be to utterly ruin those?
Okay, the food is rough, and it’s Showa-land, but the drinks are cheap and on both visits I’ve laughed until I cried, thanks to my dining partners. For a cheap drink, with some gut-lining nibbles it’ll do. Just.
Tel: 03-3464-0775
Reader Comments (2)
he you are:
Tel. 03-3464-0775
www.hanbey.com
Cheers Tobias!