Gottsui, Sakura-Shinmachi ごっつい、桜新町

Not that you need reminding, but okonomiyaki is one of Japan’s ultimate comfort foods. Thick, stodgy, full of carbs; delicious. Some liken it to Bubble & Squeak, but that misses the mark. The combination off vegetables, meats, seafood, flour and water produce an incredibly satisfying dish. Problem is, so many that I’ve tried when eating out never match up to those whipped-up by a decent cook in the home – including several disappointing “excellent” okonomiyaki-ya in Osaka. Probably down to the quality of the ingredients and the amount of flour they utilise to ensure a quick and certain binding of the disparate parts that go to make the whole.

Luckily, Sakura-Shinmachi’s Gottsui is spot on. Perhaps not as “clean” and “healthy” as the well prepared, home-cooked variety, but fantastically flavoursome, gooey and well, irresistible. Gottsui is a chain, but let’s not hold that against them. Good food, fun food, and at reasonable prices deserves our attention, does it not? I’d tried countless times to sample their fare, only to walk away after seeing the queue patiently waiting outside. Eventually, after much gnashing of teeth, I managed to pick a day when the rest of Tokyo had decided not to pay a visit.

The interior is all faux-Showa. Harking back to a supposedly better time, it’s kind of like the Showa-themed gyoza shops in Ikebukuro’s gyoza theme-park/attraction/paradise. Still, it’s kind of fun, and the young, genki staff adds a lot to the experience. If you can, a counter seat in front of the vast hot plate will afford a first hand glimpse into the art of okonomiyaki, if not, the low tables on the raised wooden floor provide a glimpse of murals depicting rosy-cheeked, chubby Showa-era “lovelies.”

The draught beer was reasonably priced, but when you consider that so many budget izakaya are throwing it around at under ¥200, the ¥550 at Gottsui might get your goat. The Caesar salad might too, if you are expecting top-notch grub, but that’s not really very likely now is it, at least when it comes to salads at an okonomiyaki shop. Never fear, for the Abo Tomabe Kon-yaki, a kind of wet omelette stuffed with veggies and bacon, and cooked up in a foil crib upon the hotplate, is wonderful. It takes a while to cook, mind you, (maybe I was impatient and that’s why it was a little on the moist side?), but is worth the wait.  

The buta-kimuchi with moyashi and chives, similarly prepared in a foil nest, was also rather good. Sure, it’s simple so how badly can it be done, but as we all know, it’s easy for even the simplest of dishes to be done badly. And as for the okonomiyaki? You’d not go far wrong in ordering the Gomiyaki (five flavours variety) consisting of pork, squid, shrimps, potatoes and egg, topped with the usual sauce, mayo, katsuo (bonito flakes) and seaweed. This was exquisite. Had I the room, I would have ordered several more. The combination of flavours, the textures and the thoroughly rude lashings of runny sauces and mayo made for a positively wicked dish. Still reading? Why? Gottsui’s on the Denentoshi line. Go!

If further encouragement is needed, then the famed Medama-yaki, yakisoba with an egg cracked over them, is also well worth the visit. All this was for the most part washed down with the draught beer, although I did venture into the land of shochu for a while, sampling the light, somewhat uninspiring virtues of the Ittekinokaze, which hails from Kumamoto.

Loved Gottsui. Would love to visit there with you. Simple, fun, plenty of it, and at good prices. If we can get a seat…

Tel: 03-3425-0538