Genki-ya, Ikebukuro げんき屋、池袋
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 10:37AM | Dave A fortnight ago the deadly convulsions of mythological Namazu, the capricious catfish residing beneath this archipelago, were an issue far less pressing than the tribulations of a train home delayed by suicide.
Stranded in Ikebukuro station – chilly, surrounded by fed up commuters and with no way of knowing how long it would take for the tracks to be cleared – I gave in to hunger and convinced my similarly stranded dining partner to join me somewhere nearby for dinner.
We plumped for Genki-ya, a little place situated on the East/ Seibu side of Ikebukuro on the way to the Sunshine 60 Building, due to all the descriptive menu pages and photographs plastered all over the street level entrance to this basement izakaya.
Neither interior nor food was noteworthy. A narrow space, filled with the usual worn wood table and benches, with tired beer posters for decoration. The young lady waiting the floor discharged herself admirably, considering the limited space and lack of customers.
Our meal served its purpose; it kept us off the platform/ streets and filled us up. Not bad, certainly not stooping to lower-end chain store levels, but hardly refined. Prices were reasonable, but not to the extent of Yukari!
The award for most interesting dish/ flavour of the evening surely went to the sun-dried firefly squid, which despite resembling aging umbilical cords or Rabbi’s cuttings tasted really good, pungent almost, especially when dipped in cheap mayonnaise (as is traditional in these parts). The karaage and yakitori moriawase deserved no awards, but won’t get the chef in any trouble either.
03-6907-4120
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