Sakana no Daidokoro Oriental, Motosumiyoshi 元住吉

One of two (the other being in Musashikosugi) seafood-centric izakaya, Sakana no Daidokoro Oriental is a superb dining experience – providing you like huge servings of fresh fish and shellfish as extremely low prices.

Located on the Breman shotengai (out of the east exit of the station, on the left just passed ABC Mart), it’s not a place that jumps out at you, being hidden away on the 2^nd floor of an inconspicuous building, unseen from the street. My dining partner and I stumbled upon the place having been tempted by the signs for an okonomiyaki restaurant in the same building.

Oriental, plays the blue-collar, days-gone-by card well – simple, lively interior complete with beer and beverage posters, rough wooden tables and counters, crates, paper lanterns and bucket loads of noisy, happy diners.

The menu was wide-ranging, covering sashimi and sushi, through grilled, baked, fried and stewed dishes, salads and sides, and a smattering of classic izakaya fare not of the sea. Portions were extremely impressive, tasted great, and then even better when we received the bill at the end of the night.

Service was efficient, friendly and informed. Each member of staff knew their way around the menu, and was happy to offer recommendations and advice.

The clientele were a mixed bunch, young and old, and seemed each and every to be having a whale of a time. The atmosphere was lively, although most of the action seemed to be in the (much larger) smoking section of establishment.

A good range of shochu and nihonshu were available, along with draft and bottled beer, Hoppy and soft drinks. Best dishes of the night were the immense nokezushi, and the succulent, flesh-laden tuna jaw, not to mention thick slabs of fresh, if rough-hewn, sashimi. 

Top stuff.

Sakana no Daidokoro Oriental

044-430-5530

Kushikatsu Tanaka, Oyamadai 串カツ田中、尾山台

Kushikatsu Tanaka is a small chain of izakaya, specializing in deep fried kushi, providing surprisingly tasty food and a lively atmosphere at bargain prices.

They’re dog-friendly, too, so should you be inclined to dine with your wan-chan you can do so. They tend to request that your dog be clothed, but being a gaijin, my dining companion politely declined to plumb the depths of Japan’s canine apparel industry, instead pointing out that as the pooch was short-haired it shouldn’t be a problem.

These izakaya are immensely popular – certainly the Oyamadai shop is packed every night of the week with a mixture of students, families feeding their kids on the cheap, and local salarymen. Although the interiors are rather basic, the ambience is warm, welcoming and a lot fun.

The menu focuses on meats, seafood and vegetables deep-fried in bread crumbs, along with a smattering of less usual dishes, such as banana, and sundry dishes ranging from potato salad to basahi. The kasu-udon are worth a look, too.

Drinks are cheap – mostly beer, shochu, whiskey highballs and extremely potent Hoppy and shochu sets.

Upon sitting down to eat, diners are presented with a bowl of raw cabbage and a tub of rich-tasting dipping sauce with which to spice up the kushi. The house rules state that in the interest of hygiene each morsel can only be dipped once.

Potato salad

Renkon, ham, asparagus, beef and fish kushi

Octopus

Tomato, garlic, sausage and shrimp kushi

Kasu-udon

Hoppy and shochu set

Nikomi

Kimuchi

Rakase (cooked peanuts)

Chicken wings 

Ham and bacon kushi 

Pickled cucumber 

Basashi

03-3701-3228

Kushikatsu Tanaka

Kin no Kura Jr., Jiyugaoka 金の蔵Jr、自由が丘

What better post on April 1^st than Kin no Kura Jr., an izakaya scraped from the bottom of Jiyugaoka’s culinary barrel?

The brainchild of Sanko Marketing Foods (of Tsuki no Shizuku fame, for example), Kin no Kura Jr. can be found all over greater Tokyo, being easily recognizable thanks to the garish, bright yellow signage loudly proclaiming that all of the hundreds of dishes and drinks on the (touch-screen) menus are a mere ¥270 each.

By all accounts, this particular chain was one of the first to bring the “B-class gourmet” one price fits all concept to the izakaya dining scene. It may well have had its day, and for students and freeters is probably a destination of choice, but these days far better food and drinks can be found for similar prices – and indeed more cheaply – at izakaya such as Sakana-ya.

Everything about Kin no Kura Jr. felt thin, half done in order to reduce costs. The hand wipes were half size, rendering them practically useless. The “beer” was watery and the Hoppy and shochu set consisted of a thimble full of liquor. 

The eda mame were passable, as was the yaki-ika. The yakiniku salad was pretty limp, and the hokke had the taste and texture of soap.  The highlight of the meal was easily the eihire. 

Better cheap eats can be found.

03-5726-1878

Kin no Kura Jr.

Kappa-chan, Ebisu かっぱちゃん、恵比寿

After a week of Kushiwakamaru overkill, a visit to Ebisu Yokocho’s Kappa-chan came as a welcome change while offering the opportunity to try someone else’s yakitori. 

On the west side of Ebisu station, next to Seven-Eleven, Ebisu Yokocho remains popular after opening its doors to the public 3-4 years ago. Essentially just an alley - running through the ground floor of an old apartment building - lined with small, yatai-like stalls serving various staples such as yakiniku, oden, okonomiyaki, and yakitori, with a wine bar thrown in for good measure. 

Always busy, the atmosphere is in the faux-Showa vein, with hanging lanterns, Hoppy posters and beer crate-seating aplenty. Kappa-chan is the first establishment on the right as you come though the entrance. Not spacious, but we still managed a party of five without any discomfort. 

The food was pretty good. Not Kushiwaka good, but still delicious - the cherry tomatoes surprisingly so. Perhaps a little dainty, though.

The sasami topped with wasabi was lethal. We like wasabi, but all but one of our party nearly had a funny turn after experiencing it here. My favourite of the night was the sasami with yuzu-kosho (citrus and pepper). 

Worthy of a second visit. 

03-3280-4199 

http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13050424/

Ko-panda, Kichijōji コパンダ、吉祥寺

Kichijōji continues to boom, seemingly well on the way to becoming a small city in its own right – in the manner of Shinjuku or Shibuya – rather than just a well developed, over populated and highly sought after village – such as Shimo-Kitazawa or Jiyūgaoka. It’s yet to be ruined though. Still plenty to draw the casual diner, and enough “nostalgic” establishments remaining to bring a tear to the eye of seasoned Tokyoites.

An area (block?) brimming with such attractions is the old covered market/ traders ground across the road from the central exit of the station. What was once little more than a fetid warren of rundown alleys and stalls is now a frightfully hip dining and drinking spot clustered with “postmodern/ retro/ neo-Asian” bars and izakaya, many of which appear to be part of the increasingly sprawling empire established by the folks behind the Mishima Bar (opposite Iseya at the entrance to the park).

Ko-panda nestles amidst the lanterns, moldering electric meters and crumbling stalls of the alley known as noren komichi. Think black and white Kurosawa movies such as Stray Dog. At best you’d squeeze in 10-12, if slim. Little counter, little tables, little stools, little menu, little izakaya. A staff of one – the proprietor one would like to think – takes orders and pokes at the vat of tepid oden.

The most memorable thing about Ko-panda is the vaguely nightmarish paper-wrought little panda – think Silent Hill only with China’s favoured fluffy diplomatic pawn. The food is limited, not costly and intended to accompany your booze more than satisfy your appetite.

We did the oden, which to fair be was less hateful than it’s wont to be; some tasty yet overpriced cubes of cheese and some seasonal takenoko. The latter were enjoyable, but clearly at the lower end of the quality scale.

Great fun, but hardly worthy of a long stay. Visit before, in between or after dining spots. 

Gyūtarō, Musashi-Koyama 牛太郎、武蔵小山

The first, last, and so only shinnenkai (new year piss-up party) of 2011 ended up being an intimate affair with Jimmy Dean and Butterfly, surrounded by inebriated old men. We’d decided upon the renowned Gyūtarō, an ancient, decrepit and yet immensely charming “proletarian” izakaya situated a hop and skip away from Musashi-Koyama station, in the opposite direction from the esteemed Honoka.

Jimmy is of the mind that it’s not really an appropriate venue for a first-date; probably true considering the lack of heating, air-conditioning and indoor toilet facilities. I managed to “hold-on” through the duration of our visit, but my dining partners had to make the long, chilly trip out the front door and around the side of the crumbling building to the rickety shack housing the unisex (i.e. the only) toilet.

Simply put, the place has been around since the mid-1950s, is ridiculously cheap (despite three of us consuming a reasonable meal and an inordinate amount of beer and Hoppy-shōchū mixes the bill failed to pass ¥4,000), and the master and wife serve loyal locals with no-nonsense old skool izakaya fare mostly derived from pork offal in a semi-boisterous working-class atmosphere that you’d like to think all izakaya once possessed.

The interior is basic – a large U-shaped counter around the grimy open kitchen with its bubbling cauldron of motsu nikomi, at which perhaps 20 can be seated. Immediately through the front door are low benches to left and right for the use of waiting customers. It’s a bit of a squeeze. The master decides who sits where and happily moves people around mid-meal if need be. Overall, he seems to keep the alcoholics and snaggle-toothed gamblers to the left and the more genteel to the right. The menu, such as it is, is pasted on the walls as strips of paper, browned more the yellowing.

Despite my usual aversion to offal the dishes we tried were actually quite enjoyable. Portions are small, but with dishes ranging from ¥80 – ¥280 a piece once can’t complain and should simply order more. The tomato was instantly forgettable. The nikomi rich tasting, not too chewy and possibly better served with rice. Skewers of motsuyaki provided something to chew on, however, and although the taste was pleasing the dense fibrous texture became too much to bear after a while.

Grilled paprika with mustard was as far as we got in terms of veggies. Vying with the nikomi for “star of the meal” status was the atsu-age (deep-fried tofu topped with spring onion and bonito flakes), which as well as being tasty was also the hottest dish of the day and much needed considering the artic conditions in the place.

Friendly patrons, kind-hearted master, rough and ready décor, atmosphere and cooking all at rock bottom prices. Get there early (they open at 1pm at weekends, 3pm weekdays) to secure a seat. Expect them to close when the food runs out in the early evening.

Tel: 03-3781-2532