Uosen, Futago-Tamagawa 魚仙、二子玉川

Futago-Tamagawa is yet another of the immensely popular, booming, locale about which I have only a cursory knowledge. What I do know is that the annual hanabi taikai (fireworks festival) on the banks of the Tamagawa is great fun, there’s a large Takashimaya department store with a great tonkatsu restaurant on the food floor, and nestling behind this gleaming shrine to consumerism is a densely packed warren of various cafés, bars, restaurants and izakaya. I’d never tried any of them, until now, but I’d taken a stroll around and made a few mental notes in the past.

As luck would have it, this holiday weekend afforded an opportunity to visit Futago-Tamagawa, in the pouring rain. Rain is bad enough, especially when of the magnitude witnessed over this weekend, being surrounded by thousands of citizens devoid of spatial awareness wielding umbrellas is even worse. Having nearly had my eye poked out just exiting the station, I was keen to get off the streets and settled into somewhere dry, warm and serving food.

My dining partner and I made a bee line for the aforementioned backstreets behind Takashimaya, and after taking in a couple of streets to check out the izakaya on offer, we opted for Uosen, a reasonable little place tucked away on the second floor of a building that also houses an interesting looking Spanish restaurant. Having climbed the stairs, we entered in to be greeted and relieved of our dripping umbrellas. Swiftly seated, hot towels were received, drinks ordered and, heaven forefend, not an otoshi in sight! I suppose izakaya owners are not bound by law to provide otoshi (although perhaps they should be), but you come to expect this appetizer. More importantly, it’s often an early, ostensibly free, way to discern the quality of the establishment before you’ve gone and ordered half the menu.

Décor wise, Uosen is fairly simple, all the usual boxes ticked. Fairly intimate and dark, with a nice glow coming from the kitchen bar to the front of the room. If anything stood out, it had to be the number of women frequenting the place. Several tables of nicely presented 30-50 somethings, guzzling chilled white wine and discussing the difficulties involved in snaring a man. The service was good overall, reasonably attentive, very swift with the drinks, and ready to offer explanations of mysterious menu entries when asked.

The menu predominantly featured fish, with kushiyaki, yakitori, Chinese inspired dishes, salads and some rice and vegetable dishes thrown in for good measure. A fair selection of sake and shochu were present, although for some unknown reason I decided to spend the night on Malts draught beer. This was a mistake. Considering that Suntory’s The Premium Malts was also available, why I went for the thin, gassy option is beyond me. Anyway, I did, and wish I hadn’t.

Eschewing my usual pickles for a change, I got started with some katsuo sashimi, served on the usual shredded daikon and liberally dowsed in ponzu sauce. Perhaps a little thinly cut, not quite “meaty” enough, it was good enough all the same, although maybe not as firm as I like. The maguro and avocado salad was okay as well, a little too moist maybe, but the way that great clumps of the fish and avocado were to be found amidst the lettuce leaves, tomato, egg yolk and lashings of mayonnaise was rather nice.

The sui-gyoza, served in a light soup containing straggles of egg and spinach, were also just okay. The soup was highly drinkable, the gyoza themselves pretty average (I’m of the mind these days that homemade ones are much, much better). We finished off the meal with some grilled kinki; a delicious fish that unfortunately yields very little flesh. Always seems like a good idea, but then always lets me down. Now if only it was served in heaps…

Uosen is okay. Just okay. I wanted it to be better; it seemed like a possibility when first we entered. Perhaps the rain spoiled my mood? Everything was done well enough, and nothing – otoshi aside – was particularly aggravating. Somehow though, I left feeling I’d not be in a hurry to go back. Yes, if I happened to be in the area it would do, but then there are some many others to try. Enough said.

Tel: 03-5797-0135

Siam Talart, Sangenjaya サイアムタラート、三件茶屋

Sangenjaya, a popular, somewhat “alternative” yet also well-to-do town on the Denentoshi Line, is heaving with bars, izakaya and restaurants. That much I know, and little else. Having never really made the effort to explore the neighbourhood, my few visits have generally amounted to little more than a brief look around some of the narrow alleys and twisting streets lined with a plethora of eateries – some enticing, others repulsive.

The renowned Akaoni, a sake specialist izakaya also famed for its fish and no-smoking policy has long been a favourite, and last year a visit to Sanchaki, a reasonable izakaya in the same area, was pleasant enough. This time, the chance for a meal in the town having arisen, I was keen to try somewhere different.

Arriving earlier than the appointed hour, I decided to wander around and see what caught the eye. Many of the familiar sights, as well as a worrying number of closed and boarded establishments, and far more health clubs and coffee shops than there used to be, at least on the major thoroughfares. Hitting the back streets, I came across the familiar, welcoming sight of Siam Talart, a cheerfully appointed Thai restaurant – complete with wooden decking and Singha Beer parasols before it – which although I’d noted on several prior occasions, I’d not yet tried. Search over.

Having picked up my dining partner for the evening, the Osakangirl, we headed back to Siam Talart to find it more or less empty. Vaguely worrying, but it looked pleasant enough and had a simple, inviting charm. The interior, at least to the fore of the space, is a little cluttered, especially around the kitchen and entrance. Stainless steal outdoor café-type tables and chairs don’t exactly exude comfort. To the rear, a cosier low ceilinged area of booths in plush reds suggested a more intimate setting. Accessed by candle-adorned stairs, a 1.5^th floor also had a somewhat more appealing aspect, although remembering to duck each time one tries to enter the bathroom can become tiresome…

Taking a table in front of the tank full of bored looking terrapins, and beneath the portrait of generations of Thai kings, we took our time filling up on draft beer and G&Ts. Notably, at no point did the staff – young, kind of hip and quite amiable – try to hurry us. Even as the place filled up (it did in fact become so full that callers were being turned away at the door), we were left to our own leisurely pace. Top marks for that.

Having worked up an appetite, an examination of the menu also proved to be pleasing. A good selection of the usual Thai fare, with one or two we’d not seen before, described in both Japanese and English, with photographs aiding our comprehension. Noodles, rice, salad, boiled, fried, vegetable, meat, poultry and curry-based dishes in abundance. Clichéd chilli pepper markers indicated the spiciness of each dish.

Enjoying the lively, maybe a little loud, background music, we commenced the meal with nama-harumaki (uncooked spring rolls), served with a salad garnish and the usual sweet and sour dip laced with garlic. The portion was good enough, the spring rolls and salad fresh and the presentation no worse than it ought to have been. Tasted okay too, although I hankered after those shrimp-stuffed delights at Huong Viet. Still, not at all bad.

Fulfilling the usual nod in the direction of healthy eating, a salad seemed in order. The aubergine and pork one sounded nice; and so it was. Colourful, nice mix of textures and a rich taste. No complaints here. The spicy minced chicken with peppers and onions, served with white rice topped with a fried egg, was good, although not big enough and certainly lacking in the spice department. At this point I was really after a punchier taste, and was let down. It has to be said, however, that compared to the cuisine offered at Krung Siam the cooking at Siam Talart neatly avoids the mistake of being too salty and overpowering the subtle flavours of the food with excessive use of spices. Still, with this dish I was hoping for something a little hotter.

Having eaten our fill, it was time to sample a couple of the foreign beers on offer. The Phuket Lager Beer mundane, thin tasting and best ignored, while the Beerlao had a light, flowery taste which after all the usual draft beer went down very well. 

Nice place, fun, lively and relaxed. Good service, which is to say polite but they leave you alone until called for, and reasonable prices. Depending on how much you like to drink the final bill can mount up, but overall good value. The cooking could be a little more adventurous though. It all worked, but somehow failed to be truly exciting.

Tel: 03-3413-8900

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

Sazaya, Chitose-Funabashi さざ家、千歳船橋

Should you happen to be in Chitose-Funabashi (Odakyu line), or nearby for that matter, and especially if the excellent Hisaya is closed (usually on Sundays – indeed some Hisaya patrons will only visit Sazaya when the former is closed, so as not to offend!), you’d do well to dine at Sazaya, a small relatively new izakaya a few doors up from the aforementioned Hisaya. Relatively new actually means just over a year old, from what I could gather, and yet the attention to detail – in terms of service and cuisine – suggests an ardent desire to provide a quality dining experience on the part of the proprietors.

In recent years, the previously non-descript street in which Sazaya is located has witnessed a boom in new izakaya, nomiya and cafes, indeed now offering a far greater choice of interesting destinations than should be expected in such a neighbourhood. Sazaya offers a simpler, cheaper menu and atmosphere than that of Hisaya, but succeeds for just this reason. Relaxed, unpretentious, easy to enter. Its simple, unassuming facade belies the care and attention being afforded the endeavour.

The interior is tastefully rendered, not in the least overdone, being mostly polished wood, simple tables and chairs and a long, broad counter overlooking the open kitchen. Low-level lighting creates a suitably intimate ambience. Busy, friendly staff and chefs go about their work while casting attentive eyes upon their hungry wards. In the background, jazz classics fill the air while the younger, earnest waiting staff do their best to please while attempting not to trip over the wicker baskets, provided to contain diners’ bags and coats, strewn upon the floor.

So, let’s try to avoid the usually sprawling, meandering post and get to the point…

To some up, the interior is simple, tasteful, clean and yet appealing. The service never fails to please. The menu is well-packed with the usual izakaya fare, each rendered just a cut above the norm that the price and location would suggest. A reasonable, and frequently changing supply of interesting sake is available, their names hanging on the wall.

And the food? Rather good. Very good actually.

The o-toshi are better than the usually miserable specimens, being fresh, wholesome and fairly sizable. One in particular – consisting of fried bacon, cabbage, erengi mushroom and greens was delicious, as was another of soft, fatty anago with pickled cucumber and nagaimo topped with sesame seeds. At this early stage in the meal it is worth mentioning that all the plates, bowls and dishes are suitably wa-fu without labouring the point.

Salads are large, dynamic in form and glistening. The tofu, lettuce, tomato (big, fat juicy segments) and cucumber one is good. Hardly earth shattering in its originality, but just what most (hungry) doctors would order. You can’t visit an izakaya without sampling their sashimi. Indeed, after o-toshi and pickles to compliment the initial beers, sashimi is more or less the usual setting off point in the menu and a good way to judge the quality of the izakaya’s kitchen.  Sazaya’s sashimi moriawase is excellent, possibly even noteworthy. Big, fresh, well presented and value for money. The two we sampled included hamachi, kampachi, uni, hotate, maguro, saba, ebi, hamo, kani and negi toro (that was great, not at all just a way of using up the leftovers of the fish) and other shellfish whose names I’ve never known and probably never will, presented upon a comfortable looking bed of shiso, shoga, cucumber, daikon, ikura, and shiraga-negi.

When in season the takenoko-yaki is a must. Lightly baked, so as not to be overly dry, topped with yuzu miso and thoroughly delicious with a texture both waxy and crunchy at the same time. So simple, yet something you will order again and gain.

We didn’t talk about the sake yet did we? It’s pretty good, although unlikely to excite the hardcore fancier. No matter what you order you’ll be offered a choice of o-choko, not a Sazaya first but a nice touch all the same. My memory of the sake is hazy, at best, although I can recall a light, somewhat sweet nama-zake, the Ippongi, and the Ice Breaker, a sake brewed in Kyoto by an Englishman, heaven forefend! This was interesting, tasting, although served in a glass, like sake served in a wooden masu, almost as if the barbarian brewer had decided that the taste, and scent, of sake in such a masu is just what sake is all about. Interesting, and yet vaguely annoying. Probably deserves further investigation, despite the crap label. 

A stir-fried dish of garlic stalks, bean sprouts and teriyaki chicken was crisp and strong tasting, Chinese cuisine I’m guessing. The tempura, on this occasion aubergine, sweet potato and fuki no to (a bitter tasting vegetable only available in Spring), was light, not too oily and crisp.

Three deep-fried fish, possible kasago, crispy as hell – you eat it all head, bones and all – served with lemon and salt. Gorgeous!  Two delightful rice dishes followed. One consisting of shiso (thinly sliced) irigoma (sesame) and chirimen jako, the other consisted of takana-zuke, and sesame again. Both a welcome change from boiled rice or onigiri.

Flat, juicy, chewy zaru-udon noodles (i.e. not served in a soup), served cold and topped with nori went down very well, especially in this muggy weather.

The chicken karaage is also a cut above the norm, the batter being less oily, and somehow more textured than most. The chicken itself was succulent and not a single gristly, chewy part had to be endured. Better than that, however, was the maguro karaage. A delightfully wholesome dish. Warm, filling, succulent – something to sink your teeth in to.

Hamachi kama, the jaw of a Hamachi don’t you know, was also gorgeous, served with daikon oroshi and lemon. Wish it had been a little bigger though. The niratame (a kind of green, stinky leak in egg flavoured with dashi) was also enjoyable, although a little slimy. 

Sazaya is refreshing reminder of just why so many of us become obsessed with izakaya. The staff try hard to create a pleasurable experience for their patrons, who in turn can enjoy that experience effortlessly. Not a single dish disappoints, and all are reassuringly familiar while still providing interesting variety. This is an izakaya that deserves your business, and deserves to thrive.

Tel: 03-3427-1107

Hisaya, Chitose-Funabashi 久弥、千歳船橋

Situated about a minutes walk from the Odakyu line’s Chitose-Funabashi station, Hisaya is a small, local izakaya specializing in quality izakaya fare with a focus on fish and tempura. Having dined there several times over the years, I can safely say that the quality of the food remains consistently good.

From the simple wooden shop front, sliding door with noren hanging before it, to the narrow counter, open kitchen and few small tables in the main room everything

about this izakaya is understated. The one feature that stands out – besides the food – is a raised koshitsu, with tatami mat flooring and two low-level tables, at the rear of the shop. Admittedly a little cramped and harsh on the legs, it is nevertheless an enjoyable position from which to enjoy a meal. Indeed, for groups of three to four people it is probably the best, if not only, option. The décor overall is looking a little dated, wallpaper in pastel pinks and peaches for example, but then again this is not the kind of place one visits in search of Tokyo chic. My one real complaint would be the music played. Although quiet, it is pretty awful. So much so, that my mind seems to have blocked it from memory, though it was some definitely out of place in this kind of izakaya.

Hisaya is very much a family affair. The master, Hisashi-san, manages the place with his wife, and table service is provided by one of their young relatives, a niece I assume, who is usually to be found clad in yukata. Hisashi-san worked for some years in a famous restaurant here in Tokyo before striking out on his own and establishing Hisaya. It is his formal, high-end training and experience that set his shop’s food apart from that usually encountered in neighbourhood izakaya. Many locals assume that the izakaya is named after Hisaya Morishige  – a famous actor and TV presenter who lives locally – but the name is actually derived from parts of the master’s and his wife’s names.

The menu offers a nice, although perhaps somewhat limited, selection of izakaya classics as well as a similarly limited selection of sake, shōchū, beer and umeshū. On this particular occasion we commenced the evening with several glasses of draught Sapporo beer, after which the ladies enjoyed some of apparently excellent homemade umeshū which contained huge swollen plumbs that when eaten can cause sudden drunkenness. The men, once tired of beer, moved on to sake, with the Koshi no Kagetora, produce of Niigata, being rather enjoyable. Suitably dry, but not too much so, it went down a little too easily… When sake is ordered the waitress brings a basket of o-choko (sake cups) from which you can choose one to your liking.

With our initial drinks, an attractively presented o-toshi of three small appetizers was served upon a “walled” lacquer tray. These dainty morsels were: A small, jelly-like cube of tofu and uni (sea urchin) in some kind of stock, which although pleasant in terms of texture and appearance tasted too “fishy” for my liking; a fantastic tasting dish of shungiku (garland chrysanthemum) with sesame; and some pink tarako (fish eggs), which although not something I’m overly fond of was edible all the same.

The first dish of the meal proper was also probably the best. An absolutely faultless sashimi-moriawase, beautifully presented on a tsuma (the bed of leaves, vegetables etc. upon which sashimi is served) of shredded daikon, carrot and shiso leaves. Five slices each of seven different fish were presented: saba (mackerel), tai (sea bream), aji (jack), kanpachi (amberjack), maguro (tuna), kohada (medium-sized gizzard shad) and ika (squid). All were superb, being fresh, tasty and perfectly prepared. If I had to choose, then the tai was my favourite and, surprisingly, I’d say the maguro was the most disappointing. At around ¥2,000 this sashimi was truly excellent value.

A selection of pickles – cucumber, Japanese ginger, turnip, yellow pickled radish (takuan) and zasai (seasonal vegetables) – complimented the sake and gave us something to nibble until the tempura arrived. Served in a bamboo basket, it consisted of delicious, light tempura of shiso, mushroom, renkon (lotus root), shrimp, sweet potato, shishito (little green peppers) and aubergine, with a dipping sauce of bonito stock, soy sauce and grated daikon. Another excellent dish, though (and as with all the others that followed) in terms of size it is intended for one or two people and as such barely suffices for larger parties.

A plate of lightly seared kamo (duck) came next. Thin slices, the meat itself a mouth-watering purple-pink and the flamed skin salted, served with grilled leek, sliced daikon, cress and lemon. Highly recommendable, but yet again I wish there had been more of it! The iwashi no bainiku hasami age, sardine and mashed plum wrapped in seaweed and fried in a light batter, was superb. This was served not only with lemon and small green peppers, but also the deep-fried spines of the fish, which are delicate, crispy and utterly moreish. We concluded the meal with steaming bowls of kishi-men, flat noodles in a spicy soup containing bonito and leaves. The rich spicy taste was a welcome change, although the soup was near scalding when served and took sometime before it was safe to eat.

So, not a bad dish among them. Carefully prepared and presented, fresh and tasty. A little on the small side, but as they are intended to serve one or two, rather than a group, this can be forgiven. Indeed, overall Hisaya is more suited to a relaxed evening of drinking and light dining on select dishes than a heavier meal for larger groups. The atmosphere is calm and fairly friendly, although the master, his wife and waitress tend to concentrate on preparing and serving the food rather than banter with customers. Not exactly cheap but hardly expensive either, when the quality of the food is considered Hisaya is very good value. The sashimi-moriawase alone is worth the visit.

Tel: 03-3420-3492

Giggle, Soshigaya-Okura Giggle、祖師ケ谷大蔵

GIGGLE is a rather funky little basement burger and beer bar located some way down the main shōten-gai off Soshigaya-Okura station. Famous for Ultraman, hence the ghastly statue of him outside the station, the town is not exactly one of the funkiest parts of Tokyo. GIGGLE goes some way to remedying the situation. 

Once inside the bar is actually much larger than you might imagine. Plenty of tables and chairs, and a small bar with high stools in front. The bar itself is rather appealing, with various knick-knacks, toys, and bottles arranged upon it. Pumps serve draught Bass Pale Ale, Hoegaarden and Asahi beer. Above the bar tins of canned food, American I’m guessing, add some colour while behind the bar rows of spirits promise warm oblivion. 

The room itself is simply decorated. Bare concrete walls covered in beer and burger posters, collections of British beer mats and football team badges, shelves with books and magazines and rows of empty beer bottles. Two large glass-fronted refrigerators house an impressive away of world beers. In the background, folksy American guitar plays and the friendly staff busy themselves taking orders and supplying customers with well-stacked burgers. The atmosphere is truly relaxed, funky, kind of cute and probably more befitting areas such as Kichijōji, Shimo-Kitazawa or Harajuku.

The menu offers up an impressive variety of traditional burgers as well as some novel variations on the theme, such as the crushed-pepper burger. Toppings and additions can be requested at your pleasure. Other dishes include fish and chips, nachos, fried chicken, salads, taco rice and some rather naughty looking chocolate cake.

The drink menu is also enticing. Besides a good selection of teas, coffees, fruit juice, soft drinks, spirits and cocktails a truly awesome range of world beers is presented. Most I’d never even heard of, and indeed half the fun of the place was reading the descriptions of each and admiring the bottle and label designs.

Some of the beers were: Corona Extra; Salitos; Heineken; Newton; Warfeiner; Samuel Adams; Becks; Brooklyn Lager; Satan Red; Pink Killer (a fruit beer); Leffe; Pilsner; Mongozo Coconut Beer; Mongozo Banana Beer; Chimay; Duval; Red Stripe; St. Sebastian; Carilo; Orval; Delirium Tremens and Guinness, from countries such as: Germany; US; Belgium; Mexico; Africa; Australia; the Netherlands; Jamaica; Ireland and Britain, to name but a few. The prices of the more exotic beers can be a little steep, ranging from ¥900 – ¥1200 per bottle (and the bottles are not always large.) More pedestrian offerings, such as the Asahi are more reasonable with the daijoki coming in at ¥880 and the smaller “lunch beer” at ¥300. Some of the beers are very strong, as much as 9.2% ABV.

Various lunch-set deals are on offer, and there’s a happy hour from 5-7pm each evening, during which beer becomes substantially cheaper.

So, what of the burgers? I went for the chili-cheese burger served with potato wedges. I have to say that it was not only huge, but also fresh, clean and cooked to perfection. This formidable stack of goodness contained lettuce, onion, buffalo tomato and a thick burger of lean juicy meat on top of which was plenty of chili-con-carne and melted cheese. The potato wedges were also delicious, although I think the dish could have benefited from a few more of them. A delicious, if messy affair, and at ¥1,000 pretty good value for money.

My dining partner opted for the salsa burger, also served with potato wedges, which consisted of the same ingredients as my chili-cheese burger with the salsa replacing the chili-con-carne and cheese. Again, a devilishly tasty burger. That said, and I’m not really one for burgers especially from certain famous chains, after eating them we felt no regrets. The burgers at GIGGLE are fresh, handmade, contain “real” / natural ingredients and were not at all oily.

I’d certainly go back for more. A good place for a quick lunch, and I’m also of the opinion that the bar – especially during happy hour – would make a good spot to settle down with a book and a glass or two for a few hours. Although I’ve yet to try GIGGLE of an evening, I get the distinct impression that it would be a lot of fun. Indeed, it reminds me of some of the café-bars in my native England. The thought of spending a night there sampling the beers, after dining on burgers, is strangely appealing.

Open from 11.30am – 11.30pm (last orders at 11pm), closed on Wednesdays. Take away menu available.

Update 28/10/09: After a couple of subsequent visits I can safely say that the quality of the food, especially the cheese burger and clam chowder, remains consistently good as does the service. Weekends are noticeably busier and as such the atmosphere improves too.  

Update 29/11/09: Having now tried spending an evening at Giggle, I can safely say it's a lot of fun, if perhaps a bit quiet. They could do with dimming the lights a little too, so as to create a more cozy ambience. Food was splendid yet again, and some of the beers very tasty. The apple beer is probably best avoided though. Service was good, even though the staff seemed confused by our wanting to settle in for the night and use the place in the manner more usual for izakaya / restaurants. 

Tel: 03-3789-4232

Thanks to the ladies over at 8Tokyo.com for the photo of the entrance.

Uoshin, Shimo-Kitazawa 魚真、下北沢

Yet another interesting izakaya at the far end of the shōtengai leading away from the south exit of Shimo-Kitazawa station, not far from Uokisuisan, Uoshin offers plenty of fresh fish and other izakaya staples complimented by a lively atmosphere and busy service.

Whenever I’ve passed by of an evening Uoshin has been packed. Any day of the week. Its façade of simple, tall windows looking in on a faux Shōwa-era fish-market izakaya interior always seemed inviting. Deciding to give it a try, we headed there on a recent Thursday evening to be greeted at the door by a waitress in blue monpe. Entering in, I was surprised to find a small, well-appointed and practically deserted sushi-bar fitted out with a gleaming pale-wood counter and washitsu to the rear of the shop. As the waitress guided us to a table, I whispered with some urgency to my dining partner that this was not the crowded, lively looking izakaya we had just seen and imagined ourselves to be entering.

Explaining our mistake, while offering apologies for not on this particular evening being in the mood for sushi, we beat a less than hasty retreat (hard to bow and make haste at the same time). Realizing the source of our confusion, the sushi chef pointed out that this was indeed part of the izakaya, and any items from its menu could also be served here in the sushi shop. Pleasant enough as this might have been, we were not in the mood for such quiet surroundings and insisted on going next door to the izakaya proper. Still, to have a small sushi bar attached to an izakaya is an interesting concept, and no doubt helps to soak up customers when the main rooms of Uoshin are filled to capacity. Back on the street we walked further along the shop front to the main entrance and stepped into the warm, noisy interior. Shown quickly to a seat at the large U-shaped counter that surrounds a decidedly industrial-looking open kitchen, we ordered beer, large bottles of chilled Yebisu, to sip while taking in our surroundings.

Uoshin’s décor is simple; wooden floors, white plaster walls framed in dark wood, plenty of tables and chairs in small semi-private alcoves and rooms, visible through sliding glass-panelled doors, off the main dining floor which is itself dominated by the large kitchen and surrounding counter. Walls are decorated with black and white photos of fish markets and fishmongers wielding gigantic freshly caught fish – hinting at Uoshin’s connection to a Tsukiji fish wholesaler – occasional signatures from famous patrons and hand-written recommendations from the menu. Above the counter all around the periphery of the kitchen similar slips of paper display in bold characters choice dishes while the kitchen itself, a hectic jumble of stainless steel shelves, ovens, refrigerators and cooking utensils, is “decorated” with rows of hanging dried fish (himono). The counter, although large, was rather crowded and decorated with small china temple dogs. 

A second round of Yebisu was accompanied by a small basket of eda-mame (salted boiled broad beans in the pod) and a large plate of sashimi, six thick succulent slices each of wonderfully fresh katsuo (bonito) and buri (yellowtail) resting on a bed of shredded daikon (radish) and shisō (perilla) leaves. Beside the sashimi little piles of wasabi, shōga (ginger), wakame (seaweed) and myōga (Japanese ginger) were arranged ready to be mixed into small dishes of shōyu (soy sauce). Both sashimi were tasty, especially when eaten with wakame, and devoid of that slightly icy “just out of the freezer” texture that so often is associated with large (water-swollen) portions. 

Trying to choose a salad from the menu while being interrupted every few minutes by a waitress pushing in beside me to serve other diners at the counter (an eclectic mix of salarymen, students, dating couples, and lonely looking thirty-something office-ladies) was somewhat annoying, but considering how crowded the place was this can perhaps be overlooked. Throughout the course of the evening the service was prompt, to the point and friendly. Returning to the salad, we eventually settled on the kamaage shirasu to iwanori no sarada. This surprisingly tasty, if rather small, dish consisted of plenty of tiny white baby fish (shirasu), a variety of seaweed (iwanori), lettuce, daikon, and onion (tamanegi) topped with dried nori. Indeed, compared with the usual soggy abominations of tuna (maguro) scraps, limp lettuce and mayonnaise one often encounters in izakaya specializing in fish this salad was nothing short of marvellous. 

At this point in the meal sake seemed appropriate (why eating salad always seems to herald sake I have no idea) and as such we began our investigation of the dozen or so on offer with the Kukurei and Shirakami. Both were served from the bottle before our very eyes, poured into pleasingly large glasses. My only complaint was the lack of masu and usual overflow of sake they prompt. Neither of these sake were smooth, although the Shirakami was the more drinkable of the two, but were enjoyable all the same. The Dassai, an old favourite of mine and produce of Yamaguchi prefecture, was sweeter tasting and reassuringly mellow. Unfortunately the Jōkigen, this time from Yamagata prefecture, while decidedly drier than the others was fairly tasteless.

Hungry again, and determined to try something “different”, we next had a small dish of vivid pink hamo no karage (fried sea eel) covered in a strong-tasting sauce derived from pickled plum (ume). Different certainly, but I found the flavour a little overpowering after a while and so had no option but to wash it down with a little more sake, this time the rough-tasting pale yellow Yūho and the even rougher Hidakami. These induced an unwelcome light-headedness that was only somewhat cured after gulping down a bowl of o-cha-zuke (rice in hot tea), which to my horror contained ikura (salmon roe). The intrusion of the ikura aside, this dish was actually rather good and made interesting by its unusual orange colouring. An incredibly small portion of udon (juicy wheat-flour noodles), served on a bamboo tray with a bowl of ponzu sauce containing chives and ice, failed to impress and most definitely failed to stop the room from spinning. Admitting defeat at the hands of the sake menu we took our leave.

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