fresh yellow fin tuna about to be filleted for our consumption at 'uoshin'
same guy at 'uoshin' scraping out every last morsel of flesh from a blue fin tuna's head
crispy fried hamo (conger eel) bones at 'uoshin'. great beer food!
grilled (at the table) marinated freshwater eel with mayonnaise at 'kuu'
the world's smallest arrowhead squid, about 5cm long at full stretch!
It's a quiet, balmy Sunday night in Kyoto and we've settled into our ryokan after a solid 2 days of eating, drinking and walking.
The flight to Tokyo was fine and we ended up sitting next to a fellow Hobartian on a full flight, yes it follows you around. I'm beginning to believe that it's impossible to not run into or meet someone from Tasmania anywhere in the world!
Once we arrived in Tokyo we met up with a friend of ours, Pat, who has been living in Japan for 2 years. We were hungry, thirsty and utterly reliant on Pat finding us a cold Kirin and numerous dishes to erase the memory of the dismal and scarce plane food. It was pissing down! And we had no idea where to head. Pat had booked us into a hotel in Akasaka and after we dumped our gear, we headed off to Ebisu to a small place called "buri", a standing bar that had unfortunately lost its authenticity in the year since Pat had been out of Tokyo, and alongside the yakitori and salted fish guts, they were serving jamon, proscuitto and pizza! The beers went down well, but we had to move onto somewhere serving more authentic fare. So Pat decided to take us to one of the most touristy restaurants in Tokyo, but it serves good food. And eat we did! Gonpachi was the restaurant, and we each started off with a shochu (japanese whiskey) and some assorted pickles, grilled toro and handmade soba noodles, which were declicious. The interesting finale to the noodles was being served the water in which the noodles were cooked to mix with the unused dipping sauce to make a light broth which you drank at the end of the meal. Bloody delicious! So by 2.30am after much eating, drinking and catching up, we could hardly keep our eyes opened so headed back to the hotel for a solid night's sleep.
Trying to find a restaurant in Tokyo isn't hard as there are 160,000 of them, but getting into the most authentic and refined is a challenge unto itself. In Tokyo it's a case of what's been recommended that doesn't require a personal introduction or "i like the look of that place, let's go in". So with this mantra we looked up a few websites and hit the pavements.
here are a few we've visited:
Kuu Charcoal & Stone Grill
Kuu is located on the 50th floor of the Sumitomo Building in Shinjuku. The view over Tokyo Bay is pretty amazing and a big drawcard for the restaurant. It's reminiscent of a scene from bladerunner, with a misty, cloudy skyline and hundreds of flashing red lights to ward off any low flying planes. We sat at the counter watching the charcoal grill and were served by the grill chef. The food was authentic and rustic. We ordered sake to begin with, something that we are both taking a real liking to. We ordered seven dishes, the most interesting being the marinated baby squid – the smallest squid we have ever seen, just marinated in soy and mirin and served raw, innards included. The tsukemono (japanese pickles) were delicious as was the marinated eel that we grilled at the bar ourselves. The slender pieces of perfectly filleted eel, slightly coloured and curved under the intense heat of the Japanese grill, and went perfectly with the accompanying mayonnaise. We finished off with a whole mackarel cooked over the charcoal grill – perfectly cooked and simply served with lemon, daikon and soy sauce. It was a great way to finish the meal. The only disappointing dishes for us were the white fish sashimi (which they called carpaccio) and the tuna sashimi.
Uoshin Nagizaka
We spotted this little place on our way to Roppongi so we decided to drop in there on our way home from Kuu, ducking in just before the torrential down pour. This fish bar and charcoal grill had so much life, and an eclectic mix of furniture, ranging from american diner style chairs and tables to little wooden tables surrounded by sake crates. We sat at the counter where we could watch all the action. As you walk into the restaurant, the thing that most stands out is the ice display with the fresh fish, scallops (huge!), oysters (huge!), and massive tuna heads. The boys in the kitchen were extremely lively and vocal – we had no idea what they were yelling out, and it was probably more amusing that way. We were the only westerners there, but were not treated any differently. We ordered a small range of plates incluidng edamame (fresh soy beans), fish bone chips (yep, and they were really tasty, just like fried fish only crunchy), cold tofu with soy sauce (some of the best tofu we have eaten, perhaps handmade), and an assortment of sashimi. The sashimi was so fresh and delicious. And the best thing to drink with this food on a hot, balmy summer’s night is beer – it goes down almost too well. The food here was fresh, authentic and inexpensive, and the staff were friendly as well as fun and entertaining. You definitely feel like you’re in Japan eating here.
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