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| Happy New Year! Kanpai! |
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A Little Tokyo Seafood to Ring in the New Year
Before the year ends though I wanted to do one last little post about something near and dear to my heart; Seafood Izakayas.
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| Style be damned, we have fish that needs eating. |
No Frills Seafood in Tokyo's Koenji Neighborhood
Welcome to Sakana no Shimonya in Koenji. Koenji is an amazing little neighborhood in Tokyo filled with Thrift Stores, antique shops, wine bars, al fresco skewer shops where you sit on beer crates and tiny American Pop shops that sell things like Spuds MacKenzie table lights and Back to the Future trading cards with the gum still in them. You'll need at least half a day to wander through it all and at the end of it there is some incredible seafood waiting for you.
These people are so busy slicing sashimi and buttering up shellfish they appear to have had zero time to do much decoration wise. They did find some time to scribble daily specials on paper and slap them on the wall for you...not that you can read them but it's the thought that counts.
The menu is not going to be the most helpful if you can't read Japanese. Not to fear though, I'll take you through what we ordered. The meal we went with starts off slow and then makes its way into more adventurous territory. Nothing too extreme though.
Ordering Japanese Seafood Like a Pro
After you've sorted out your drinks it's time to dive in. I would suggest starting with the Sashimi Moriawase, which means sashimi sampler. If you're hoping for the freshest stuff you can try saying "sashimi moriawase omakese shimasu" which means you're asking them to choose for you. If you're not a picky eater this will not disappoint. We ordered, from bottom left to right, kanpachi, iwashi, maguro, ika and aji. In English we have yellowtail, sardine, bluefin tuna, squid and mackerel. This was a phenomenal sushi platter at a very reasonable price. You could just get 2 of these and leave happy.
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| Age Dofu, fried tofu |
But why would you? Next up is deep fried tofu, "age dofu" topped with bonito flakes and served with scallions and grated ginger. Just add a bit of soy sauce to the ginger and dig in. This is a very light, airy tofu dish that is great pause between sashimi and your next fish dish.
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| Ikura - Salmon Roe |
The Japanese live for salmon roe, ikura, and I am slowly getting on board with it. After 10 years in Japan I can safely say I am starting to enjoy these (after avoiding them for about 9 years) They taste like tiny balls of briny butter. There is rice under them so it's not all butter balls and brine.
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| Buri daikon - Yellowtail and Radish |
Buri daikon is not the prettiest dish on the menu but it is one of my favorites. It is slow cooked yellowtail served with a thick cuts of daikon radish and a rich, slightly sweet soy sauce broth. Topped with green onions and served hot.
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| Kanpai! |
Sake break. Order on the cheap side and get it hot or cold depending on the weather outside. If you're not a huge sake buff and have no idea what you're drinking then don't over think ordering it. It's more about the experience of getting teeny tiny little cups filled with clear, smooth booze and then the inevitable instagram food photo. #lifegoals.
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| Time for tempura |
If this meal was looking too low cal for your tastes then lets jump on into the deep fried portion of our evening. Here we've got a deep fried, Japanese veggie platter. The bottom left is gobo, or burdock root. Think of a rugged carrot that lives in the mountains and doesn't go limp quite so easily. The green one up top is shungiku, which is a leafy green and a member of the daisy family. It has a strong, astringent taste when eaten raw so these were most likely blanched before being deep fried. Finally, those little round guys are sato imo. It is a type of very earthy potato that looks similar to a tiny coconut. Also, fun fact, it is one of the earliest known cultivated plants. Deep fried history lesson up in here.
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| hotate sushi - scallop sushi |
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| Sake Harasu - Salmon Belly |
Time for some grilled fish. This is sake harasu which is fatty grilled salmon belly. Served with a slice of lemon and grated daikon radish. The best way to eat this is to cover the grated radish with soy sauce and then place a pinch of it on top of a bite sized piece of the salmon. Get about a months worth of fish oils in one bite.
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| Hotategai - Scallop in the shell |
Our final dish went to Hotategai. The scallop sushi was so good we decided to go for the whole thing. The meaty part of the scallop that is most commonly eaten is the adductor muscle. However, the whole scallop is actually edible. A common way to eat them in Tokyo is to have them doused in soy sauce and then heated over a grill so the juices start boiling in the shell and then they are given a healthy dollop of butter. Butter soy sauce scallops are one of the yummiest things you can try in Tokyo.
Seafood Phobic
Before I moved to Japan Seafood was something that I never really ate on a regular basis. I didn't arrive in Japan ready to eat Salmon roe or scallop livers, it took time for me to like them. I was not a picky eater but nor was I particularly adventurous. I've said this over and over, if you are not a fan of seafood because it smells "fishy" then I implore you to give it a go in Japan and discover for yourself how incredible seafood can be.
Thanks for an awesome 2017
I started this blog 6 months ago on the suggestion of one Kai-Huei Yau, my roommate from my days in Eugene, Oregon. It's been way more fun than I ever could have anticipated and more people from more countries read it than I could have hoped for. Thanks Kai for giving me the pointers on how to get this started and thanks to Takao for putting up with all my crap when we go out to dinner. Thanks to everyone for reading this and I appreciate it so much. I hope you have a delicious 2018.
And if you ever visit Tokyo, you know where to find me.
Happy New Year
Akemashite Omedeto gozaimasu.
Kotoshi mo yorosiku onegaishimasu.
Sakana no Shimonya Seafood Izakaya
Nearby Stations: JR Koenji
Nearby Attractions:
Covered Shopping Sreets
Antique Stores
Thrift Stores
Cheap outdoor dining
Tons of Bars
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