Kaisen Uoriki @uoriki1930 is a seafood izakaya 🏮 at @tobu_ikebukuro department store. Seasonal seafood dishes including isaki sashimi, hamo eel, and sushi. Popular side dishes for pairing with #sake and #shochu like Satsuma age fish cakes, dashimaki tamago, and menchi katsu made from tuna. We booked a koshitsu private room so it would be easier…
Category: seafood
Izakaya Hiro
Hiro in Nakameguro is a fun evening with chef Satoshi. Just say omakase (it’s not only for sushi) and leave it up to Satoshi san to create a menu of small plates paired with sake. So much to love here. The relaxed environment, good music, and mix of dishes and sake. Spring represented in fresh…
Aoyama Ototo
Fabulous seafood lunch set at Aoyama Ototo @ototo_01010. Simple and brilliant concept. Freshly caught seafood with rice cooked in a donabe pot. Most of the seafood is grilled. The menu simply lists seasonal seafood such as: mackerel, yellowtail, Pacific saury, or sockeye salmon. There is also a miso simmered mackerel. From my seat I could see…
Toyosu Market
It was my pleasure to get an interpreting job at Toyosu Market with a journalist writing an article on the world’s biggest seafood market. Although I did tours at Tsukiji Market the new Toyosu Market is off limits to non-trade people. One morning it was amazing to meet Yamazaki san of Yamaharu. A colorful variety…
L’Evo
Gastronomy tourism is a big part of why tourists are coming to Japan. L’Evo is an example of a restaurant featuring hyper-local ingredients and worth a journey. Chef Eiji Taniguchi’s restaurant is in the mountains of Toyama in the village of Toga in the remote Nanto district. The menu features local seafood and game with…
Ehōmaki
Today in Japan is Setsubun, the last day before Risshun, the first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar. While homes first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar. While homes with kids will throw dried soybeans at someone wearing a devil’s mask chanting “out with the demons, in with good fortune”. If…
Kanazawa Maimon Sushi
Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures are on Toyama Bay and famous for seafood. Part of any trip to Kanazawa always includes a sushi meal. We love Maimon Sushi, a kaitenzushi conveyor belt sushi chain famous for getting seafood deliveries twice a day, ensuring the freshest seafood. There are a few branches in the city. There’s a…
Ito Marugen
A fun dinner at Marugen Marutaka izakaya in downtown Ito. The drinking pub is very popular so there was a line in front of the small shop from more than 30 minutes before it opened. One of their signature dishes is uzuwa which is sodagatsuo a meaty fish that is chopped up raw and mixed…
Ginza Maru
Ginza Maru is a kappō restaurant that serves lovely grilled fish lunch sets in the heart of Ginza. Kappō is like a kaiseki restaurant but a bit more casual and with a counter where diners can talk to the chef preparing some of the dishes. On this day the options were miso gindara black cod…
Tsukiji Breakfast
My first meal at Tsukiji Market when I worked for a Japanese seafood company was at Toto Grill @totogurill. The busy shop was filled with fishmongers. It’s very quiet now that the wholesale market has moved to Toyosu. A local spot for breakfast away from the chaotic crowds of Tsukiji. The daily specials are always a…
Tsuriya
Tsuriya in Toyama is a shop that specializes in seafood in many forms: dried, marinated in oil, marinated in nuka rice bran, smoked, and much more. Toyama prefecture specializes in these sake-friendly seafood products. Tsuriya is near Toyama Bay and the area has a long history of seafood – both fresh and these seafood products….
Rice Bran Fish
Sanma Pacific saury is marinated in nuka rice bran and salt for four days before grilling. This local lunch spot in #Kurobe,#Toyama is at Hokuyo no Yakata. The café is charming. There is also a shop with local products including kombu kelp, pantry items, and seafood. Hokuyo no Yakata is on the Sea of Japan….
Kaiseki Kashiwaya
Kashiwaya is a small kaiseki restaurant on the quiet back streets of Nihonbashi. Chef Yoshiyuki Kashiwabara was the chef for ambassadors at Japanese consulates overseas. He moved back to Japan and it’s exciting to see him open his own restaurant. Here are some photos from a recent dinner there. Kaiseki are seasonal small dishes. Chef…
Sustainable Tuna
A tuna sushi meal that is made with farmed tuna from Kinki University. The fatty tuna is lean with a soft texture. There are only two restaurants in Japan that the whole menu is based on farmed seafood from Kinki University. Not just tuna, but also sea bream, yellowtail, and a hybrid of yellowtail and…
Salmon and Ikura Rice at Tsukiji
Delicious start to the day at Tsukiji Tadokoro Shokuhin, a fish roe specialty shop. The eat-in counter has rice and pasta dishes with ikura (salmon roe), tarako and mentaiko (both from pollack roe). There is also onigiri or omusubi rice balls stuffed with roe for take-away. This is rice sauteed in butter and soy sauce…
Table-worthy Canned Goods
We keep a big variety of canned foods in the pantry, in case of an earthquake, and because Japan offers great options. Canned foods in Japan offer a wide variety of seafood and meats, many worth putting on the table with a glass of wine or saké. Kokubu is a company that offers a colorful…
Tuna Lovers’ Day Trip From Tokyo
Misaki Maguro Kippu is a special discounted train, bus, and lunch ticket that is a fun day trip from Tokyo for tuna lovers. Many Japanese train and bus lines offer discounted tickets for round-trip excursions. Misaki is a famous port for tuna. Maguro is tuna, and kippu is for ticket. The Misaki Maguro Kippu can be…
New Breakfast Spot at Tsukiji Market
There is a brand new place to have breakfast at Tsukiji Market that is void of tourists and offering a value priced meal. There is a new facility, Tsukiji Uogashi, with about sixty retail shops for seafood and produce on the first floor. The first floor is open to the general public after 9 a.m. Prior…
Savory Unagi
Ikebukuro Tobu is Tokyo’s largest depachika with over 200 food stalls. The depachika is spread out over two floors and two buildings, and is worth a careful peruse. The restaurant floors on the upper five floors of the department store offers tempura, tonkatsu, sushi, unagi, and much more. The restaurant floors are packed on weekends,…
Keisuke Fugu Ramen
Fugu, a fish that has many names: torafugu, pufferfish, tiger blowfish, blowfish, porcupine fish, or globefish. Regardless of what you call it, you probably know that it is the fish that one could die from if it is not handled properly. Nowadays fugu farmers in Japan have figured out how to raise poison-free fugu. As for…
Nodaiwa
I first came across Nodaiwa while working at Nihonbashi Takashimaya. The fifth-generation unagi-ya has a branch at Takashimaya. Here is the fifth-generation shokunin, Kanejiro Kanemoto-san. Details are in Food Sake Tokyo, my book. I just wanted to share these photos of the storefront and the lovely Kanemoto-san. http://www.littlebookroom.com/products/food-sake-tokyo
Japanese Breakfast – Kuouesu
I have a six-month column on Japanese breakfast in the Japan Times. This special spot was mentioned in my first column on traditional Japanese breakfasts. Kuouesu near Hiroo offers a very unique Japanese breakfast. The kappō restaurant is only open for breakfast and dinner. It was a long walk from the station, so best to…
Shinjuku Kaijin 海神
Kaijin literally means the God of the Seas, a perfect name for this ramen shop that does not use meat. The seafood soup at Shinjuku Kaijin changes daily based on what seafood is in season. The broth, while rich in flavor, is light and refreshing on the palate. The fish that goes into the broth is…
Temakizushi Party
A fun idea for entertaining at home is a temaki-zushi party. Hand rolls (手巻き寿司) are interactive and as each person makes their own rolls it can be a good way to keep everyone happy. Some supermarkets and department store seafood sections will sell the seafood already cut for the rolls, especially on weekends and holidays. Ingredients…
Japan’s Most Challenging Food
Chinmi. I am not a fan, not one bit. But my husband, Shinji, loves having some type of chinmi in the fridge at all times. Usually we have one or two types, but we recently traveled and Shinji picked up some along the way. Chinmi is fermented seafood, often including the guts or other parts of seafood…
Shibuya Kotaro 高太郎
** Note, reservations required. Kotaro is very popular and not many spots open up each month as regulars make their next reservations on their way out. Kotaro is named after the owner and chef who prepares all of the food in an open kitchen behind a large wooden counter. I was introduced to Kotaro by…
Deep-Fried Oysters at Tsukiji
Yachiyo is a Tsukiji shop that specializes in tonkatsu, but also does a very nice kaki furai, deep-fried oysters. It is located to the left of Sushi Dai. Oysters are just finishing off their season but will be back in the autumn. However, the days of Yachiyo and the inner market are limited. Oysters are breaded and…
Sardine Lovers’ Lunch 新宿割烹中嶋
Chef Nakajima of Shinjuku Kappō Nakajima is often on television on a morning cooking show. His restaurant serves a multi-course kaiseki meal in the evening, but the lunch is a set lunch based on iwashi sardines. For less than $10 USD (800 or 900 JPY), the menu options are sashimi, furai (breaded and deep-fried), nimono (simmered in a sweet soy sauce),…
Hiroshima Oysters – Mitsukoshi Kakigoya
A trip to Hiroshima was timed around oyster season, which is just now coming to an end. Shinji has not been and for him it’s all about the seafood, so we flew to Hiroshima and traveled around the area for about two weeks. Sadly we were told at the restaurants we did visit that they…
Isomaru Suisan 磯丸水産
A friend and I needed to grab a quick lunch before he jumped on the shinkansen to Kyoto. We popped into Isomaru Suisan near Ueno station and had colorful and fresh sashimi donburi. Donburi are large bowls filled with rice and toppings, a great one-bowl meal. He had a tuna and avocado bowl and I took a chirashizushi with…
Tsukiji Katou 築地かとう – moved to Toyosu
*** Katou has closed with the closing of the Tsukiji Jōnai Inner Market and has moved to Toyosu Market. It is in the Suisan Nakaoroshi Uriba-to on the 3rd floor and the name changed to Ikinoya (粋のや). I believe it is being managed by Kaisendon Oedo, another popular shop that moved from Tsukiji to Toyosu. (updated…
Tokyo Station Sushi Sei
Sushi Sei is a popular sushi shop at Tsukiji Market that has a branch inside of Tokyo Station. There is often a line of salarymen outside of the shop before it opens at 7 a.m. The breakfast options include sashimi or donburi (sashimi over a large bowl of rice). There are also two versions of ochazuke….
Octopus Cuisine
Shinji’s father has a boat on Tokyo Bay and he often goes fishing. Recently he came home with an octopus. Shinji set to work preparing the octopus by first massaging it in grated daikon. It was then boiled and here is the boiled octopus. Octopus, tako in Japanese, is one of my favorite seafood. It’s meaty,…
Tsukiji Market Takeno Shokudo 多け乃食堂
It is said that there are 500 shops and restaurants at Tsukiji Market’s outer market. Finding a particular one can be a challenge. A friend had told me that I had to check out Takeno Shokudo. “It is just down one of those narrow streets just before the stoplight”, he had advised. Problem is that…
November Seasonal Japanese Seafood
Salmon roe, pulled out of its sac and simply marinated in the sweet soy sauce of Kyushu, is irresistible this time of year. We love it so much it is on the table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Crabs are also coming to market. Another highlight this time of year is fresh scallops and oysters,…
October Seasonal Seafood
At Tsukiji Market we are seeing many autumn seafood like oysters, wakasagi for deep-frying, and finally sanma for grilling with salt. Some of our favorite sashimi this time of year include katsuo, isaki, and if you get a kawahagi with a big liver we will mix the liver with soy sauce and dip the sashimi…
September Seasonal Japanese Seafood
Kamasu barracuda Kamasu and sanma are two fish in season now that we love to simply season with salt and grill. Katsuo sashimi Katsuo we love as sashimi, or if we find it in the market seared on the outside (tataki) we’ll cut it into thick slices and garnish with garlic and ginger and serve with the sweet kanrō soy…
August Seasonal Japanese Seafood
Katsuo tataki Katsuo sashimi topped with myoga, shiso, and garlic Katsuo as done by chef Zaiyu Hasegawa at Den Look for seafood from this list when eating out in Japan or in the supermarkets or at your fishmonger. Most of the seafood listed here you can enjoy as sushi or sashimi. At home we…
June Seasonal Japanese Seafood
The waters are warming up around Japan and many of the fish coming to market now are lean like katsuo. Here is a sashimi platter at our home, Izakaya Sakamoto. The big fish in the back is Tokyo Bay aji, iwashi, lean katsuo, kisu, and shiriyake-ika. This tsubugai sashimi was served at a izakaya specializing in shōchū, Bettako. One…
May Seasonal Japanese Seafood ５月旬の魚
The cold waters still bring fish rich with fat that shines in sashimi or is nice for grilling. Asari clams are great for making into a quick vongole style pasta. And perhaps my favorite this time of year is katsuo simply seared on the edges, sliced thickly, and served with some soy sauce and garlic. This…
April Seasonal Japanese Seafood ４月旬の鮮魚
uni uni pasta spring sashimi by Shinji Sakamoto kinmedai sushi madai carpaccio Saikyo miso marinated honmasu The cherry blossoms have peaked in Tokyo as the weather has warmed up. This time of year we are seeing the last of the creamy shirako (milt) that we love so much as well as many fish eggs. The nabé hot…
March Seasonal Japanese Seafood
Tairagai, hokkigai, and kinmedai in a tairagai shell March is a delicious month for seafood. The cold waters still bring fish rich with fat that shines in sashimi or is nice for grilling. Asari clams are great for making into a quick vongole style pasta. Grilling salted fish heads of buri or tai is quick…
February Seasonal Japanese Seafood ２月旬の魚
ankimo monkfish liver February is one of the coldest months in Japan, so it is a wonderful time for hot pots (nabé). Monkfish (ankō) is one of Shinji’s favorite types of nabé. We always save the liver and serve it separately. Ankimo is often called the foie gras of the sea. It’s very easy to steam – see a…
Madara Pacific Cod 101
Nabé with cod (small filets on the bottom) For visitors and residents of Japan, we are featuring seafood posts written by my husband, Shinji, a Japanese fishmonger. While in Japan, these are seasonal seafood and dishes that you should definitely look for. All of the food was prepared in our home. A popular winter dish in…
Buri and Hamachi Yellowtail 101
Classic Winter Dish of Buri Daikon Buri is simmered with daikon in a sweet soy broth until both are tender. Himi Port in Toyama famous for winter kanburi. These kanburi are at the wholesale fish market which is open to the public. Kanburi at the retail fish market an hour later. Prices range from…
January Seasonal Japanese Seafood １月旬の魚
Saké Steamed Asari Clams The seafood in winter is rich with fat as the fish protects itself from the cold waters. Some sashimi eaten this time of year will be a bit oily as a result. As always, we love to have most seafood as sashimi when possible, like buri, sawara, hirame and hotate. Shinji…
December Seasonal Japanese Seafood １２月旬の魚
ankimo asari pasta buri kamayaki Winter has arrived in Tokyo. The waters surrounding the island nation are cold in most parts of the country and the fish are rich with fat. At the moment Shinji, my husband who is a fishmonger, is crazy about wild buri (yellowtail) from Hokkaido. We look for the kama (collar)…
November Seasonal Seafood １１月旬の鮮魚
November Seasonal Sashimi Monkfish Liver We love this time of year as the seafood is rich with fat as the waters turn cold. Some of our favorites this time of year is ankou (monkfish), for its meat which we often make in a nabe (hot pot) but also for its liver. The photo above is…
October Seasonal Japanese Seafood １０月旬の鮮魚
As the waters become cooler the fish become rich with fat. We love sanma (Pacific saury) this time of year, both as sashimi, or simply salted and grilled. If there is a nice cup of nihonshu on the table, eating the guts of the sanma is also a treat. For miso soup a handful of…
September Seasonal Japanese Seafood ９月旬の鮮魚
Grilled Nishin While summer heat is still bearing down slowly autumn seafood are coming into the market. Hokkaido harvested its first akijake this week as well as sanma from Choshi port in Chiba. We love asari clams with pasta. Nishin is a very fish fish, but easier on the palate when grilled. Hirame is excellent…
Food Sake Tokyo 