izakaya is essentially a japanese pub, an intimate and typically "locals" or "divey" establishment that serves both alcohol and food, but unlike american or irish pubs, the focus is very much both the alcohol AND the food. all dishes are small plates meant to be shared over beer or sake (or both) and ranges from tasty little salads to impeccably fresh sashimi to perfectly charred skewers of meat and fiery hot stone pots of rice and seasonings.
i was simply hooked on the concept (i like food and i like alcohol) and obsessed with participating in an authentic izakaya experience. so when christien and i decided to head to tokyo for a week, i made damn sure we would go to an izakaya or three. for dinner on the second nite of our trip in japan, we trekked through the crowded streets of shinjuku district to sanchome, its 3rd ward. wandering down the dark paved streets, we came to a narrow and dark wooden corridor that led downwards. the black cloth banner above read gamushara in ghostly white. my first izakaya!
photos are great, but videos really tell the story. push play and watch as i descend down into my first izakaya...
the establishment was small, maybe about 500 square feet of dining space with low wooden tables and benches. behind us was an open kitchen and bar with bottles and bottles of sake lining the walls. it was pretty dark and tables were dimly lit by pin lights above.
upon seating, a waiter distributes the customary hot hand towel to refresh your hands and places small bowls of marinated burdock root and hijiki seaweed as a teaser, or amuse bouche if you will.
christien's friend, , a japanese native and food guide for the evening rattled off a flurry of dishes to the waiter. and the dishes start coming. first up, a fresh and tender salad of red and green lettuce, thinly sliced red onions, green beans and fresh corn lightly dressed in a citrus vinaigrette.
then comes a wonderful stew of beef innards and quail eggs nestled in intense broth. so delicious.
then gyozas, perfectly panfried on the flat side, moist and tender meat stuffed inside.
chicken kaarage was wonderfully moist and seasoned with a light, crunchy batter. great with fresh squeezed lemon.
chashu, roasted pork loin, was amazing.
then this came out. konnyaku. robinson describes konnyaku as a jelly made from the flour of the "devil's tongue" plant. it was weird and spicy on the tongue with kind of an unflavored gelatin texture. the sauce helped, but not enough to win me over. oh well.
fried wedge potatoes. omg. who knew japanese could make fries so well?! perfectly crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
takowasa. fresh, raw octopus, diced with fresh wasabi root, bathed in its own octopusy slime. this was absolutely stunning. the octopus was crunchy and tender at the same time, and the slime wasn't slimy. the wasabi root provided a nice firey bite. we ordered three of these it was so good. and i'm still searching for a place in sf that does this. found one in la. so addicting.
this was a stone pot that was placed on our table scroching hot, filled with white rice, pork, mushrooms, pickled vegetables, scallions and an egg yolk.
as the nite wore on and we had passed our fourth or fifth round of beers (i lost count), our food guide orders this controversy: raw chicken salad! what what? you can't eat chicken raw!! apparently the chickens used for this delicacy are raised on special farms so that samonella is very low risk. so after hesitating and much doubting, we popped our first raw chicken bits into our mouths.
oh, let me tell you: it was sublime. aside from the weird headspin you get when you try something you know you shouldn't be trying, this was very tasty. the chicken had a sashimi-like texture, similar to snapper (tai) and was dressed in a mayo/avocado mixture that really let the chicken shine through. surprisingly very good. i think i felt a pyschological pang in my stomach a few moments later as the "samonella" hit, but i never had any problems later. besides, there was just too much good food to focus on such trival things. that and all the alcohol in our systems probably killed every germ in its tracks.
now what's an asian meal without eggrolls? these were hot and crisp on the outside, creamy-laden with seafood on the inside.
ah, one of the last and most intriguing dishes of the nite. pregnant anchovies, deep fried. riveting choice of words eh? these were deep fried whole with some sort of vinegary garnish.
and yes, chockful of little anchovy babies... or in culinary terms, roe. crunchy on the outside, crunchy little bursts of roe on the inside. definite fan of this.
and so, after countless rounds of asahi, (or was it kirin? probably both, i can't remember) and over a dozen delicacies later (many of which we ordered 2nd rounds) we fork out that funny money and move onto a nite of more intoxicated merrymaking. i had so much fun here. great food, thirst-quenching, mischief-making beer, and the company of amazing friends, their stories, their smiles and laughter. this, i realized, is what izakaya is all about. thank you.
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