Tokyo Trip Report (February 2025)

Howdy howdy howdy all, this is a bit delayed because life, etc. Also, my agent and I are about to send out my novel to publishers so most of my writing went to that whole thing. If this thing sells, you all will be required to preorder because god knows I’ve written more words on here than in the novel.

Anyways, this was a good trip. Four-ish days in Tokyo, 7 or 8 in Sapporo and Otaru. Those cities will get their own post, and, good golly do they deserve it. The usual thanks to all of you, specifically @formersushichef for the Yakitori Takahashi rec and @pomodoro for your insane knowledge.

On to the stuff we ate. As usual, no pictures. I know most places allow it but I feel like too much of an intruder to take photos. As such, this is mostly going to be a vibes post.

Butagumi
Our first meal of the trip and probably our least favorite. For most of the meal, we were the only table in there at 730 or so on a Saturday night. Vibes could not have been lower. Food was tasty, though I realize now that my interest in just hammering down pork is lower than I anticipated. Also, I understand the pork quality is very very high here, but it felt like the worst value meal of the trip. Whatever, this spot has been on my list for a long time! So I was always going to end up here, and I’m glad I did. Also, it put me within walking distance of the greatest bar on earth…

Eureka!
What a spot. Quite frankly, one of my fav bars ever. We probably had six or seven sakes, including that barrel-aged lineup. Also had a sake that had been made like a week before. Their instagram claims it as Tochigi Prefecture Senkin Rishon Asashiboro" un, fwiw. Sat next to a Japanese salaryman who kept telling us how lucky we were to be there and kept claiming that the woman who owns the spot was basically the best in all of Japan. Also met a dude who owned an omakase spot in Paris, who was there with a Barbaresco producer. (His label is Socre.) We bonded over Il Centro, which he loved, and was recommended by somebody on this board or on Chowhound. Great night. Also, because of this night, we defaulted to drinking Senkin at a lot of spots and it served us well.

Tempura Miyashiro
This was the lunch tasting, and it was quite delicious. Highlights were Miyashiro’s pretty iconic seaweed tempura topped with tuna, an obscene amount of uni, and caviar. Wish I had a picture of that one. Also loved the kurama-ebi. He served one with a light fry and one with a deep fry. Would follow this man to the end of the earth for his tempura shellfish variations, cared a tad less for tempura whitefish, snapper, etc. Vibes were a tad bland, though service was kind and they did a great job of explaining things to us. It was us and one other couple, also tourists, I think from Korea. Felt like every nice meal I was alongside Koreans or Hong Kongers, and I get it, with the proximity and the yen so low, I’d be in Japan every weekend if I lived so close!

Soba Osame
This was a sleeper meal of the trip, and perhaps the one I would most recommend to people! Picture a tiny old house in what to me was a random area of Tokyo. Mejiro it seems like? Really fun stroll to get here. Our table was tucked in a tiny alcove that we had to duck to get into. Shoes off kind of place. Not a ton of English here, but we did just fine with google translate. We did a duck soba and a cold soba, and because it’s been 7 weeks since I was there, I forget which specific types we ordered. Wish we had done a more intentional tasting of the three types of sobas. Also, the grilled scallops were fantastic but it was this chargrilled prawn that was really exceptional. One of the best bites of the trip for me. There’s a picture on the tableall link. Just an absolutely perfect char mixed with the heady shrimp flavors, and the shell was such that you could chomp right through the end, as if it was tempura’ed? We ordered a la carte. If you want to do a soba specialist, can’t recommend Osame highly enough. Drank Senkin sake here.

Part 2 of Tokyo dining coming shortly! Yakitori Takahashi. Ukiyo and Seirankan and unagi yondaime kikukawa.

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Yakitori Takahashi
This place was so damn good. Price range was great, sake list was great, and the chef was so super friendly. He actually helped us figure out which store to go to to buy (I swear that construction is grammatically correct) these gorgeous handle-less pots that we noticed a ton of chefs working with in Japan. Highlights were, amusingly enough, the best sweet potato of my life. Loved a gizzard, loved that they serve you some cartilagey bites and you just get to gnaw on stuff for flavor. Almost hard to delineate between what was good and what was exceptional because it just introduced me to a new baseline for what yakitori could be.

Seirinkan
The marinara pizza is my favorite in the world. Was tempted to try out another spot, but Seirinkan (imo) was so much better than PST last time that I stuck with old faithful. Also love that it’s a line for lunch, so we could cruise up whenever we wanted to.


Ukiyo
So Ukiyo is an interesting spot opened by Toshi Akama, a young chef from Canada. Previously he was the sous chef at Ikoyi in London, which was recommended as the best spot in that city by my pal who owns Feld in Chicago. This dude also used to cook at Caveman, which is now closed but will forever be the best value meal of my life. Space is moody, a bit sexy, and the service is ambitious but a bit clunky. For instance, there is no wine list, they just want to have a conversation with you, and then they’ll end up recommending some really cool but strange natural wines. Had a super acidic, intriguing skin contact wine from Hokkaido. Not sure if it was good or terrible but I can’t stop thinking about it. (It was probably terrible, lol.)

Toshi’s food is unlike anything I’ve had before. Think flounder in like a strawberry/habanero broth or yellowtail with sake lees (sake kasu?) and harissa. Particularly liked a sunchoke tofu with smoked salmon. Ikoyi is known for their use of African spices, and Toshi is certainly continuing that tradition. Very interesting, if not a tad confusing at times, to eat, say, snow crab with passion berry and smoked paprika.

This is a place that might in some universe grab a few stars or climb high up the Pellegrino list. It’s a tasty break from the omakases and the kaisekis and all that jazz. Also, it was great to chat with Toshi. We chatted skiing (he might actually be from Whistler) and the emerging crew of chefs who cooked in Europe in their early 20s and are now opening their own spots. Ukiyo was around 100 dollars, and for that price, the cooking is exemplary. In LA, this is probably a $250 meal. I’m not sure if this is an endorsement, but if natty wines and an international-ish tasting menu with Japanese ingredients intrigues you, then check this spot out. Here is the menu and some wine.



Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa
This was a @pomodoro rec and it was a fantastic end to our trip. Beautiful unagi bowls, with this helpful 4-step guide to the different ways to eat said unagi. I actually have a picture of this beauty.

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Thanks for the repot back, and glad you had a good time @set0312 . Congrats on publishing, as well.

I feel you on this. I get self conscious about taking pictures, and video is almost always a no go in restaurants (apparently, photography bans became more popular because one powerful guy got caught out with his mistress). It’s more chill when not taking pictures and one can just focus on the meal, but it can be tough for me to remember all the dishes and details while drinking. Anyway, all good, sounds like you enjoyed.

Butagumi is maybe most known for having a broad selection of exotic pork breeds (I do like their Sri Lankan curry as well). It certainly isn’t the cheapest and yeah, not a high energy place for dinner, but their 2 branches are pretty centrally located. In greater Tokyo, I do like Narikura and Tonkatsu Keita, but they’re a bit of a trek out.

Nishiazabu does have a lot of bars and it’s always a pleasant place to walk around even at night.

Senkin is a great brewery - I drink their Nature and Modern Omachi a fair bit at home, the UA seasonal collabos when in Japan, and I always save some room in my suitcase for a seasonal bottle.

This Risshun Asa Shibori is a very seasonal release - it’s brewed on the first day of Spring, Setsubun, to be released February 4. The idea of this “spring arises” brew is that it’s pressed on the morning (“asa”) of spring and could be drunk immediately, apparently causing a lot of stress for the brewers in terms of logistics. I haven’t had this one yet, but I believe it’s a junmai ginjo nama genshu and this one’s kimoto. It must’ve been ultra fresh tasting. I think there’s 41 breweries participating in this type of release each with their own, and apparently deliveries are only to select stores. No doubt it may get shipped, but you likely won’t see this one served outside Japan unless it’s grey market. I like the old school label.

I love starting the tempura course with a comparison of shrimp cooked in different ways. Sounds like you had some good shellfish. While I think an ingredient like icefish (shirauo) can really show the skill / level of a shop, shellfish tends to be the most delicious for me (and shrimp are the most emblematic/classic).

At almost every restaurant I’ve been to last year that was a hard-to-get reservation, if there was another tourist, he or she was from Seoul or Bangkok. In my recent experience, there’ve been far fewer mainland Chinese, European, or American tourists at these restaurants.

Good soba can be underrated. Traditionally, soba shops were sake focused places to drink and sober up with soba. One of my favorite sakes is brewed to pair with soba specifically.

Yakitori in Japan is one of those things that is really on the next level, still, and I don’t think anyone’s really closed the gap that much. I’d say tempura, too.

I gotta do the marinara. I thought the margherita was good, not great. Savoy > Seirinkan > PST, in my experience, but I will try again and a fewo thers.

Sounds pretty wild! Some friends did like Caveman

Glad you enjoyed; I think it’s probably one of the best options inside Haneda airport.

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Very happy you got to experience Takahashi! That for me is my death-row meal if it was AYCE

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Many thanks again for all your knowledge, but especially your sake knowledge! The Risshun Asa Shibori was fantastic. Where do you get sake from in LA? How can I grab some bottles of Senkin?

Do try the marinara at Seirinkan if you’ve a chance.

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You’re welcome. Risshun Asa Shibori is a nice seasonal treat.

Senkin has a diverse lineup. They have some seasonal releases, but usually those aren’t available in America. Just best to enjoy those when in Japan for freshness and seasonal synergy. One of my favorite pairings last summer was Senkin x United Arrows’ fireworks right around Hanabi festival with summer abalone with various roe and innards aka “the bomb” at an izakaya Sanchokuya Taka.

When I buy sake in America, it tends to be online from 1) TrueSake in SF (they deliver to LA and I like to support their efforts for the sake industry) or 2) HiTime in Costa Mesa (they sometimes have a couple bottles of Akabu, Tenbi, Ohmine, Mimurosugi, and the occasional Nabeshima and now Hououbiden, but I haven’t come across Senkin there yet). If I’m buying Senkin specifically in America then it’s been through TrueSake - I like the Kioke Nature and also the Modern Omachi. There’s also UmamiMart in Oakland that ships to LA, but I think TrueSake has a bigger selection. Also, I’m aware that there are some unofficial channels available in California, even for limited bottles, but I can’t really recommend those..

I usually bring back some Senkin from Japan for personal use from purchasing retail at authorized dealers in Tokyo. (Disclosure: a friend of mine is also an acquaintance of some at the Senkin brewery - through non food/beverage. But, I’ve been a fan of Senkin for a couple of years and didn’t find out the connection until very recently.)

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