The very final day of a small sushi restaurant.

 About a week before, I’ve got a text message from my friend, regrettably informing me of the closing down my favorite sushi restaurant. “It was going to be next Friday” she mentioned sadly.
 So I decided then and there that I was going to this small sushi restaurant where a friend of mine running alone.

Opening a heavy darkish wooden door, I felt as if I came across another world. It was dark inside, so dark that I couldn’t even see the way to the table.
 Seeing my old friend cooking sushi behind the counter, I remember so many things across my heart. It was five years ago when I first came here. And seemingly, not a thing has changed ever since: The traditional style interior, two small spot lights barely shine the counter, rectangle dishes piled up and bottle of sake stored in shelf...All the same, except the fact that it was the last day of the restaurant, and for me, I divorced during this five years.

 As the fifty something chef recognized me, he put smile on his face, asking me to sit back one of eight chairs. I nodded and did what he had asked for.

 I know there are so many reasonable fine sushi restaurants not only in Tokyo, but also across the globe. And nobody can stop the recent casual trend for sushi. We never get tired of finding a nice one with fancy website, a variety of set menu with sophisticated photographs and so on. Compare to those, his restaurant was too old-style without any website, too ambiguous when it comes to the price. And yet I couldn’t help but missing his restaurant. Coming to his restaurant repeatedly, I learned how foods can turn to be soft and beautiful under indirect light, which I implemented to my home-party in recent years.

 After finish eating, I vowed his, then asked if he could give some dish and plate. He gently nod, told me to come back a week later.

Fresh Sashimi and grill on spot at a cozy restaurant Uohide, Kichijoji.

 Eating out alone is sometimes essential. Especially when it comes to a sentimental day.

 Sometime in the last week, I’ve got a certificate notification of an exam I took few weeks back. And the very same day, I’ve got another news that I made me so depressed. Well, it’s kind of man and woman thing, but let me refrain from writing it on my blog (Believe me, it’s not fun to read, anyway).

 In the mixed of feeling, I decided to go for dinner. I felt like drinking sake, enjoying some alone time in a tiny restaurant. So I headed to a fresh fish restaurant “Uohide (魚秀)” just near Kichijoji Station in the suburb of Tokyo. (The official site is here, but unfortunately, it's only Japanese language)

It's a budget-friendly place, around $40 per person, I have to add.

 Getting through myself into a tunnel-like woody door, I found a massive red mask hanged on a wall. Illuminated from the inside, it made me feel as if I came into another world. The world where is no lost-love (Oh well, you know how passive I was, haha).

 Sitting back on the corner of a counter table along with kitchen, I began taking sake with assorted fresh fish sashimi. It’s a gorgeous, variety of fish just brought from a fish market earlier in the morning. That explains why they keep updating their handwriting menu everyday.  It’s changing all the time, and I love those changes :)

 Everytime I come across a whole Wasabi, I couldn't resist graining it for a long time. Yes, I love sniffing a flovor of fresh Wasabi! And the endless graining ease my feeling as well ;)

 In front of the door, there was a fire. But for what? It's a place for....

 Grilling fish :) Why don't we try one? 

  They grabbed one of small fish, putting it by the fire, and told me wait for twenty minutes or so. "That'd be great", I said to him. I needed time to stay alone that night. 

 Photographing wasn't problem at all in the restaurant. They even told me to come close to them so that I could make better shot. They are such a wonderful people :D Well, I think it's time for grilled fish for myself...

 Here it is :) River fish Ayu, served with sour sauce. I enjoyed eating bit by bit, make sure I could become satisfied.

 It's always a wonderful experience to eat out and see what I've never seen, or never eaten before. There's no reason stopping it, and I definitely keep updating this kind of experience on this blog :)

Fresh fish restaurant Uokin, Shinjuku.

 Opening up the door, I heard the voice of several chefs saying welcome in loudly. Every time I hear such a strong, powerful greeting, I feel as if I'm finally coming back where I should be. I always like its atmosphere.
A couple weeks ago, I visited a Japanese restaurant Uokin (魚金), which is becoming famous for its fresh fish for low price over a few years.  Located right beside a main gate of Kabuki-cho (歌舞伎町) in Shinjuku, it's really convenient place to get together and eat together. So...

Why don't we start with a glass of draft beer? :)

 Okay, it's time to decide what to eat. I looked carefully at a hand-written menu as I continued to sip  beer. Most of the dish is cooked with fish, like sliced fish simmered with sweet sauce, deep-fried puffer fish, fresh oysters. No wonder why these fish restaurants usually have hand-written menu: They go to the market almost everyday, and the dish they serve depends on what they get in the market, as well as its season. On that day, early autumn, oyster and puffer fish dish seems their recommend, or "Dish for tonight". Well, I decided to take assort of sashimi :)

 Wow...so gorgeous :D Sliced Tuna at the center, Katsuo comes near side, some sushi, red shell fish Aka-gai (赤貝), and many more! The dish is pretty reasonable, only 1980yen for a plate, it's almost $22 at this rate.

 Have some deep-fry fish? :)

 I was so satisfied that I drunk a lot that day, haha. After leaving Uokin...

Let's move on to the other side of Shinjuku. Called Memory Lane or "Omoide Yokocho 思い出横丁", it's a relaxing place to many business person seeking for a casual, budget-friendly restaurant like $15 for drinking and eating after working.  Although it already parred 9 o'clock in the evening, the alley was still packed so many people eating in and out of restaurants. Okay, let's have some Chinese food.

 With some alcohol, I had a wonderful evening in Shinjuku :)

Having deep-fried pork Tonkatsu in Daimon, Tokyo.

 A friend of mine and I visited a Tonkatsu, deep fried pork restaurant in a late August. Located just near the Tokyo Tower, I found a festival taken place on narrow streets on my way. Let's check it out before getting to the restaurant :)

 With dark, wet evening, it was so exotic, fancy mood on the streets. I love this kind of mood: red lamps lining up above the streets, people chatting endlessly with glasses of beers and wines in their hands every corner of the road. Okay, it's time to eat :)

 Among the tiny, old, a bit dirty buildings near Daimon Station, I found a light colored wooden counter table in front of the kitchen as I open the door of Nomoto-ya (のもと家,  Facebook page is here) . It might be wonderful if you come alone, sitting on a chair, taking a glance at chefs cooking dishes while you're waiting for your dish to come. We took a seat besides the windows, asking them to bring some shochu (焼酎), a kind of Japanese strong liquior, ordinary around 25% of alcohol, made out of potatoes, rice and such. Apparently, they have a variety of Shochu on the menu. No wonder, I thought, since Tonkatsu is a soul food in Kyushu region, like Shochu. About 10 minutes later...

 Here it comes :)

 Though I am a big fan of Tonkatsu, had many experience to visit Tonkatsu restaurant before, I had never seen such a thick pork as it was. They also served salt, wasabi, soy sauce along with sweet sauces, so I could taste different ways for each piece. The food price for each person ranges from $20, but I think it's worth it ;)

 :)

Having delicious Nodoguro fish in a restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo.

The fish Nodoguro sounds special for many Japanese, especially who deeply love sushi. This red color fish is also called "Aka-mutsu"(赤むつ), which means red as well. What makes the fish more outstanding is its sweet fatty taste comes with sticky texture, but not like Toro, fatty tuna.

A week ago, I had a chance to have Nodoguro fish with a variety of styles of cooking with my friends at the restaurant Nakamata (中俣), located in Ginza, near Tokyo Station (Their web site is here). So why don't we take a look at a gorgeous course of Nodoguro fish, shall we? :)

They began with showing us "Today's Nodoguro fish". Since the size and amount of fish they can serve depend on the weather conditions and trading price, it wasn't as big as my friend had seen last time he visited there.

 "There are two types of fish in the world. The bigger, the more delicious fish comes one side, and another side is the opposite: the smaller, the better. And I believe Nodoguro fish is the former one" He added.

 We ordered smoked Nodoguro fish before beginning of the course. Smokey taste containing fish' taste, and it's the best to go with sake. So....

We had some wonderful sake. The clerk gently poured it smiling on his face. It was so fascinate that I asked him if I could take some photos over the course of the dinner. "Sure you can. You have such a cool SLR camera, so please, take nice ones". During our visit, he and the restaurant were so kind and warm :)

The appetizer was a plate of grilled green vegetable (I forgot the detail, unfortunately), a boiled brown shellfish, and the liver of Nodoguro fish. The last one surely amazed me. I'd eaten many kinds of fish liver in a bunch of restaurants as well as made by myself, and yet I never came across such a dense and tasty one before. Totally, it was paradigm-shift dish!

 Okay, it's the main of today's course: A whole raw Nodoguro fish!! What a gorgeous it is! Since the fish is so rare and expensive, ordinary we can only have a piece of sliced one or two. But here it is, we have a plenty of them! Some pieces were grilled on their surface to increase its flavor, and the others were sliced either thick or thin, so that we can enjoy different texture.

 And after that...

 Five kinds of "today's-fresh-raw-fish" plate. A piece of Toro, a big shrimp (Japanese truly love shrimps by the way), and such. As I take one by one, I was so satisfied that I even thought I could dye right now without any regret. But again, that wasn't all.

 Here, it's two plates of grilled Nodoguro fish. The skin was well grilled and crispy, but once I bit the fish meat, rich fatty texture gradually spread in my mouth. It was as if I was listening to a fine music. Gorgeous, indeed.

 While chatting and having great dishes, the clerk served this:

 Shrimp's Deep fried heads, which we had just eaten before. With dense taste of their brain, we ate them up all. It was definitely the best with alcohol. So why don't we take some more? (I have to admit that I had too much that night, haha)

 Now, it's a fish cake Satsuma age (薩摩揚げ)!!  I love it! Surprisingly enough, it's also from Nodoguro fish. Considering the fact that the dish is usually made of leftover fishes, I was so amazed. (The taste? NEVER BETTER! :)

Finally, we had Takikomi gohan (炊き込みご飯), which is usually seasoned with soy sauce, dashi, and other stuff. What makes this dish more extraordinary was that they put another Nodoguro fish on top of that. By this time, I gave up counting how many Nodoguro fish I had at that night ;)

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We had such a wonderful evening in the restaurant: Lots of yummy dishes, endless talking over three hours. (Three hours weren't enough for us, AT ALL!!) Well, let's talk soon. And I'm sure I'll post on this blog about another wonderful restaurant when we eat out next time :)

Thank you about everything!!