Posted by Jay
28 January 2011
Since we have had a pretty boring week I thought I would write about a type of restaurant/bar that we enjoy going to here called an izakaya. We have actually been to a few different izakayas here in Tokyo and I just went to one on Wednesday with my stay at home dads group.
Izakayas are drinking establishments with a more substantial food menu than a normal bar. Generally it is a place where you would go after work for drinks and food to share. We generally go for dinner and drinks with friends. Many izakayas have all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink menus where you can stay for 2-3 hours for one price. The ones we go to do not follow this format.
As opposed to some other eating establishments, dishes are generally shared by your whole party, but like everywhere else large amounts of beer and sake are served and drank. No matter how much you eat or drink it is pretty common practice to split the bill evenly between all the members of your party.
On Wednesday I went to a izakaya called Teyandei which was located in a converted two-story house. It was perfect for us Westerners as instead of sitting on the tatami mat floors there were actually wells under the table for your legs, which is much more comfortable for a three hour dinner. The menu was also in English which was very helpful. We had our own little room with a big table and our own heater (which was promptly turned off as it was 90-some degrees in there).
We started our meal with a little vegetable appetizer and pitchers of beer. To follow we had sashimi, smoked salmon, bite-sized chicken and veggies on a hot plate, breaded tofu, and some other items that I can't remember or didn't know what they were, but ate anyways. Sometime in the middle of the meal we switched to sake which was very good (and plentiful). We ended the meal with a bowl of the best miso soup I have had since arriving in Tokyo.
Overall this is my favorite type of place to go as you can get a variety of food and it is a very relaxed atmosphere and generally not outrageously expensive.
Here are some of the pictures from my night out.
Kanpai!
Jay
28 January 2011
Since we have had a pretty boring week I thought I would write about a type of restaurant/bar that we enjoy going to here called an izakaya. We have actually been to a few different izakayas here in Tokyo and I just went to one on Wednesday with my stay at home dads group.
Izakayas are drinking establishments with a more substantial food menu than a normal bar. Generally it is a place where you would go after work for drinks and food to share. We generally go for dinner and drinks with friends. Many izakayas have all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink menus where you can stay for 2-3 hours for one price. The ones we go to do not follow this format.
As opposed to some other eating establishments, dishes are generally shared by your whole party, but like everywhere else large amounts of beer and sake are served and drank. No matter how much you eat or drink it is pretty common practice to split the bill evenly between all the members of your party.
On Wednesday I went to a izakaya called Teyandei which was located in a converted two-story house. It was perfect for us Westerners as instead of sitting on the tatami mat floors there were actually wells under the table for your legs, which is much more comfortable for a three hour dinner. The menu was also in English which was very helpful. We had our own little room with a big table and our own heater (which was promptly turned off as it was 90-some degrees in there).
We started our meal with a little vegetable appetizer and pitchers of beer. To follow we had sashimi, smoked salmon, bite-sized chicken and veggies on a hot plate, breaded tofu, and some other items that I can't remember or didn't know what they were, but ate anyways. Sometime in the middle of the meal we switched to sake which was very good (and plentiful). We ended the meal with a bowl of the best miso soup I have had since arriving in Tokyo.
Overall this is my favorite type of place to go as you can get a variety of food and it is a very relaxed atmosphere and generally not outrageously expensive.
Here are some of the pictures from my night out.
Kanpai!
Jay
4:09 AM |
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