Kitsune: A Great Casual Tempura Restaurant

A lot of tempura restaurants are fancy and it shows in the bill when you pay, however I recently visited a modern, casual tempura specialty restaurant and was very satisfied with the overall dining experience.

The "sign" outside Tampura Sakaba Kitsune restaurant

On a Friday night it might be best to make a reservation before you go, as I had to wait about 20 min to get a seat. Once seated, the menu was explained to us: there is an otoshi (an appetizer dish that acts a seating charge) of raw daikon and a miso meat dip of which both are all-you-can-eat, their signature item is the chicken breast tempura, there is a seasonal menu in addition to the main menu, and if you're a woman you can order one free alternative tempura dipping sauce flavour.

The first thing we ordered was a delicate tempura shiso leaf with an ikura (salmon fish roe) and grated daikon topping. It was wonderful and bursting with umami from the fish eggs and the aromatic crispy leaf. It definitely set the stage for what was to come.

Shiso tempura with ikura and grated daikon topping

We also ordered the signature chicken breast tempura which was unbelievably juicy, and the shrimp tempura which was so very plump. The dip that comes with it is the standard ten-tsuyu (dashi with soy sauce and mirin). This tempera was not oily at all, a good sign of a professional. What is interesting about this restaurant is that they also have tempura that is a bit unconventional such as uni sandwich (sea urchin tofu wrapped in seasoned Korean seaweed), pork negima (skewered pork and Japanese leek), seasoned soft-boiled egg, camembert cheese and honey (a bit dessert-like), and crab cream tempura (a tempura version of a cream croquette). All worked really well, I personally like the crab cream, with a soft and silky texture with a kani-miso (crab guts) sauce which accentuated the flavour of crab.

Chicken tempura on lower half

They do have an extensive list of non-fried items in case you need a break from tempura. For example we had aji ponzu (a type of fish sashimi with a ponzu sauce) which in my opinion needed a bit more ponzu. We also tried the garlic broccoli and squid saute, pickled cucumber (a bit too salty) and clams simmered in sake (a simple dish but the clams make the broth just perfect for a warm ending to the meal).

Area: a 1-minute walk from Iwatsuka station 岩塚駅  Higashiyama Line  東山線
Restaurant: Tempura Sakaba Kitsune 天ぷら酒場キツネ
Map: https://r.gnavi.co.jp/sr6nm5sr0000/map/
Hours: Weekdays 5-12pm (LO 11pm), Weekends and Holidays 3-12pm (LO 11pm)

Hakken Sakaba: An Izakaya, but You Have To Try the TKG!

T.K.G is short for tamago kake gohan, a dish that takes just seconds to put together and is loved by all Japanese. It's mostly associated with something you eat at home because it is so simple. Take a raw egg, or just the yolk, place it on top of some steamed rice, drizzle a bit of soy sauce, and voila! Some people prefer to mix the egg thoroughly with the rice, others with just break the yolk, and then there are the people that beat the egg and mix the soy sauce before pouring it onto the rice. It's the perfect combination whatever way it's done!

It's such a simple dish, why would any restaurant serve it? Some restaurants use eggs that come from brand name chickens, eggs that would cost a fortune if you bought a carton of them. One izakaya that I visited recently had a kyukyoku (ultimate) TKG on their menu (480 yen). What made it a little more unique was that it was topped with gyu toro flakes, or beef flakes. These flakes, a couple of years ago, was all the talk for a short period of time. It's expensive, costing up to 2500 yen for just 200g, but it's not really something you can make yourself at home. It's almost like a prociutto version of fatty beef that's been shredded into small pieces. You keep it in the freezer and scoop out portions when you want to use it.

The Ultimate TKG

With a generous amount of beef flakes, the umami from the beef fat is not lost! It goes really well in TKG adding a depth of flavour to the raw egg.

This izakaya called Hakken Sakaba seems to specialize in charcoal-grilled yakitori (chicken skewers), with several cuts of the chicken available for order by skewer. They have a large menu overall with items that go hand-in-hand with a beer or drink. 

One side of the food menu

The drink menu

This chain restaurant recently changed their name and so perhaps their menu changed as well. It seems to have changed for the better. Affordable, casual, with lots of variety, it's a good place to 'kick off your shoes' after a hard day at work.

Area: across the street from Honjin Station (Higashiyama Line), 本陣駅（東山線）

Restaurant: Hakken Sakaba ハッケン酒場

Website and Map: www.marche.co.jp/shop_search/shop_intro.html?shopNo=2388

Hours: 5pm-2am, open everyday

The Lady's Set Is Great for Variety in One Meal

You might be wondering what a Lady's Set is...
In Japan, you'll often find these on lunch menus in many restaurants. It's basically a lunch that is not so heavy, but comes with a variety of little dishes. Japanese women often can't decide what to order especially when there are so many choices and often say they would like to try a little of everything.  Of course they can't order every item because either it wouldn't fit into their stomachs or the bill would be too large in the end. Somebody had the brilliant idea of creating a lunch that would satisfy these women and give them an easy choice. Women are also known to like a tea or something sweet after their meals so many Lady's Sets also include these.

I visited a washoku (Japanese-style cooking) restaurant at the Dai Nagoya Building, just across the street from the East entrance of Nagoya Station. The Lady's Set on the lunch menu posted outside the restaurant drew me to try this shop, Shutei Kanda Sakuma, for the first time.

The decor itself gave this place an eastern Asia feel (not completely Japanese). The tables were set far apart so it didn't feel busy or as if you had to rush your eating. I was shown to a a table in a small room near the back of the restaurant since all the front seats were taken. As I peeked into the rooms at the farthest from the entrance, I could see that there were also tatami mat tables. There was a large menu for alcoholic drinks so I assume that for dinner it's more of an izakaya (Japanese Pub).

The Lady's Set was also called the Obanzai lunch (about ¥1300). Obanzai are basically side dishes meant to go with a main. However, sometimes as in this case, a variety of obanzai can be served instead of one main dish.

Today's obanzai lunch included some simmered veggies in a Japanese broth, tai (sea bream) sashimi, kinpira gobo (stir-fried burdock root), okara (seasoned tofu curds), pickled cabbage, tempura, grilled fish, tamagoyaki (rolled egg omelette), miso soup, Japanese pickles and rice. The picture doesn't include the small chawan mushi (steamed savoury egg custard), but it was also part of the lunch.

Obanzai Lunch (Lady's Set)

To be honest, nothing really stood out in terms of flavour. They were all very standard obanzai, similar to the obanzai I can find in the prepared food section at my local grocery store. The chawan mushi tasted as if it had some sort of cinammon-like spice in it, but I could not tell what gave it this unusual flavour. All-in-all, a great Lady's Set, a combination of several small dishes just as it should be.

Area: Nagoya Station 名古屋駅, Dai Nagoya Building 大名古屋ビルヂング

Restaurant: Shutei Kanda Sakuma 酒亭・神田さくま

Map: https://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23059263/

Hours: Lunch 11am-2:30pm (LO 2pm), Dinner 5-11pm (food LO 10pm, drink LO 10:30pm)

Lunch for Only 500 Yen At Sakura Suisan

Sashimi Teishoku (set meal)

This restaurant does its business mainly as an Izakaya, so it has kind of a dim setting, fitting for a pub. However, for this reason (I assume they make most of their profits at night), they can afford to sell their lunches for as little as 500 yen! The 'hi-gawari', or daily lunch will change everyday, but today it was buri and kampachi sashimi (both are types of yellowtail fish).  I was surprised to find that the sashimi was cut thickly and had a fair amount of fat marbling, making the quality pretty satisfactory for a 'one-coin' lunch. I suppose their secret is that they do specialize in seafood. The miso soup had lots of wakame (seaweed) and daikon in it, providing th veggies of the meal. If it doesn't seem filling to you, I saw a sign by the self-serve water saying that the eggs, Japanese pickles, rice and miso soup are all-you-can-eat! They eggs are raw, but they do go so well with the warm steamed rice (just beat a little with some soy sauce in the bowl provided, and pour over your rice).

Other lunch menu items included tempura, simmered mackeral, grilled fish, fried chicken, and if there aren't enough veggies for you, there is the option to add a salad for 150 yen. Not all the menu items are one-coin, but I don't think any of them surpassed 1000 yen.

Restaurant: Sakura Suisan さくら水産

Area: Sako Station 栄生駅 (Meitetsu 名鉄 Line), one stop away from Nagoya Station
Website and Map: https://www.sakusui.jp/shop/detail.html?shop=154
Hours: Lunch (weekdays only, closed holidays) 11am-2pm, Izakaya 4-11:30pm (last order 10:45pm)

Torikai: Try TKG, So Simple and Yet So Good

Japan is one of the largest consumers of eggs, so it's not surprising that you can find the most simplest of egg dishes in a restaurant. Really, TKG, or tamago-kake-gohan is something you can easily eat at home. All you need is a fresh egg and some steamed rice. Beat the raw egg with a bit of soy sauce, pour over the rice, and voila, you now have a traditional Japanese dish. Despite how simple it is, the richness of the yolk is brought out so nicely with the salty soy sauce and sweetness of the rice; a perfect match.

At Torikai, you can get a TKG teishoku (set meal) with a 'special' egg that comes from the renowned brand of chicken in Nagoya called Cochin. The meat of the chicken as well as the egg yolks supposedly have a richer flavour compared to a regular chicken, and so meat from these chickens go for a slightly higher price. What I liked about this simple meal was that it came with other sides making it a well-balanced meal; chicken kara-age (fried) and steamed chicken (chilled, with a light yuzu sauce, unfortunately not Cochin), a salad, hijiki salad (a type of seaweed), and condiments to go with the TKG such as Japanese pickles and nori tsukudani (seaweed paste with a sweet soy sauce flavour). It was also not expensive being just over 1000 yen. Maybe it was my imagination, but I really did feel that the Cochin egg yolk was richer than a normal egg!

This Torikai at the Sakae location had an open seating space with a large view of the Sakae area from the 7th floor. It wasn't too busy at 1pm, so I felt like I could take my time. The restaurant may be known more for their Cochin oyako-don (simmered chicken and egg over rice), and their tebasaki (fried and seasoned chicken wings), both labelled as Nagoya fare, but I've gone to two different locations and have ordered the same set each time. Next time I will try the signature dishes...

Esca location (underground shopping area on the shinkansen side of Nagoya Station):

Here, doteni (beef tendon simmered in a thick red miso sauce), also considered Nagoya fare, was served instead of the steamed chicken.

Tamago-Kake-Gohan teishoku at the La Chic location

Restaurant: Torikai 鳥開

Area: Various locations (this one is by Sakae Station 栄, in the La Chic building, 7th floor)

Website and Map: http://www.tori-kai.com/shop/lachic.html

Hours: Mon-Sun 11am-11pm, open on holidays

Furaibo: Nagoya Fare, and Horse Meat?

Furaibo is a big chain restaurant started in Nagoya and became famous by their 'tebasaki' or fried chicken wings. It's an izakaya-style restaurant so the wings are heavily seasoned and go really well with a beer. No matter which Furaibo you go to you'll be able to find these wings. However, what makes all the Furaibo's different is what's on the special's menu.

Recently I made a visit to the Furaibo near a small station, Iwatsuka-eki, in Nagoya. I was surprised to find that it didn't have a big chain restaurant feel like all the other Furaibo's I've been to. Here, the space was small, and the counter seating was right by the open kitchen which gave it a more independent restaurant feel. The menu was small but was accompanied by a hand written daily specials menu. I of course ordered the famous chicken wings, and a few other standard dishes, but I noticed an item that I've never seen before on a Furaibo menu, basashi. It is actually horse sashimi. The chicken wings were, as always, delicious, and the boiled squid was soft and not one bit over-cooked. The basashi was also, to my pleasant surprise, quite tasty. It is not like eating rare steak or red beef. The basashi here was marbled so nicely so that I got a nice bite of melt-in-your-mouth fat and meaty flavour all at one time. It's hard to explain the taste of horse, but it does have a unique flavour. If you've never tried it before, and if your not too squirmy about trying it, I suggest you do. Just make sure to wait a bit before eating it when brought to your table; it might be slightly frozen because often times it is put in the freezer for a short while in order to cut it nicely into thin sashimi slices.

Basashi, or raw horse sashimi

Furaibo's famous fried chicken wings

Restaurant: Furaibo 風来坊

Area: Iwatsuka Station (Higashiyama subway line)

Website and Map: http://furaibou.com/t_101_iwatsuka.html

Hours: 5pm-12am (last order 11pm), closed Wednesdays