This is part 2 of a series of posts which is about tasting authentic versions of Japanese food that we have been eating outside Japan – all in the one week we had in Tokyo. Part 1 is about noodles.
Part 2 is about drinks and snacks.
We spent half a day at Skytree with CK from the US who happened to be on vacation in Japan. Skytree is Tokyo’s main broadcast tower, completed in 2012, with a commercial center on the east side of town. There were of course all manners of shops and restaurants, and also a world beer museum.
The “museum” is really just a drinking place with several bars decorated according to some notion of what bars in other parts of the world look like.
Northern UK pub ?
US bar ?
German beer hall
We ordered german sausages as snacks.
We picked a selection of Japanese beers none of which we had heard before – Coedo, Baird, Mongozo (Mango), White by Hitachino and one that mentions red miso on its label.
Izakaya 居酒屋 is a type of informal Japanese gastropub, casual places typical for after-work drinking. Think of it as a tapas/pintxos bar if you like.
After a hard day of walking and shopping in Shibuya, we wandered into 鶏屋 – 東方見聞録 (“chicken house – il milione” or “Chicken house – The Travels of Marco Polo”) – it is one of seven in a chain of izakaya owned by Sanko 三光 (click here).
This izakaya is located on the fourth floor of a building packed with restaurants – two minutes from the Shibuya JR station.
It is a chicken house, hence, a parade of BBQ or deep-fried chicken.
Every part of a chicken was used.
Finger-licking good.
Since we were not able to use the tablet to order the dishes (the food is meant to be eaten slowly with ordering on-demand while drinking), we ordered everything in one go and ended up with more than what we expected.
We even managed to order a couple of rice dishes.
Can’t believe we ate it all.
Kanpai ! Part 3 is here. It is about curries.