August 8, 2016
Grant and I had the good fortune of being treated to one of the premier restaurants in Tokyo serving sukiyaki. Now to many, this word may conjure up images of hearing someone singing the tune, named after the dish, slightly out of key in a smokey karaoke bar. Actually your chances of witnessing this are higher if you live in Hawaii.
But for others who may not be familiar with the word, sukiyaki is a hot pot style dish served with a simmering broth made of a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine. As the broth simmers, you cook vegetables such as shiitake, long onions, napa cabbage, onion, etc. as well as tofu, udon noodles, and thin slices of beef. It is traditionally then dipped in a smaller dish containing a raw, beaten egg and then eaten with rice.
The egg is optional.
We met my cousin K at around 5:00 and made our way to Asakusa by subway. Because our reservation wasn’t until 7:30, we had time to look around and do a little shopping. If you are just having fun, and want to window shop, a general store called Don Quijote is a great choice. They sell almost everything you could think of.
Finally, when 7:15 rolled around, we made our way to the restaurant Imahan. We were greeted by a kimono clad waitress who then showed us to our seats. The atmosphere was quaint, not the private rooms like Ume No Hana, but classy nonetheless.
K requested a course meal, knowing that Grant and I both like steak. We ordered a glass of sake as we waited for the first course. This sake came in cute little bowl cups.
The first course came on a small wooden tray with seaweed and shellfish, two maki sushis, fried tofu in yuzu sauce (a citrus fruit found throughout Asia), edamame spring rolls, and grilled mackerel with a dab of miso sauce. The food was delicious and finely prepared. Nothing felt like it was too much, the servings were just right; it was enough that you got a taste of the food but nothing dominated the course. The fish was also cooked to perfection – grilled on the outside but still moist on the inside. And the yuzu sauce complemented the saltiness of the tofu well.
Next came the sukiyaki pot and all of the ingredients. The iron pot was very shallow. I was actually surprised at how shallow it was, just enough to contain the sauce and coat the vegetables and meat. I’ve always had sukiyaki where the pot was deep enough to completely cover the ingredients but this wasn’t the case at this restaurant. K explained that this was a fancier, more delicate way of serving sukiyaki.
The sukiyaki was the best I’ve ever had. The meat was so tender that you could break it by putting your lips together without biting it and the sauce was very fine and not overly strong. I highly recommend this restaurant if you happen to be in Asakusa. As this is a gourmet restaurant, expect to pay fine dining prices, but the food is worth it.
With bellies full, we returned to M’s apartment. As this was our last evening to spend with her, she had bought us her favorite childhood ice cream. She wanted us to try it. In her opinion, this ice cream is better than Haagen Daz. I’m still up in the air about that conclusion, but it was very good.
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