After a fun beer tasting at Craft Beer Bar IBrew, we went over to this spot for dinner. My sister knows good food, so we were excited to try whatever they had to offer. It is located on the third floor of NOCO building, and you can see their open kitchen from the entrance.
The inside was nice and quiet, as it was Monday evening. They had a handful of guests, enjoying a relaxing after-work meal and drink. The interior was kept simple and elegant, nothing too loud to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.
Dimly lit that invites you to relax and unwind, even a bit romantic if you were to bring a date here after a hard day at work. We were welcomed by a staff immediately after we walked in, and led to a nice-size table.
A staff brought over a small appetizer, or “otoshi”, kind of a pallet cleanser to prepare our senses for the flavorful dinner. It was refreshing, and had and had a nice miso flavor to it. The otoshi here is not complimentary, but it comes out automatically and yes, charged (small amount) automatically. It is customary at many of the traditional izakaya. We each ordered a drink, and stared the fun evening of tasty delights!
We had Daishinshu Grated Apple & Plum Wine (790 yen/around $8 USD) and Blood Orange Wine (790 yen). The plum wine was so good! Sweet and fruity, tasted almost like delicious juice, but still strong enough drink. If I was not careful, I could really get drunk here! The grated apple in the plum wine was similar to slushy, which was awesome. Blood orange was so refreshing with a nice sweetness to it, and it had beautiful color! The flavor of blood orange was certainly present, but not overpowering which was nice.
Then we ordered a few small plates to share before the main dish. The first item was Japanese-style Egg Omelette (970 yen). It was sooooo fluffy and bouncy!
It came with scallions and grated radish. You can have them on the side, or put it on top of the egg. Add a little bit of soy sauce, and you are all set! The egg had just the right amount of sweetness to it, with comforting flavor. You could taste the umami in the egg.
The next item was Herb Chicken, Mushroom, and Egg, Stewed with Sweet Soy Sauce (1,500 yen). It came piping hot from the kitchen, and a quite nice size to share. It was indicated as “sukiyaki-style” so I was very excited for this dish.
It was packed with all sorts ingredients, and the aroma was really awesome! I sprinkled a bit of the special spice that came with it, and it was just perfect! A bit sweet like sukiyaki, great companion to alcohol and white rice. Mushroom was plum and super tasty, not a sidekick but taking a center stage in this dish! Chicken was plump and juicy. Really nice dish!
Next up was Grilled Wheat Gluten Cake (Namafu) with Black Sesame Paste (950 yen). It was so good! I’ve had namafu before, but not grilled. The exterior was quite interesting, with a bit of crunchy texture. The inside was plump and doughy, fluffy and similar to mochi in texture. Sesame paste was great too, nice sweet flavor.
The last appetizers we ordered to share was Japanese-Style Fried Chicken (980 yen), or Karaage. It was not some ordinary street food, but of a high quality, packed with flavor. Juicy with crispy exterior, so good! Simply delicious! Even better when you add some shichimi spice on top. It also came with fried sweet potato, which was quite amazing on its own also. They were somehow airy and light, even though it was fried. The natural flavor was alive, and lightly fried, a really great dish!
Before we went for a main dish, we ordered a carafe of sake to go with the dinner. We ordered Mizuo Sake (1850/carafe) from Iiyama city. It was dry sake with nice aroma, easily paired with different types of cuisine. It was refreshing, so smooth like water, so need to careful not to drink too much. It also had a great aftertaste.
Now, the main dish. This spot has a couple of specialties, and one of which is soba noodle dishes. They make their own soba noodles daily, with price and care. So, we had to order on of their soba offerings for sure! Three of us went with Cold Soba with Seasonal Vegetable/Shrimp Tempura (1,850 yen). Soba noodle had a great texture, cooked just right so that it still had the perfect firmness to it. You could taste the quality here! Tempura included eggplant, burdock, sweet potato, and Kakiage with shrimp and mushroom. Lightly fried with great crunchy texture that you can here when you bite into it. So good!!!
One of us was a rebel, and ordered something different. He went with Soba with Grated Japanese Yam and greens. I had a taste, and it was quite nice too.
After we were done with our soba dishes, the staff asked if we wanted soba-yu, and we of course said yes. It is the hot water that soba noodles were cooked in. Pour it into the leftover soba dipping broth, and drink like a hot green tea. Soba-yu is considered to contain nutritious elements from the noodles that dissolved into the water while cooking. It is a nice way to finish off the meal.
They had one uni-sex bathroom with a curious signs on the door. It looked like an wood curving print, how fun! The bathroom was small but very clean, well-lit and yes, with TOTO toilet.
We had a great dinner here, my sister’s recommendation never disappoints. Everything we had, both food and drinks, were superb! We enjoyed every bite, from start to finish. And it was nice to have such fancy yet comforting dishes at very relaxing atmosphere as well. The staffs were very polite and took a really nice care of us. Many thanks to my gourmet sister for introducing us to yet another delicious spot!
Ginza Sanada – 5-6-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Japan
銀座 真田 – 東京都中央区銀座5-6-5 NOCOビル 3F