While traveling in Philly, we found an interesting Japanese restaurant called Royal Izakaya. It has a certain speakeasy feel to it, with no name or address on the door. Other than beautiful dark blue door against red brick wall, the only sign they have is a glowing red lantern that says “Izakaya” in Japanese. It seems that they even remove the lantern during the day time, so the exterior blends into the surrounding residential neighborhood.
It was kind of stormy evening, very windy and cold, with heavy and cold snow coming down. But, this place was almost full when we walked in with lots of locals. A great sign of delicious food! We were lucky enough to get a table immediately.
About the time we left, it has gotten a bit quieter so I was able to take a better photo of the interior. The inside is not large, with the right side occupied by a nice big bar. The left side has bench and chair alongside the wall from the front to back.
They had a few bar tables with tall chairs at the entrance, and that is where we sat. One of the high tables had the checkers design on it, which was fun. But there is no game pieces here, so you can’t really play checkers here. I loved their little wall lamps, kind of old, mythical, dragon-looking design which I thought was really cool!
The real fun thing about Royal Izakaya was the projector on the brick wall, playing clips of Japanese TV shows and movies! In order to get this going, the lighting in here is kind of dark…darker than “dim” lighting, which makes it difficult to take photos of food… Anyways, many of the TV show clips were really old, from 80s I think, reminded me of my childhood, super fun! Very relaxing atmosphere, warm and inviting.
Another fun side of Royal Izakaya showed on their menu. I got the menu with a lady, and my hubby got the sumo wrestler. The inside is all the same, just the front cover.
The menu was filled with Japanese and Japanese-inspired Izakaya fares, I was very excited! We put in few orders at a time, since we didn’t know the portion of each items, and didn’t know how quickly we could get full. They came out one after another, pretty quick, as how Izakaya should be on most appetizer dishes.
The first of many was Tuna Mentaiko ($12), with tuna, fluke, scallion, mentaiko (spicy cod roe), and sesame seeds. Tuna was very fresh and had great firm texture. Loved the nice spicy flavor from mentaiko! It also had some very thinly sliced Japanese cucumber, which gave extra refreshing flavor and nice crunchy texture.
Then something much more meaty. Kurobuta Sausage ($7), with Japanese Berkshire pork sausages, cabbage, and spicy mustard. It came with four plump sausages, grilled nicely. Freshly shredded cabbage works as a palette cleanser for rich flavored sausage, always a nice pairing.
Sausage was really plump, and has nice sweetness to it. Went great with the spicy mustard, to give it a little kick to the sweetness. Super juicy, comforting and awesome!
Next one was Yaki Curry Tofu ($5), with firm tofu sautéed with curry and Worcestershire. This was a bit of surprise, such a simple-sounding dish, but had great impact. First of all, the aroma of curry was really nice, and the flavor itself was nothing but simple. It was packed withe flavor! A bit of spicy flavor with lots of depth from the curry, and a hint of sweetness from Worcestershire sauce was match made in food heaven. Party in my mouth for all of my taste buds! The texture was great too, firm and satisfying.
Did we stop there? No way! We got some Chashu Buns ($8), with pork belly, Japanese mayo, cucumber, scallion, sweet soy ginger glaze, and bao bun. Two buns came per order, and they were a pretty nice size.
The bun was pillow-y soft, gently holding heavy fillings. It had a generous amount of pork, which I was very happy about, and it was juicy and packed with flavor. Loved the sweet soy ginger glaze, almost like tangy teriyaki sauce. The glaze mixed with Japanese mayo made beautiful symphony in the bun. The cucumber slices were bit thicker here, giving great crunchy texture. Awesome buns!
The last but not least, Saba Shioyaki ($12), with salt broiled mackerel with grated ginger and daikon. This one was a good portion also, and it also came with a slice of burdock root.
After tasting all the other dishes, I would only be surprised if it was not tasty. And they certainly did NOT disappoint. The fish was cooked to perfection, flaky yet juicy, with the right amount of salty flavor. It was delicious and awesome!
We ended with a nice hot tea. They had Matcha and Genmai cha, and we went with Genmai Cha ($6). It came in a stone pot which was super heavy… If you are feeling bad about eating all these amazing food, you can burn some calories by lifting this heavy pot several time on each arms. The tea itself was GREAT! We love Genmai cha, so this was a treat.
My hubby who needed a little extra something asked for a side of rice, and they had regular white rice and sushi rice. He asked for Sushi Rice ($2), and it came with a topping of rice seasoning. It was actually pretty darn tasty!
Their bathroom is all the way in the back, not too small, not too big. Clean, a bit more brighter but not that much. I liked the old, antique-looking mirror and photo frames in there. But the best decoration in there is the artwork on the wall.
They had a mix of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai, and a humongous Godzilla! How fun!
Our server, Greg was awesome, he was super helpful and informative. He was very knowledgeable about the food here at Royal Izakaya, and gives great explanation and recommendation to the customers who are not familiar with Japanese food on what to order, and how to eat them. He took a really nice care of us, we were very happy with the service. Other staffs here were also very nice and sweet!
One extra note, they have nigiri sushi omakase hidden at the back behind curtains. It is like speakeasy inside speakeasy… They are reservation only, and I heard they get booked up about two weeks ahead since they only have eight counter seats. I heard they are very popular, we would love to try them the next time we are in Philly!
Royal Izakaya – 780 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19147