Well, sometimes you just have to lash out and try a new place. This little odenya is in the category of things I’ve walked by a number of times in Monnaka’s dining alleys south of Eitai Dori without seriously considering going in. For some reason last night was it!
Basically a counter, I think with some tatami-floored tables in the back. Behind the counter is the pleasant confusion one expects in a Japanese home kitchen, and the two women working lived up to that promise. Pleasant and homey, but nothing to leave home for!
We just had some oden, gyoza and beer – the old try-a-few-and-see-if-you’re-staying trick at little places. Since it was advertised as an oden place, I was disappointed that the items weren’t simmering away in a big vat, but rather had to be dropped in and heated for us. We had an egg, some shirataki, and a fukuro (the little tofu bags with mochi inside), all of which were OK. The soup seemed adequate to me, but I’m not at all a devotee (confession: this was the first time I ever went to an oden place). The gyoza were frozen before they came to us. The beer was sorta watery and tasted strange.
We left!
百味 03-3641-0168
Too small for a site, but this’ll do ya