Kanda…where magic happens.
Went up to the same little alley I mentioned in the linked post – there were two very worthwhile places there. The better looking, whose offering I don’t really understand (language issues) but whose style I admire…is closed on Wednesdays. That means that after the requisite walk-around-to-confirm, I ended up back across the alley at Isohana. (People sometimes ask how I can eat this much and still stay slim, to which I say 1) Have you noticed my gut?! and 2) Most of the time, these lunch posts involve 20 minutes of eating bracketed by 40 minutes of walking around. Plus I cycle to work.) I love a noren flapping in the breeze.
Classic little counter sushi place, staffed by a young master and village-idiot assistant. He’s either new or dumb, and the master didn’t have a lot of patience for him. Then again, the master was going through last night’s receipts when I poked my head in, so maybe he’s grumpy because business is bad. Certainly I saw no customers to indicate otherwise.
The menu gave me a laugh – ‘everything half price for lunch!’ I had the Y1250 Iso set (‘reduced from Y2500!’), but the joke was on me, because this was damn good sushi. If you went to a chain place, the 8 pieces plus egg and roll in this set would cost…oh, $15 or $20.
And this is no chain place (OK, the main shop is in Meguro, but there’s only 2, aiiight?). The akagai was almost perfect, and several of the other items made me sit up and take notice. The master was quite masterful, in the ‘fast’ rather than ‘deliberate’ sushi chef style. My favorite moment was when, in one motion, he cut the scallop most of the way through and then dropped it on the counter so it butterflied out and was ready to stick to a shari. Damn good sushi. The end. Oh wait, they have jizake too. Now I’m done.
Does this person know you are taking pictures of his laundry everyday or every other day?? He may have a copyright for his laundry.