McNoonan and I were kinda onna roll after going to Koyu – we had eaten through what we wanted on their menu, but were far from done talking. Fortunately the streets of Nezu are filled with funny little places, and I picked this one. Not a great pick, I’m sorry to say, but we ended up feeling strangely positive since the atmosphere was good and the beers were huge.
See? People hanging out, having a good time.
I was seduced by this place because their sign advertised a ‘famous Akita sake’ that I didn’t know, and I sort of assumed that meant they were Akita-themed. Wrong, just izakaya themed (in a slightly country manner). We skipped that sake (両関, Ryouzeki, if you’re keeping score at home; I got to thinking that if they gave the shop the sign, and that was the only sake in the place, it wasn’t worth trying) and stuck with beerz.
Did someone say ‘hanging out’?
Voici, a bunch of nibbles to go with the beers. I’m really trying to align myself with Japanese culture here, ordering things to chew on rather than big food. Clockwise, it’s iburigakko (pickled, smoked daikon from northern Japan), eihire (skate wing, soaked in sweet sake, then dried, then grilled), cucumbers with barley miso, pickled shallots.
(Good pictures, eh? Almost professional-looking!)
You may remember that McNoonan and I typically go on chicken binges; in this case, counterclockwise from top right we have wings, meatballs, wings boned and stuffed with sausage mix and deep fried (this one’s for Uncle N!) and one of those same wings after I took a bite out of it. Ewwwwww!
This looks like a fair bit of food, but we were there for 2 hours and almost managed to miss the last train. Good times.
Things are going so well for McNoonan that he’s been able to re-grow a full head of hair and also a sweet goatee. I, on the other hand, have been singularly incapable of regenerating my lost front tooth.
Shucks, Cletus.
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Jon, you are always ahead of me. I also should have taken a pic after I bite into the Tebagyoza. Hope your cholesterol is ok.