Okazuya Heikuboncho, Marunouchi (Oazo)

You’d be for given for thinking I’d sneezed in some spectacular way,what with the length and glottal spasming of that name. But no, that’s what they call it! The first part is something like ‘side-dish seller’, and that’s a pretty accurate capsule review here – great side dishes, lackluster mains. (I feel unusually compelled to point out that I’ve only been once, and only had one main.) Still, combined with the atmosphere, it’s a nice place. Oazo doesn’t have many options, but they’re pretty good.Koala and I went super-late for lunch (thanks for your patience) and were rewarded with a mostly-empty restaurant where we could take off our shoes and slip into one of the horikotatsu booths with a view out over the glass top of Oazo’s central atrium and on to…our office building. Not the most compelling view, but even on a drizzly day, better than the view from _inside_ said building. The whole place feels quite mellow and rural to me, in an unforced way that’s odd for the 6th floor of a Tokyo tower (they’re usually reserved for the higher quality places that are nice but don’t force you to invest in the view.We both got the eel set, a bit of a misnomer considering the tiny quantity of eel present in it. The eel was served in a steamer over heavily flavored rice that I thought was compulsively edible if not that delicious. Then the side dishes: tuna with grated potato (maguro sankake), fresh, meaty and well-proportioned between fish, gooey potato and soy sauce; green beans with ground sesame paste (thin, like tahini); soup, with good miso and cooked cabbage. Right. Not the tastiest things, but variety, freshness and relaxation at reasonable prices. Hey kyu! I’m not happy that this is in the same group as Inaba Toushiro…
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