Tamura, Roppongi (田村)

Ohhhhhh, this was good. Bangkok was full (down the street kinda behind TGI Friday’s, right? Near the Oakwood serviced apartments, formerly Weekly Mansion?) so we continued walking down the street and saw a sign outside. That was for the motsu nabe place, which draws resounding ‘yucks’ at lunch from most people (like me). Across the street is an extraordinarily humble little yakitoriya, Tamura, whose menu advertises fried chicken 南蛮 and oyakodon (Y900). That’s it.

Inside is dark, cluttered, and smoky, even at lunch when there’s no yaki-ing going on. It’s just a small L-shaped counter, with a large sort of iroha-style grill at the corner. The master was spearing gizzards when we got there, but took a short break to rustle up one each of his lunch specialties. You know how much I love finding random little places. I’ve also come to have a deep appreciation for places that are open at lunch only because they have to be there while doing prep for dinner. I think they end up offering higher quality and lower prices.

Based on my fried chicken, Tamura is all that and a bagga chips. The chicken is high-quality (or at least tasty; I don’t know how to judge), the breading was different (smoother) and delicious, and the vinegary potato salad covering everything was different and delicious. I wish I had had twice as much of it, but there was also rice, soup, pickles and some boiled pumpkin. This is gonna sound weird, but the rice was delicious. It was very plump, sticky, and perfectly cooked. I could turn Japanese for rice like that.

He insists that the food is just as good at night. Shelves packed with kept bottles of Jinro tell the story!
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