Kyowa, Ningyocho (活魚料理 京和)

Marketing, my friends, is a bitch. I saw this place a bunch of times and was attracted to the modest exterior and the legend “Tai-shu Kappo”, which I interpret to mean “Classy cookin’ for reg’lar folks”. Things were a little too regular when someone and I got in, to wit just one other table eating some tired-looking fish, and the master sitting down behind the counter. Sitting down! The nerve. We exchanged glances…actually, we had a whole conversation in English along the lines of should-we-just-leave, but nothing ventured, nothing paid.

Fortunately I’ve learned to tame my ordering tendencies over the years, and can start slow at sketchy places. I can’t go past water eggplant; the guy at my favorite local vegetable shop told me they’ll be rare and expensive this year, and so far it seems like it. This was a huge specimen, lightly pickled, and was as good as you could want. Well, maybe the pickling solution could have been better, but why quibble?

It was the fish that did it. The pickled mackerel was dry and overdone, and after the first piece of this, we quickly resolved to finish our shared bottle of beer, not order anything else, and head out to look for another place.

I guess that pretty much precludes you from getting into this place, right?
03-3664-7248