2 replies to this topic

[Orik]

I don't know if Yopparai will evolve into being worth its own thread, but just in case...

As it stands, they offer a largely standard Tokyo Izakaya menu, almost all prepared by one chef* who is the son of the chef at a modestly well regarded Izakaya in Roppongi**. A few items were problematic (see below), others were good but generally not outstanding.

The sake list is fairly impressive but difficult to use (presented as a long, unwieldy, double sided scroll). Fortunately the owner is very good at providing recommendations based on your preferences, not to mention he seems to like pouring extras and offering his honest opinion of them. We had a bottle of Tedorigawa Daiginjo, which was marked up 100% from retail. I didn't get an impression of overall sake prices.<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">


From the food menu we had:

Black shiokara - squid in gut and ink sauce, always a nice bar snack

Masu tofu - home made cold tofu served with some toppings (ginger, scallion, bonito) and a dipping sauce - the tofu itself was good but the toppings were difficult to handle (you know what happens when you try to pick up just some of the bonito that was beautifully shaved into long strands to tell you they're doing it themselves? that's right, you get all of it)

Hamo - served cold, not bad but you really need to pay attention to get any flavor from cold hamo (esp. when it's not sitting inside high umami broth)

Baby abalone - very good, simply cut and served with wasabi

Spot prawns - these were obviously designed to be shipped live but had expired. The head, which I really didn't want to eat after tasting the body was sent away for grilling and then came back (unfortunately not sufficiently grilled)

Uni - good, served with some nori

Shima-aji - best fish of the evening - it was exactly what this fish should be - the advantages of both amberjack and mackerel without the undesirable flavors of either. Lovely.

Fluke - very good, pretty fatty

Ayu - I've only ever eaten Ayu that was alive until grilling before, and now I know why. That it wasn't sufficiently grilled only made things worse, but biting into its head was easily the least pleasant food experience of 2012. The body was edible but this really wasn't right.

Unagi and fluffy egg hot pot - delicious, sweet

Crab rice - good quality sweet rice, good amount of crab.



I think I'd go back for a few dishes and a couple of glasses of sake, rather than a full meal.

* There's another person manning the grill but she is so bad at it right now that it doesn't count.
** Like, it receives the same ratings as Ivan Ramen, which is on the high end of just okay, but somehow you don't see 1000 people lining up for their sashimi in nyc.

[Anthony Bonner]

Had been on my list, but since I don't like Sake sounds like its very very skippable.

[Orik]

If you don't like sake then it is skippable, for sure.