Tag: Japan

My time in Toyama was drawing to a close and I wanted some yakitori (aka charcoal grilled meat on a stick) for my final meal.

I found Yakitori Daikichi Marunouchi quite close by to my hotel. I’d visited the chain before in Kyoto so I knew the meal would be good.

I walked in around 5:45 and it was just me and the chef! I didn’t care, there was meat and there was beer.

I ordered my first of 3 Suntory Malts while I perused the menu.

Over the next hour or so I was able to have around a dozen or so fairly decent yakitori, a mixture of chicken, pork and peppers, all cooked right in front of me.

For a chain restaurant the meal was quite good – very tasty and filling.

When I left about an hour later it was still just me and the chef.

After my less than overwhelming drink and snack at Oeuf I went across the road to Nagoyameshi Nagodori.

Nagoyameshi Nagodori is your traditional Japanese Izakaya – drink, food, smoking and, oh, no English menu.

There were a couple of diners in when I arrived around 6:25 in the evening and I was given a seat at the long counter looking into the kitchen area.

While there was no English menu my waitress was able to understand what I was looking for so I was able to order some chicken and onion yakitori, some grilled chicken wings accompanied by Asahi Super Dry.

Though I had a short visit, the food was great and I would recommend Nagoyameshi Nagodori over Oeuf any day of the week.

If you’re in Toyama then you should visit!

After a bit of a look around Toyama I was ready for lunch.

In Japan nearly all shopping centres more than a couple of stories tall will have a floor (or 2) of restaurants. There will be a floor somewhere towards the top of the building and quite possibly another in the basement. At the Marier Toyama next to Toyama Station I headed upto the 6th floor where there are a dozen or so restaurants for a quick recon.

There was a reasonable selection of katsu, noddle soup, curry and non-Japanese restaurants.

I chose Okaman which was offering a set menu for lunch.

Just before midday it was fairly quiet as I walked in and was easily able to get a table and was given an English menu.

The set menu was a chicken katsu (fried crumbed cutlet). soup, side dish and salad.

The side dish was tuna which I wasn’t a fan of – more for the fact that I’m not a seafood eater than anything else.

The main, the chicken katsu with rice was good with a decent flavor and not oily.

With the meal I drank a Kirin.

As I left about an hour later the restaurant was quite busy.

Recommended!

After the ~330km trip from Tokyo to Toyama on the Shinkansen at a top speed of ~265km/h I was looking for somewhere to have dinner.

Close by to my hotel I noticed an Izakaya (a Japanese tavern) that had some decent reviews.

I arrived around 5:30 and there were already plenty of people tucking into their meals along with the requisite beers, sake & shochu.

I was given a seat at the counter and an English menu while I ordered Kirin.

The menu had a decent selection of chicken, pork, beef and seafood as well as salads and vegetables.

My mission for the evening was yakitori, and eat yakitori I did.

For around an hour and a half I had a feast of chicken skin, chicken thigh, pork and beef yakitori skewers and really good potato croquettes.

Towards the latter stages of my meal the patron who’d sat next to me offered me some of their shochu.

It was very nice of them. The drink itself was quite nice over a block or 2 of ice. We tried to have a conversation but I have almost zero Japanese, and his English wasn’t much better but were were able to make small talk. To thank them I shared my beef skewers with him.

If you are in Toyama and are after a typical Japanese dinner experience then Hosokawa is a great choice.