Tag: Ankimo

Dinner (a la carte and course menu) at Uoshin in Ginza

Uoshin is a chain of izakayas owned by a seafood distributor and their seafood is what keeps me going back, especially to the branch in Ginza.

The Ginza branch is located in a basement (classic!) and the small entrance may easily pass unnoticed.

Visit 1: Quick dinner

The first time I got lucky and I was given a table without reservation (but just for one hour). That was enough to try a couple of dishes.

I had their large sashimi selection that was very good.

Then I had one of their signature dishes: some rolls snowed under premium seafood: minced tuna, tuna eggs, sea urchin and crab meat. It was a delicious avalanche of delicacies from the sea.

The check for these two big dishes was 4,333 yen (40.5 USD). Not so bad.

The visit 2: Course menu

During my first visit I noticed that they also served course menus so I decided to come back, with a reservation, to try their premium (“extra fine”) menu.

The service started with three appetizers: two fried shrimps, a piece of ankimo (the delicious monk liver sashimi), and marinated kohada fish “nanban style“.

The sashimi platter featured 9 bites (one more than announced by the menu!). I identified kue (longtooth grouper), hiramasa (yellowtail amberjack), tako (octopus), hirame (Japanese halibut or olive flounder), hamachi (yellowtail), sawara (Spanish mackerel), shime saba (cured mackerel), tai (seabream), shima ebi (grey prown). I am sure I might have gotten some wrong… all were fresh and apart from the mundane octopus they were all select pieces (only drawback: they were tiny).

The salad was cabbage with bonito flakes..

The crab dish was just that: crab meat. Well done. I hate cleaning crabs.

The grilled fish was a small kinki, a very prized fish with firm white meat.

Then there was a marinated fish.

Then I was surprised to get mullet roe, whom I do not dislike, just not expecting it in this izakaya.

Then there was some fried food. This dish was forgettable. I would have expected something more interesting.

Then there was a substantial sushi platter with quality fish such as tuna and scallops. Many izakayas do not serve sushi as they do not want to bother preparing the rice, so they settle for sashimi that is easier to serve (and less filling for their customers…). But not in this izakaya, luckily.

Last dish was a classic miso soup.

At the end I had a look at their specials (they were great!) and I ordered an extra dish.

It was a faboulus combo with shirako and ankimo sashimi. Great way to end. Shirako is the male cod sperm sac…

Final check was 7,980 yen (75 USD); the course menu was 7,000 yen. Considering the quality of the seafood, the price was not unreasable. I did not make full use of the drink menu. During the course meal you can order as many drinks as you wish from a list that includes draft beer and other alcoholics. If you are just interested in the food, probably the course meal is not worth it. What I would do if I am to go back (and I hope one day to go back) would be to ask for the list of the daily specials and deep dive into them; there were some amazing seafood dishes in that list on the night when I had my course meal. I guess that the owner – a seafood distributor – has no problem procuring the best seasonal fish for their izakayas and this is a massive advantage.

Where in Tokyo:
4-chome-8-12 Ginza Chuo City.
In Japanese: 東京都 中央区 銀座 4-8-12 コチワビル B1F.
Website: http://www.uoshins.com/index.html (in Japanese, with list of other locations).

An authentic izakaya in Ningbo

Ningbo is a second-tier city in Zhejiang, China, and is known to be a manufacturing powerhouse. In China Japanese food is “so so” and in Ningbo non-Chinese food is just forgettable. So it is really incredible that i get to review a great izakaya in this city off-the-beaten path.

They have an extensive menu including sushi and sashimi (the same owner also operates a restaurant upstairs that was initially a Thai joint, then it was turned into a Japanese sushi and sashimi place; finally only recently the izakaya menu was merged with the sushi menu… synergies take time I guess).

The entrance is located on a corner just across the car entrance of the Ningbo’s Sheraton hotel.

The visit

Before 7pm it is usually quite empty. I usually seat at the counter where you can see the cooks working on the grill. They use charcoal and have a nice “vertical” grill that I have never seen outside Japan.

It is not a large place, but they have 4 or 5 private rooms with Japanese style seating horigotatsu.

The cheesy Japanese background music reminds you that you are not in Japan, but the place also has some original touches as the basket under the table where to place your overcoat or bags and the bottles of liquor marked with the name of the customer on a wooden plaque.

They have ankimo sashimi. This dish alone is worth the trip (if you are in Ningbo). Not easy to find outside Japan and it was very reasonably priced. Ankimo is monk fish liver sashimi; you can liken it to foie gras: it is seafood foie gras. It is a great delicacy and it was properly served with momiji oroshi as a garnish (grated Japanese daikon with red chili).

Then I usually have their beef in teriyaki sauce. On this visit the beef was very tender and just delicious.

I also had a beef carpaccio, with thinly sliced beef superficially cooked.

Their forte is certainly grilled dishes. Some yakitori is a must. I usually have chicken breast (picture above).

Then I had pork belly (a bit overcooked, but still good; usually they look like in the featured photo on top).

And finally I had duck fried dumplings that I also liked.

All dishes were authentic enough and very tasty. They have my seal of approval.

The check

This was a lot of food, I was kind of hungry… and the check came at 265 CNY (or 38 USD). You can have a satisfactory meal probably for 25 USD. By Chinese standards, this is very reasonable (non Chinese food tends to be expensive in China).

Where in Ningbo: