Page 120 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Tokyo

118  TR A VELERS ’ NEEDS

Types of Restaurants and Bars Specialty Restaurants
Tempura, sukiyaki, teppanyaki,
Tokyo has a wide range of restaurants to suit every taste and tonkatsu are generally
and budget, from hole-in-the-wall noodle stands to havens served at restaurants that focus
of refinement serving formal kaiseki banquets, not to on each particular genre. Other
mention fine French, Italian, and Chinese cuisines. Most areas of specialization worth
investigating include yakitori
Japanese restaurants tend to specialize in specific genres, (charcoal-grilled skewers of
such as sushi, sukiyaki, or tempura, or even in individual chicken), unagi (grilled eel), and
ingredients such as tofu and fugu (poison blowfish). nabe (winter hotpots cooked
at the table). Also worth trying
is okonomiyaki, the Japanese-
style pancake that comes in
either Osaka or Hiroshima style.
Tokyo also has its own version
(mojayaki), which is softer and
very tasty. Fugu restaurants
serve up the delight of the
adventurous gourmet, the
poisonous blowfish. Japanese-
style curry is also popular as a
cheap and tasty lunch, and it
can be ordered with a range of
interesting toppings, including
cheese, sausages, and pork.

Sushi Restaurants
Re-created traditional warehouse (kura), Gonpachi restaurant, Ginza
Sushi restaurants (see pp126–7)
Kaiseki Ryori
is the “dining bar.” The approach vary greatly in style, from low-
Japan’s traditional haute cuisine, is similar to that of an izakaya priced kaiten-zushi shops, where
kaiseki ryori is derived from the but with plenty of French and the sushi comes to you on a
food served to accompany tea Italian influences. conveyor belt, to astronomically
ceremonies, developed in Kyoto Cheap izakaya seem to be expensive places where
some 500 years ago. A typical more and more present around everything – from the fish to the
banquet comprises numerous Tokyo, many of them part of ginger – is of optimum quality.
small courses, each exquisitely large national chains. They As a general rule, if there are no
arranged, served in a prescribed may offer an all-you-can-drink prices listed anywhere, it will be
order, and with careful reference deal, known as nomihoudai, expensive. At expensive sushi
to the season. Typically, kaiseki with a fixed price for alcoholic restaurants it is usually best to
meals are served with great drinks, or tabehoudai, or all-you- go for an omakase, which means
formality in elegant restaurants can-eat, which can be good the chef can decide what sushi
(sometimes known as ryoriya), or value for money if you are to serve; that way you will get
at ryotei, discreet establishments in the mood to consume a the best ingredients and freshest
with courtyard gardens and lot in a short space of time. fish available on any given day.
spare but elegant private rooms.
Izakaya and Dining Bars
Izakaya are down-to-earth
places where you eat as you
drink (rather than vice versa),
ordering a few dishes at a time.
At their most basic, these are
budget taverns, identified by
raucous, smoke-filled interiors,
and battered red lanterns by
the front door. Others are more
refined, and may serve food
of considerable quality. Many
have large platters of pre-
cooked items on their counter
tops to pick from. A similar
genre, now common in Tokyo, Counter seating looking into the open kitchen at a sushi restaurant, Ginza

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