A note on the words: otsukuri, here rendered as sashimi, is raw fish sliced and plated. Shirako is cod milt, a winter delicacy with the texture of soft custard. Chawanmushi is a savory egg custard steamed in a cup. Hoba-yaki means grilled on a dried magnolia leaf, which perfumes whatever sits on it. Sunomono is a small vinegared dish, and ankimo is monkfish liver. Takikomi gohan is rice cooked together with its ingredients in one pot, so the rice itself carries the flavor. Botan shrimp are the large, sweet spot prawns. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Udagawa Shisen on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want something good to eat today too. This is Hangover Meshi. Today I was invited out to Udagawa Shisen in Shibuya. It is partway along what I think is called Penguin Street, and at first I could not work out where you were supposed to go in. Climb the outside stairs and there is no fifth floor; step in around the third and it is a completely different restaurant. Go further back from there and you find an elevator. Ah — so the right answer was to take the elevator from the ground floor all along. Take the outside stairs and you will get lost, so be warned.
Step out of the elevator and it is a chic, stylish space. Very nice.
They set us up with a course including all-you-can-drink. Much appreciated!
Simmered whelk, kombu, tofu with a sea urchin sauce and so on.
Laid out on a leaf, it looks beautiful too! The beer goes down.
A pot of fish fillet, tofu and shiitake simmered together. The dashi runs firmly through it and it is the kind of delicious that makes you relax. Good!
A sashimi assortment with a good many kinds on it! Every piece fresh and delicious.
Shellfish and flathead, sea bream and botan shrimp, Spanish mackerel and yellowtail, something like that as I remember. The plate is beautiful too, and it is the sort of Japanese cooking that fits a drink perfectly. You do want this now and then, do you not. Excellent.
Chawanmushi with plump shirako. Winter is the season when shirako is at its best!
Salmon grilled on a magnolia leaf. The faint astringency and scent of the leaf work well. The flesh is cooked through and soft, and flakes apart under the chopsticks. The rich fat particular to coho salmon is not too heavy and goes down easily!
The sunomono is monkfish liver in vinegar. Rich ankimo like this keeps the drinking going.
Fluffy white flesh, very good. Even the fried course is built around fish, so it feels healthy too.
Ta-da! Rice cooked with sea urchin and wagyu!
They bring it over before it is stirred, then serve it out for you.
Look at it! It looks so good!
The sea urchin came down to a single piece, mind you.
The smell the moment the lid comes off is wonderful. The steam rising off it raises your expectations in one go. A mouthful, and every grain of rice has taken up the savor of the wagyu, with the rich depth of the sea urchin coming along behind. The beef is tender too. The star of it, though, is definitely the rice.
To finish, two colors of ice cream!
Everything about the cooking is beautiful and delicious. The room is good as well, so the reputation of this being a place for entertaining clients turns out to be right. We were not in a private room, but you can talk in comfort, and the drinks from the all-you-can-drink arrive properly. Nothing at all to complain about. I have filed this one away as a place for business dinners.
Udagawa Shisen (Izakaya / Shibuya Station, Shinsen Station, Meiji-jingumae Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
