Yumean, Itabashi-Maenocho: Drinking at a Family Restaurant

A note on the words: a family restaurant, famiresu, is Japan’s all-day chain diner, and Yumean is the Japanese-food one, running to soba, udon, sushi and tempura; they quietly serve alcohol too. Tempura is seafood and vegetables in a light batter, fried; sashimi is raw fish; negitoro is fatty tuna minced with scallion; geso are the legs of the squid. Itoyori is golden threadfin bream. A highball is whisky and soda, and Sui is a Japanese gin. Sudachi is a small green citrus from Tokushima. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).

Yumean, Itabashi-Maenocho

Yumean, Itabashi-Maenocho on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.

This is Hangover Meshi. This time, a family restaurant for the first time in ages! And Yumean, no less! I feel fairly sure I have been to one before… but I cannot recall when or where at all. It is the Japanese-food version of the family restaurant, so soba and tempura and sushi and udon. If anything I think I have been to Tonden more often. Still, I am looking forward to this!

Yumean, Itabashi-Maenocho

They open at ten! Which is to say, places like this quietly let you order alcohol.
Think of it as a shop where you can drink from ten in the morning and it gets exciting lol

There is plenty on the menu, but this time I was here for lunch!
I decided to drink while picking at a few snacks^^

Daytime drinking heaven

Right, what to start with — I went for a highball (384 yen).

Daytime drinking heaven

And what goes with this highball?!

An assorted tempura plate (241 + 274 x 2 + 219 + 219 = 1,227 yen)

An assorted tempura plate (241 + 274 x 2 + 219 + 219 = 1,227 yen)

There was a premium shrimp tempura assortment (659 yen) as well, but I decided to build my own assortment out of what I liked^^
Two premium shrimp tempura, plus itoyori (golden threadfin bream), okra and lotus root. Being able to combine whatever you like is a pleasure in itself!
I am drinking with tempura as the snack, and this plus the highball has still not come to 2,000 yen!

広告
ホットサンドメーカー 直火
¥4,400 前後 Amazon 楽天市場
レコルト ポットデュオ 電気鍋
¥8,800 前後 Amazon 楽天市場

Four-piece sashimi plate (880 yen)

Four-piece sashimi plate (880 yen)

Three portions might be too much, I thought, so I made it two. That comes to 880 yen. Well, compared with a supermarket that is about normal, or a touch dear. But the salmon was juicy and every piece of sashimi was good! The little dab of negitoro they add is a pleasure too, and I was satisfied with this. Tempura and sashimi — a high level of satisfaction! And the drink was Sui gin with sudachi in soda.

Four-piece sashimi plate (880 yen)

Deep-fried squid legs (560 yen)

Deep-fried squid legs (560 yen)

With octopus prices up, squid is hugely popular^^
An absolutely standard drinking snack. There is a decent amount of it and it is freshly fried. At 560 yen, that seems fair enough to me.

Thank you for the meal!

So — I drank at Yumean while eating snacks, and it is surprisingly satisfying. It is not that expensive, and because it is a family restaurant you are not going to drink too much (obviously lol). The seats are enormous. Being able to sit at leisure is another good point. For a light drink, a family restaurant may be surprisingly good. There is a wide range of snacks to choose from, and it is arguably cleaner and nicer than your average izakaya^^

Yumean, Itabashi-Maenocho (Family restaurant / Tokiwadai Station, Kami-Itabashi Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4

I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.