A note on the words: acqua pazza is an Italian dish of fish simmered with shellfish, tomatoes and water or wine, and fumet de poisson is the French term for a concentrated fish stock. Fritto misto means a mixed plate of things fried in batter, and shishito are small, mild green Japanese peppers. Carpaccio here is raw fish sliced thin and dressed, and prosciutto is dry-cured ham. Sukiyaki is a Japanese hot pot of thin-sliced meat simmered at the table in a sweet soy broth; wagyu is Japanese beef, and kuroge is the black-haired breed. Nomihodai, translated here as all-you-can-drink, is a fixed-price course that includes unlimited drinks for a set stretch of time.
UOKIN PICCOLO Ginza on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. This time, off to “UOKIN PICCOLO” in Ginza! An Italian place that is fairly reasonable for Ginza. It belongs to the same group as that Uokin, so the focus is probably seafood. Seafood Italian once in a while is not a bad idea, is it! So off I went. The listing says 5 minutes from Yurakucho, but it felt more like 10 to me. From the outside it looks pretty stylish. There is a first floor and a basement, and this time we went down to the basement.
The 6,500-yen all-you-can-drink course, with blue crab and cod acqua pazza — 6,500 yen
Sumptuous! Hayashi SPF pork in a Western-style sukiyaki hot pot!! [8,000 yen] all-you-can-drink course, draft beer included — 8,000 yen
Sumptuous! Kuroge wagyu beef in a Western-style sukiyaki hot pot!! [10,000 yen] all-you-can-drink course, draft beer included! — 10,000 yen
This time we picked the 6,500-yen course, on the easygoing thought that if it was not enough we could just order more.
First to arrive was the soup of the day! A chilled potage, perhaps, or a clam chowder. A warm breath to start with.
A carpaccio built mainly on sea bream and bonito.
Come to think of it, I have some memory of hearing that fish carpaccio started in Japan — whoever first tried it was a genius!
There is plenty of prosciutto piled on too, which is nice. (Incidentally, the large shared plates are portioned for five. ^^)
Another large shared plate, this one a salad. A salad with a heap of arugula.
Shishito peppers and white fish, I think it was.
And here is the main course!
It looks lavish, does it not! Blue crab and cod acqua pazza in a stone pot. There is so much shrimp and crab in it that the whole thing is a beautiful red!
Incidentally, the blue crab is mostly shell, and the legs are thin, so it is essentially there for the broth. The broth turns into risotto later, I was told, so we ate while leaving some behind. Acqua pazza is pretty much all fumet de poisson, is it not. At a place like this they must be taking it properly in-house. Though I would be glad if someone sold a good instant granulated version somewhere.
Meat sauce! With pasta and risotto both coming, there are quite a lot of carbs here, so I have a feeling I am going to end up full.
The conversation turned to whether we should have some meat as well, so we added the pork braised in beer.
There were several meat dishes, but when I asked, quite a few were sold out, ha.
There is not that much of it -> the focus is seafood, so a fair number of people want a little meat -> it sells out.
That seemed to be the shape of it, ha, so if you want it, ordering early looks like the way to go!
Risotto! Honestly, I am already pretty full.
Now then — for this much food (meat aside), with all-you-can-drink included, 6,500 yen is not bad at all, is it?! When you want to drop into Ginza and drink without any fuss, I think this is a perfectly good option. There are plenty of carbs, so if you eat all of it you will be quite full, but if you are the sort who wants to drink a lot and pick at plenty of small bites, it might feel a little thin, and in that case ordering extra early on seems like the thing to do.
UOKIN PICCOLO Ginza (Italian / Ginza-itchome Station, Yurakucho Station, Kyobashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
