A note on the words: an izakaya is a Japanese pub, and otoshi is the small appetizer that lands on your table unasked and appears on the bill — it’s the cover charge, not a scam. Shigure-ni means simmered down in soy sauce, sugar and ginger. Shima-rakkyo are slim Okinawan shallots, here salt-pickled and eaten raw. Chamame is a variety of soybean picked green as edamame, sweeter and more fragrant than the usual kind. Himedake are the slender young bamboo shoots. Saikyo-yaki means marinated in sweet white Kyoto miso and then grilled. Nanban-zuke is fried fish steeped in a sweet vinegar dressing with onion and chili. Katsuo no tosa-zukuri is bonito seared over a flame and sliced, served with plenty of scallion and ginger. Shumai are steamed dumplings, and the hana or “flower” kind are wrapped in shredded dough so they open up as they steam. Cha-soba is buckwheat noodles made with green tea, eaten cold with a dipping sauce; a bowl like this is what closes a night of drinking.
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Koma on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. Dinner tonight is at “Koma,” a homey izakaya (Japanese pub) of the kind you don’t often find in Azabu-juban, where you don’t have to sit up straight. And on top of that every dish is really good, which is why I drop in every so often. It’s always busy, but I happened to look in and it seemed like I could get a seat, so in I went! Look at this atmosphere. Lovely, isn’t it!
Raw oysters in the shell — 550 yen
Raw sea urchin — 1,550 yen
Raw scallop sashimi — 800 yen
Horse mackerel sashimi — 900 yen
Katsuo no tosa-zukuri — 1,300 yen
There are a huge number of dishes on the menu, but the fish ones are the really good ones.
I decided to look through the menu and order a la carte as I went.
Right, a beer first, obviouslyyyyy
Shellfish, shigure-ni and so on.
Crunch, crunch. The smell is strong but it’s so good — shima-rakkyo.
Seared bonito, chicken grunt, horse mackerel, scallop, raw sea urchin.
I asked them to put together an assortment of today’s sashimi. Delicious!
The fluffy bamboo shoots and the miso are seriously good. Simple dishes like this — nice.
So fatty it’s glossy — delicious!
Kisu nanban-zuke! Now that’s a real home-cooking sort of dish. Tasty.
The last thing was the cha-soba to close the night out. There was quite a lot of it — a hearty bowl of soba. Properly chilled, and perfect as a finish.
Well now, every dish is solidly good, and since a lot of the menu is home-style cooking everything has a slightly nostalgic feel to it, which makes this a lovely place. The seafood especially — the sashimi of course, but the grilled and simmered dishes too are good, so if you come here I really want you to eat fish! It does get busy, so whether you get in is partly down to luck, but you can book, so if you definitely want to go I recommend booking!
Koma (Izakaya / Azabu-juban Station, Roppongi Station, Akabanebashi 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?
