A note on the words: live lobster is cooked to order. In Japanese culinary parlance, lobster liver is often called miso (short for kani-miso or ebi-miso) after its paste-like consistency, referring here to the rich tomalley alongside the roe rather than fermented soybean paste. A seafood platter brings together chilled shellfish and crustacea — here including green-lipped mussels, blue mussels, cocktail shrimp, raw oysters, smoked salmon, deep-sea crab, and lobster claws.
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Red Lobster Aqua City Odaiba on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Here it is, my first visit in a while to “Red Lobster.” The last time I went was October 2022, so about six months ago, I suppose? About once every six months I have to go get my six-monthly shrimp top-up! So off I went to Odaiba. Being Golden Week, Japan’s spring run of public holidays, I set out aiming to arrive around 11:00, but in the end it was around 11:30. Thinking “I hope it isn’t crowded,” I headed into Aqua City, and it was crazy packed, ha. Downstairs at Taco Bell and Eggs ‘n Things there were huge lines. Thinking I’ll just go check anyway, I headed up to the 6th floor, and by some miracle the 6th-floor restaurants in Aqua City were not that crowded! What happened? Does everyone not know there are restaurants upstairs? ha.
Well, in any case, getting in quickly was lucky.
Right away, I ordered a bunch of things a la carte.
This time, instead of alcohol, I went with oolong tea.
Ideal as a starter appetizer. Enjoyed like a snack.
Usually I just order cocktail shrimp and that is it, but I thought to myself, I’ve never ordered this platter before! So I ordered it.
In short, it is everything on one plate! A lavish platter with lobster claw, cocktail shrimp, raw oysters, Italian-style marinated green-lipped mussels, blue mussels, smoked salmon, and deep-sea crab. Crab, shrimp, and shellfish are all fantastic! Irresistible for seafood lovers.
Has it finally reached this point? 16,990 yen?! Wasn’t it around 13,000 yen before, I wonder? The effect of the weak yen, I suppose? Inflation is scary, ha.
Still, I couldn’t very well not order it, so order it I did!
And here is the steamed lobster, ready and served.
And here, from the staff:
“The meat yield was not very good, so shall we change it to the medium-size price, or cook you another large?”
came the offer. Ah! This system, in my long Red Lobster life I experienced it once before. (Kami-Itabashi, was it?)
With lobster, you can never tell if the meat yield is good until you crack it open, and if it turns out small when opened, they will cook you another one. What is more, even if you ask for that, you can still eat the under-filled one as is, so you effectively get 1.6 or 1.7 lobsters’ worth.
My stomach still had room, and since the opportunity was there, I asked them to cook another large one, and tucked into the lean one.
Even if the meat yield wasn’t great, the flavor was superb. True, the claw part did feel a little skinny, but the tail meat didn’t bother me at all. Having this kind of quality control done properly is surely the secret to its popularity, I imagine!
And then the second one arrives!
To be able to eat two lobsters in a single day, what happiness!
To the first skinny little lobster, thank you!
The plump meat is packed with rich umami. It has a gentle savory depth distinct from crab.
Dipping it into melted butter is wonderful, and dipping it into the tomalley and roe is wonderful too. Hearing 16,990 yen makes you hesitate a bit (in terms of edible portion as well, ha), but when you think that you work hard every day just to eat this, it is no big deal!
So, unexpected good fortune came my way and it turned into eating two lobsters, and of course I was thoroughly satisfied.
You really have to get your regular lobster top-up. They have things like a kids’ plate, and the sofa booths are relaxing just like a family restaurant, making it perfect for families too. If you ever find yourself thinking, ‘I want to eat crab!’, by all means pay a visit.
Red Lobster Aqua City Odaiba (Seafood / Daiba Station, Tokyo Teleport Station, Odaiba-kaihinkoen Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
