A note on the words: genshiyaki is hearth-grilling, where skewered fish or shrimp stand around live charcoal in a sunken hearth so the skin gets crispy while the inside stays juicy. Clay-pot rice is seasoned rice cooked in a heavy earthenware pot (one go is about 180 ml of raw rice, roughly two bowls). Warabi mochi is a soft sweet traditionally made from bracken starch; kneaded fresh over heat it turns warm and melts in the mouth, served here with kinako (toasted soybean flour) and matcha. Sake lees are the sweet, fragrant solids left from pressing sake, used here to marinate black cod, and yuba is delicate soy-milk skin.
Tokimeki on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Thanks for waiting, fellow drinkers! It is time for Hangover Meshi (where meshi means meal)!
Today I am heading to a very stylish izakaya (Japanese pub) in Koenji called “Tokimeki”!
It sits three minutes from the north exit of Koenji Station through the Junjo Shopping Street, down the stairs of a small multi-tenant building into the basement.
Writing the name with the characters for “palpitation” (doki) and reading it “tokimeki” (a flutter of the heart) is stylish in itself, and right next door is the sake bar “Kokon.” When I visited Kokon before, I noticed the place next door and was curious about it, so this time I finally made a reservation and came!
In the middle of the room is a U-shaped counter, with a sunken hearth for genshiyaki (hearth-grilling) set right in its center. It is the kind of place where you can drink while watching fish grill right in front of you. Their concept is “an izakaya where you get in balance just by eating” — they say the dashi broth is made from bone broth, and the cooking is designed to be gluten-free and low-carb. I am looking forward to this! This time I am having the food-only “9,000 yen course.”
Let’s dig right in!
Delicious!!
Starting with a natural white wine.
The first dish is grilled sesame tofu. The outside is crisp, while the inside is mochi-like and chewy. Its density is closer to a kneaded paste than to regular tofu. Having the surface grilled gives it a toasted aroma, and the dashi broth underneath adds just the right saltiness.
The kuruma shrimp is firm and snappy, releasing sweet juices as you bite into it. It is paired with fruit tomato, which is sweet like actual fruit. The vinegar has no sharp edge and gently catches the sweetness of both. A hint of sudachi citrus lightens the whole dish and leaves your mouth refreshed. The head seems to be deep-fried bare without batter — it is crunchy enough to eat whole!
The first sashimi is tuna. Remarkably, they say this is bluefin tuna from the renowned Yamayuki wholesaler; the flesh is supple, slowly coming apart on the tongue rather than simply melting. It is topped with garlic chives dressed in soy sauce, and that combination of garlic chives and soy goes so well with the tuna!
The second is bonito, with the skin seared so that the smoky aroma and rich fat arrive at the same time in a luscious bite. The sauce is apparently nori (seaweed) soy sauce. That said, I think I might have liked the skin seared a little crisper — it was a bit tough to bite through.
This is an assortment of various drinking snacks. It includes their signature corn mousse with raw sea urchin, eggplant fried and simmered in dashi (oranda-ni), gathered yuba (soy-milk skin) tofu, egg and more. Since all six arrive at once, it is hard to decide which one to start with. Each little dish goes in a different flavor direction, making it great to savor while drinking.
Because the scales are fried standing upright, the first thing that hits you is that fun, crunchy texture! Right underneath, the fatty flesh is fluffy and soft, giving you two textures in a single bite. The carrot sauce leans quite sweet, and when it meets the fat of the fish, the dish suddenly takes on a Western feel!
For the genshiyaki hearth grill, each person gets to choose their own, and we picked the large shrimp and the black cod marinated in Tanaka 65 sake lees.
Because the black cod is marinated in sake lees before grilling, the first thing you notice is its sweet aroma. Put your chopsticks in and the flesh flakes apart tenderly, oozing rich fat. The slight bitterness of the charred surface keeps the sweetness of the sake lees in check!
They even shell the shrimp for you! ha The meat inside is packed tight, and the more you chew, the more savory it gets! The seasoning leaves the ingredient almost as is, and squeezing sudachi citrus over it sharpens the flavors.
We have already had quite a number of dishes, and now at last comes the rice!
When the corn rice first finishes cooking, they bring the clay pot over to show you! As soon as they lift the lid, steam rises with the sweet scent of corn. Slices of wagyu sirloin are laid out on top and it looks delicious! Then they take it back to finish preparing it.
When they brought it back to show us the next time, it looked like this!
A member of staff mixes it all together thoroughly for you!
So… so good!!!
The rice is plump, and the corn pops in your mouth. The beef fat coats every single grain of rice, and the sweetness builds the more you chew. Corn rice is plenty delicious on its own, but layering the sweetness of the corn with the sweet fat of the wagyu is irresistible! Since it is one go of rice (about two bowls), it is just right for two people, though after eating this much along the way I had to give up after a single bowl, ha.
The dashi for the miso soup is bone broth. They say it is made by simmering chicken for a long time, and its flavor sinks in gently.
It really is freshly kneaded right there, ha!
They bring a portable burner and pot right next to you, and after stirring with all their might for about a minute, it turns into fluffy warabi mochi. Then they dust it evenly with kinako (toasted soybean flour) and top one side with matcha as well.
Freshly kneaded and warm, the mochi is delicious! When you lift it with chopsticks, it goes beyond jiggly and droops right down in a fun way! Put it in your mouth and it melts so fast it feels like it vanishes before you even chew!
And at the end, they made the leftover rice into onigiri (rice balls) for us.
The wrapping on the onigiri is super cute too, ha.
Did I get in balance? Maybe I really did feel restored. From the sesame tofu to the sashimi, genshiyaki hearth grill, clay-pot rice and dessert, this course lets you eat your way through the house specialties and left me very satisfied. It feels more like a kappo (refined Japanese counter restaurant) than an izakaya. The salt is Aguni salt and Rokusuke salt, the vinegar is Chidori vinegar from Kyoto, the miso is Ishino miso, and the frying oil is rice-bran oil — and with a bone-broth dashi said to be made by simmering whole chickens for over eight hours, it is an izakaya menu crafted with real care. There were plenty of other good-looking a la carte dishes too, so I might like to come back.
Here’s hoping we all run into more good food today!
Tokimeki (Izakaya / Koenji 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?
