A note on the words: Shinshu is the old name for Nagano Prefecture; nozawana is its signature pickled leaf green; namero is fish chopped fine with miso and aromatics; Obuse is the Nagano sake-brewing town where this restaurant’s main house stands. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Obuse Yoritsuki Cuisine Kurabu Ginza on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
This time, a Shinshu (Nagano) restaurant in Higashi-Ginza: “Obuse Yoritsuki Cuisine Kurabu Ginza”. It sits on the 13th floor of CURA GINZA, diagonally across from the Kabukiza theatre — the rustic tastes of Shinshu served against the Ginza skyline. A stylish idea, and Shinshu breeds delicious things, so I had long wanted to come.
Now, “yoritsuki cuisine” was a genre I had never heard of. In the Edo period, when brewery workers lived in through the harsh winters making sake, they rested and ate together in a room called the yoritsuki-ba — and the simple cooking born there, letting the ingredients speak plainly, is what the name means.
The main house is in Obuse, Nagano — and during the Nagano Olympics it was apparently even visited by British royalty!
And Kurabu Ginza is where you taste all that in a sleek room thirteen floors above Ginza!
From the windows you look down on the Kabukiza, with Tokyo Tower and Skytree both in view — an extravagant prospect. By night it must be gorgeous; we were early, so it was still entirely daylight^^
The menu runs long, so we simply picked what we wanted to eat!
First, of course: beer!
As befits a Ginza tower, it comes in the thinnest of glasses — a very fine drinking lip indeed.
The soul pickle of every Shinshu native. Nothing begins without this!
Good with beer, good on its own. Though having recently experienced frozen nozawana, I confess I half-wished this one were slightly frozen too!
Trout, I believe! Finely chopped and worked with miso, shiso, ginger and spring onion — a plate built for drinking. Not a trace of river-fish muddiness. Beer works, but chilled sake would be the true match.
Tofu from Nagano, apparently! The sweetness of the soybean itself, and a gentle, yielding texture.
Shinshu is one of Japan’s great mushroom lands! Maitake, shimeji, enoki, eringi, nameko — several kinds bought in that day, sauteed all at once in butter. The sizzle of the iron plate, the toastiness of butter and the forest smell of mushrooms rising off it — extremely promising.
On eating: first the richness and salt of the butter on the tongue, then the particular bite and savour of the mushrooms — all those different textures and umamis together. Very fine indeed!
Shinshu’s brand pork, “Taro pork”, enjoyed as bone-in spare ribs!
Known for fine-grained flesh and an elegant sweetness in the fat, here slow-grilled in a sweet-sour teriyaki glaze built on black vinegar.
The meat slips softly off the bone, tangled in the body and sweetness of the black vinegar and the toastiness of soy…
Delicious!
And thanks to the vinegar’s acidity, the fat never turns heavy — clean to the last bite.
Easy to eat, and very good!
We ate plenty! Completely full!
A gin called Fuyou YOHAKU proved so dangerously good that, at 2,000 yen a glass, I drank two! If I ever see a bottle for sale I may have to buy it. A place to eat Shinshu cooking stylishly in the dead centre of Ginza — thoroughly comfortable. And yoritsuki cuisine was a first for me: a taste of Edo-period brewery culture into the bargain.
With the night view it must be lovelier still — I shall come again for that.
Obuse Yoritsuki Cuisine Kurabu Ginza (regional cuisine / Higashi-Ginza Station, Ginza Station, Tsukiji-shijo Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
