A note on the words: otoshi is the small appetizer that lands in front of you before you order anything, and it is the cover charge rather than a scam. Mozuku is a fine, slippery seaweed, usually served in sanbaizu, a dressing of vinegar, soy sauce and mirin. Baigai are small sea whelks. Satsuma-age is fish paste, seasoned and deep-fried. Karaage is the Japanese way of frying in a light starch coating. Shiokara is seafood cured in its own salted innards, chinmi means the salty, funny little things people drink over, and namero is fish chopped on the board with miso and aromatics until it turns sticky.
Sakana BAR Ippo, Azabu-juban on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi.
So the plan became: let us drink in Azabu-juban. We drifted around looking for somewhere, and in the same building as the American diner I had been to before, there was a place giving off a distinctly fishy air, in the good sense. I had never set foot in it. One visit, then. In we went.
Inside, a counter and a few scattered tables. Huh, so this was here all along. They put me at the counter, and I worked down the menu picking off whatever looked good.
First, a beer.
Sooo good.
The otoshi was seasonal corn and goya simmered in dashi, I think. A restrained choice, and a good one.
The mozuku here is the thin kind. The vinegar hits the back of the nose first, then the sweetness of the sanbaizu seeps in behind it. It slips down, and the grated ginger comes in sharp from the rear. I know sake is the proper match here, and yet I reached for shochu.
Twist the shell and pull the meat out, and the sweet-salty simmering liquid reaches you first. Bite, and after the springy resistance the faint bitterness of the liver spreads from somewhere deep. Why are shellfish this good? One dish like this changes the whole tenor of a drinking night.
Bonito with ginger, everything else with wasabi.
Squid, yellowtail and its relatives, bonito and so on. The contents change by the day, five kinds picked as that morning’s best from the market. Every one of them bright and clean.
For satsuma-age fans, a perfectly round puffed sphere. Break it with chopsticks and steam lifts out of it. It earns the “fluffy” in its name, far lighter than any fish paste has a right to be.
I read the name and wondered what on earth the dish was. I ordered it, and it is exactly what it says.
Nothing but suckers, gathered up and quickly seared. The char reaches the nose first, and in the mouth each sucker gives with a small pop. Anyone who likes suckers is going to be very happy here.
Last, the mixed fish karaage. Once it is fried you have no idea which fish is which, but the batter is thin and barely colored. The first bite is light and crisp, then the white flesh crumbles apart. The pieces with the skin on are fragrant, the flesh-only pieces mild. You may not know what fish it is, but good is good.
An izakaya in Azabu-juban I walked into by chance. It seems to run late, with last call somewhere around 3 a.m. It is a shop with a lot of fish dishes, and there really are not many places where you can eat fish, sashimi above all, in the middle of the night. One to remember.
May today bring you something good to eat!
Sakana BAR Ippo, Azabu-juban menu
Sashimi
The contents change with what comes in that day. Single kinds can be ordered one at a time.
Yellowtail, horse mackerel, squid, raw octopus, amberjack, scallop, flounder, rockfish and so on. The line-up changes daily.
Grilled and simmered
Dishes for drinking
Somewhere to land when you just want one drink first.
Fried and steamed
Vegetables
Others
Once the order goes in, the sound of the knife on the board carries over the counter.
Rice and soup to finish
The landing point of a shop that stays open until 3 a.m.
It takes time because it is cooked in a clay pot, so order it early if you want it.
Otoshi 500 yen. To drink there are about 60 sakes, plus beer, shochu, sours, fruit liqueurs and wine.
※ From the in-store menu at the time of the August 2026 visit. Prices include tax and the line-up changes with the season. Check the official site or the shop itself for the current version.
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
