A note on the words: oden is a winter stew of daikon, egg, tofu, konnyaku and fish cakes simmered slowly in broth, sold everywhere in Japan once the weather turns; konnyaku is a firm, jelly-like cake made from a starchy tuber. Menma is fermented bamboo shoot, the strips you usually meet on top of a bowl of ramen, and ikemen normally means a good-looking man — the pun is explained in the text. Kamaboko is steamed fish paste formed into a loaf, and surimi fish cakes are its fried relatives, the satsuma-age advertised on the sign. Taisho is the Japanese era that ran from 1912 to 1926, so its tenth year is 1921. Juban in Azabu-juban means number ten, and an izakaya is a Japanese pub.
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Fukushimaya on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Well then, it has been getting colder and colder. The season for wanting something warm!
So for lunch this time I picked “Fukushimaya,” an oden restaurant in Azabu-juban! The building looks pretty old, and indeed the place opened in Higashi-Azabu in the tenth year of Taisho and moved to Azabu-juban after the war. That is old among the old! I could not wait.
The founder was originally from Fukushima Prefecture, trained in Shizuoka, and then came here, it seems. I wonder whether that is where the name comes from.
Miso Oden Assortment — 1,380 yen
Miso Oden Set Meal — 1,580 yen
Ten-Piece Oden Plate — 1,480 yen
Azabu Ten-Dish Set Meal — 1,690 yen
Old-Style Oden Set Meal — 1,490 yen
THE Fukushimaya Set Meal — 1,690 yen
Starting with the oden assortments, there is quite a range of set meals here!
Black miso oden would be the Shizuoka style, I suppose! Hard to choose. The THE Fukushimaya Set Meal, which pairs ordinary oden with miso oden, looks good, and so does the Azabu Ten-Dish Set Meal, packed with an assortment of Fukushimaya’s drinking snacks! In the end, though, I decided on the miso oden assortment. Skip the rice, and if I still have room, have some ordinary oden as well — that was the plan.
Thinking that miso oden alone might feel a little bare, I ordered the Ikemen.
Ikemen will mean nothing to you as a name, but it is short for “chou iketeru menma” — super cool menma, ha.
Seasoned on the sweet side and delicious. Menma really is good.
In the evening the place apparently works as an ordinary izakaya, and it is a pleasure that the whole snack menu is available from lunchtime!
And here is the miso oden assortment!
Well now, it has more heft in person than it does in the photo! There is a real chance I will not need the ordinary oden, ha.
One bite in: delicious.
This soft daikon, soaked through with broth — is that not the best thing there is? A flavor you cannot produce at home. Steeped in a slightly sweet broth full of the depth of miso, it has taken the seasoning right to the center, and it is wonderful. The konnyaku and the tofu have soaked it up thoroughly too, and biting into them releases a rush of that lovely broth! The beef tendon has been simmered until it melts in your mouth!!!
This is what a long-established oden restaurant is like. The oden is seriously good.
I had meant to have some ordinary oden as well if I could manage it, but sadly I was full, so that was Fin.
If the rice from a set meal had been in there too, I would surely have been stuffed. ^^
I ate Fukushimaya’s oden this time and it was seriously delicious. They do takeout here as an ordinary matter, so buying some to carry home on the way back struck me as a very good option. Perhaps I will drop in one evening. This time I only ate what was in the assortment, but I want to check what else they have and try all sorts! Come to think of it, I do not think there was any in the assortment — but this restaurant’s roots are in kamaboko, so next time I am having the surimi fish cakes.
Fukushimaya (Oden / Azabu-juban Station, Akabanebashi Station, Roppongi Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
