A note on the words: sukiyaki is a Japanese hot pot in which thin slices of beef and vegetables are simmered at the table in a sweet soy broth and then dipped in raw beaten egg before eating; shabu-shabu is the related dish in which the slices are swished through a plainer broth. Jo, tokujo and gokujo are the grade names Japanese restaurants use for successively better cuts, roughly upper, special and top. Fu is dried wheat gluten, spongy and light once it soaks up broth; shirataki are translucent noodles made from konjac; shungiku is the edible leaf of the garland chrysanthemum, faintly bitter. Sakizuke is the small dish that opens a Japanese meal, and karasumi is salted, dried mullet roe. Tatami is the thick woven straw matting that floors a traditional Japanese room.
Ningyocho Imahan Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. I went in the evening last time (in Japanese) and it was so good that this time I used it for a different get-together. Lunch, this time! Private rooms are apparently pretty hard to get, but I asked and one was free — lucky! And what is more, I hear they do not charge a private-room fee at lunch. The catch is that you have to take a course of 5,250 yen or more. On top of that, since it was the end of the year, they told me it had to be the Jo grade of sukiyaki or shabu-shabu or above — no problem at all, so I went with the Jo.
Set Lunch, Sukiyaki or Shabu-shabu, 120g — 5,390 yen
Set Lunch, Sukiyaki or Shabu-shabu, Jo grade, 120g — 7,260 yen
Set Lunch, Sukiyaki or Shabu-shabu, Tokujo grade, 120g — 9,020 yen
Set Lunch, Sukiyaki or Shabu-shabu, Gokujo grade, 120g — 13,860 yen
Since the private room required something above the plain grade, this time I chose the Jo grade sukiyaki!
Right then — beer first!
After that, they make the sukiyaki for you.
This place has tables set in tatami-floored private rooms, so it is very easy to sit at.
On top of that, they cook the whole thing beside you, so it is not dangerous even with children along, which is very nice.
Tables on tatami are hard to find (the tomato sukiyaki (in Japanese) I had the other day was on a tatami table too, ha), so this is a handy one to know.
This is the sakizuke, the opening small dish: greens dressed in broth, and something like a jellied karasumi.
And here is today’s beef!!!!
That is the Jo grade for you. It looks so good!
And here are the vegetables.
Leek, fu wheat gluten stamped with the Imahan brand mark, tofu, carrot, shirataki noodles, flower-shaped potato, shungiku greens, shiitake and more. Lavish!
They cook it right beside you!
It looks wonderful!!
Round one. One bite and the beef simply melts! The sweet broth goes beautifully with meat that falls apart like that.
I thought it might be quite fatty, but the egg wraps it up nicely and it comes out just right.
Second helping! The carrot and the leek are superb too!
It gets better and better as you go. The egg, I mean!
At the end they mixed the broth left in the pot with a fresh egg and made it into a sukiyaki egg rice bowl. Absolutely delicious.
The dessert is properly done and quite lavish too! A dessert built around strawberries — delicious!
So there you have it: this private room, a set meal of this quality, at seven thousand and something yen per person! Drinks are extra, of course, but I thought it was a remarkably easy place to use. Whenever there is an occasion, a celebration or a dinner to host from now on, this is the first place I want to consider! Tatami plus a table makes for a really good private room, so I recommend it.
Ningyocho Imahan Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho (Sukiyaki / Nagatacho Station, Akasaka-mitsuke Station, Kojimachi Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.8
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
