A note on the words: oden is an assortment of things simmered slowly in a light dashi broth, eaten in winter; daikon is the large white radish that goes into it, fu is a spongy wheat gluten cake, and momen tofu is the firm, cotton-strained kind. Otoshi is the small dish an izakaya brings with your first drink whether you ordered it or not. Ohitashi is vegetables blanched and steeped in broth, and maitake is hen-of-the-woods mushroom. Sashimi is raw fish: madai is red sea bream, sawara Spanish mackerel, hirame flounder, buri yellowtail, katsuo bonito, and shirako is cod milt. Wakame is a seaweed, yuzu a fragrant citrus, and yagen nankotsu is the arrow-shaped cartilage from a chicken’s breastbone. Juyondai is a famous sake. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Koenji Otsuyu on AutoReserve (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today too. This is Hangover Meshi. This time, Koenji again. I know someone who knows Koenji well and who keeps teaching me things, and this time it is the oden shop Koenji Otsuyu. It has turned cold, and a drink over oden is about as good as it gets. I had been warned the entrance might be hard to find, and yes, with only this sign it may well be. Inside there is a big counter and a scattering of tables towards the back. A good atmosphere.
The menu covers a lot of ground. There is a great deal on it, but the staff explain things and will suggest roughly how much a party of your size should order, so it looks as though we can eat a range of things without dithering. So: a la carte, and off we go.
Now, however cold it is, the first thing has to be beer. Very good.
Is this the otoshi? A mouthful of broth to begin with.
And one more thing: a small dish of your choosing.
A shop with a good otoshi never disappoints.
A clean-tasting ohitashi, and the crispness of the lotus root is irresistible.
I may never have seen this before. Fried wakame, which is unusual. Crisp, and you can eat it like a snack. It goes extremely well with beer. This looks like something you could make at home. A very good idea, I thought.
They talked us through today’s fish: a six-piece plate from 990 yen a head. I had been told the sashimi here is good, so I asked them to put every fish on the list onto the plate. Scallop and madai, sawara and hirame, bluefin tuna and buri, katsuo and shirako.
The arrangement is beautiful too, which lifts the mood.
As for how it tastes, it is exactly as recommended. Every fish has a firm edge to it, springy and fresh; the scallop is sweet and the tuna is superb. I see — so this is a shop where the sashimi is good as well as the oden.
Around this point, sake. Hyper Nova. Quite a name.
And speaking of sake, you cannot leave out Juyondai.
From here on, oden. First the fu.
The fu has drunk up plenty of broth, and they cut one piece into three, which is really just the right amount. Soft and good.
This tofu is apparently from a shop called Jingu Tofu in Shin-Nakano. A firm tofu, and eating it, piping hot and soft.
Beef tendon. The melting texture and the savor and sweetness of the beef go with sake.
Yagen cartilage, a great favorite of mine. Fried crisp, with the texture of the cartilage standing out properly. That crunch is a pleasure. At other places you sometimes get a soggy version, but the fried cartilage here is superb.
A stylish dish. The sweetness of the persimmon goes with the mozzarella.
The salt and savor of the salami mixed through it, and a sauce fresh with yuzu, work well too. Every small dish at this shop is good.
This is apparently another must-order.
The boiled tongue falls apart and melts away. It has drunk up the broth thoroughly and it is very good. With wasabi it is superb. The boiled tongue in Yotsuya is good too, but this one is good as well. Yes, you really should order it.
They went and deep-fried the oden daikon.
This is a dish you do not often see elsewhere. Remarkable. Eating it, the sauce over it turns out to be based on gorgonzola. Curious. The outside is crisp. Bite in and the oden daikon inside floods out with the broth it has soaked up. And the coating and the gorgonzola go together beautifully. This one is good. You absolutely should order it. It takes a while, so I would order it first.
So, once again I was taken to a good shop in Koenji, and Koenji really does have a remarkable amount of good food. I want to go back to this oden shop at least once more. The atmosphere is good, every small dish is good, and it is the sort of place you want to bring anyone who likes oden. There must be plenty of other good shops as well — I want to keep opening up Koenji.
Koenji Otsuyu (Izakaya / Koenji Station, Shin-Koenji Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.8
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
