A note on the words: Japanese set menus are often graded matsu (pine), take (bamboo) and ume (plum), from most to least elaborate. Nanbanzuke is fried seafood marinated in sweetened vinegar with chili. Yukke is a Korean-style raw tartare, amaebi is the small sweet shrimp eaten raw, and ikura is salted salmon roe. Tsukune is a minced patty or meatball. Chawanmushi is a savory steamed egg custard, and takikomi gohan is rice cooked together with its ingredients in seasoned stock. Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit.
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Waeni on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, Hangover Meshi here. This time I was reeled in by the wonderfully sweet-sounding phrase “a restaurant specializing in shrimp, crab and fish roe” and came to “Waeni” in Nakameguro. There is an Italian place in Nakameguro called Clubhouse Eni — would it be right to call this the Japanese-food version of it? It is a place that makes creative Japanese dishes out of shrimp, crab and fish roe, and shellfish and crustaceans are my absolute favorite! There are not many restaurants that put crustaceans front and center. Really looking forward to it. It is a little walk from Nakameguro station, but close enough to be easy to get to.
Take Course — 6,600 yen
Matsu Course — 8,800 yen
Ume Course — 5,500 yen
The subtitle, I suppose you would call it, of the Take course is
“Enjoy Waeni’s famous lobster Ike-Ike (sashimi), plus
lobster and snow crab takikomi gohan. A lavish course of nothing but shrimp and crab — 8 dishes”
With a name that pushes the shrimp that hard at you, there is nothing to do but choose it!
Not soft-shell crab but soft-shell shrimp!
I had no idea such a thing was out there, ha. Is it shrimp caught just after molting? Honestly, with shrimp shells I would have thought that by the time it is done nanbanzuke-style the shell has gone soft anyway. Delicious.
And this yukke is seriously good!!
The amaebi, steeped a little in soy sauce, is sweet like nothing else. Melting, sticky-sweet amaebi with the aroma of crab flakes. Lovely.
And here is the restaurant’s specialty!
Lobster Ike-Ike.
What makes it remarkable: it is plated with the meat raw as sashimi and boiled lobster together, and this head then gets turned into miso soup at the end. Order one and you get to eat it three ways. The plump meat is delicious.
This, by the way, is miso-soy sauce. Dipped in this it tastes great!
I could not help ordering another shochu.
Japanese-style shrimp mayo.
It is not actually part of the course — when they asked whether I wanted anything else before the meal course closed things out, I added this on.
I wonder what the pink comes from. The shells? Beets, maybe, ha.
Back to the course, and the chawanmushi. The flavor of the shrimp stock in it is nice.
Another specialty! Actually, for visual impact this one is the bigger of the two, ha.
Half a tail per person. Lined up like that it looks properly dramatic. Rice cooked with lobster and snow crab in a special stock. The ikura on top is a nice touch too, isn’t it. One bite in, and the special stock coming through clearly is superb! With the lobster meat and the ikura joining it, it is seriously delicious. Takikomi gohan that works as a drinking snack.
The shrimp head from earlier makes its return. It comes out split in half.
And that was 6,600 yen (the shrimp chili was extra, mind). From a shrimp lover’s point of view I thought that was pretty good value — what do you think? Especially the lobster Ike-Ike, I would say. The combination of sashimi, boiled and miso soup, plus that bold takikomi gohan with more than enough visual impact. Those two alone were already very good. And the drinks keep going down. If it is not enough you can just order a la carte. I think it is a good place you can use without any fuss!
Waeni (Seafood / Nakameguro Station, Daikanyama Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
