A note on the words: izakaya is a Japanese pub, where drinks come first and the food arrives in small plates. Otoshi is a small appetizer you are charged for, and it is not a scam, it is the cover charge. Neta is the topping on a piece of sushi, shari is the vinegared rice underneath it, and ordering something as tsumami or as sashimi means taking the neta on its own with no rice at all. Buri is amberjack, engawa is the muscle along the fin of a flatfish, and tsubugai is a whelk. Hanasaki crab is a spiny, hard-shelled crab, and sugata-zukuri means the creature is served whole in its own shell rather than picked out and plated. Tako-wasa is chopped raw octopus dressed with wasabi. Tempura is seafood and vegetables in a light batter, fried.
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Sushi Tofuro, Roppongi 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 had noticed there was building work going on. Then, passing by the other day, I found that the Tofuro in Roppongi had been upgraded — into “Sushi Tofuro.” I have no idea what changed; from the outside it is much the same. It looked interesting, so let us go and see! I booked that same day and went.
This time I had them add the all-you-can-drink and nothing else (2,000 yen, no less!), and went a la carte for the rest. There is sushi too, of course, but eat much sushi and you fill right up, so since it seems you can order things as snacks, or as sashimi — the no-shari pattern — I decided to make that the main line. (Which, honestly, is a superb system! I want ordinary sushi places to do it too.)
Now, it is an all-you-can-drink plan, and because it is the premium one, beer is included. Two thousand yen for that is superb!
When you say Tofuro, it is Akafuji and Shirofuji, is it not. The otoshi, too, felt somehow more seafood-leaning than usual.
They were running a campaign where three pieces, chosen from three designated kinds of sushi, are 90 yen each, and I ordered a single piece: buri amberjack.
As sushi from a sushi izakaya (Japanese pub), is this not simply well made?
Salmon, buri amberjack and sea bream, plus tuna, bonito, and the tako-wasa idea with shellfish in place of the octopus, all on one platter.
Well, these are the standard neta, so it does the job as a first move. Though, since you can order sashimi and snacks in such fine detail, once it had arrived I did think for a moment that there might have been no need for a platter at all ^^
They had hanasaki crab, so I could not help ordering it. This fellow is surprisingly burly and yet small, is it not. (There are big ones out there too, of course, but mostly they are small, ha.) There is not a great deal to eat, but around the shoulder meat and the claw meat the flavor is deep and there is something to chew on — delicious! The trouble with crab is that everyone goes quiet, concentrating on getting the shell off, but it had been properly scored, so it was easy to eat. At 2,500 yen I would call it good.
Next up, the Shirofuji ^^
A platter! When it is all sushi and sashimi, you start wanting a little tempura.
Tempura and sushi at the entrance is exactly the combination you would put up if you were aiming at inbound visitors, but it lands with Japanese people too.
Well, one thing and another and I had eaten a fair amount and was full. Even with the premium all-you-can-drink added on it is not that expensive. Having been in America until quite recently, it hit me the other way around: that you can eat at this quality this cheaply — Japan is amazing! If there is one thing to mention: there is a private room near the smoking room, and from the smoking room — through the ducting, I suppose — a faint smell of tobacco leaks in, to the point of, is this not now a smoking room itself, ha! So if cigarettes are not for you, I would not take that private room ^^
Sushi Tofuro, Roppongi (Izakaya / Roppongi Station, Roppongi-itchome Station, Nogizaka Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.3
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
