A note on the words: yakitori is charcoal-grilled chicken on skewers, and oyakodon — literally “parent and child bowl” — is chicken and egg simmered together over rice.
Tori Dining & Bar Goto on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hangover Meshi here. This time I went to Tori Dining & Bar Goto, a yakitori place on Kotakibashi-dori by Shinjuku’s west exit. Apparently you can eat the ultimate oyakodon here, so expectations were high. It had been a while since I was last at the west exit, and it has changed completely — the pedestrian deck has been taken away, and there is construction all over inside the station. Shinjuku Station is easy enough to get lost in already, and it is now pure chaos. Anyway. Goto.
The sign out front is fairly large, so it should be easy to find.
The Ultimate Oyakodon Course 4,500 yen
Selected Charcoal-Grill Course 3,500 yen
The GoTo Special Course 5,500 yen
You can add all-you-can-drink for 1,500 yen.
Which makes the Ultimate Oyakodon Course at 6,000 yen including drinks rather good value.
So, a highball ordered, I waited for the first dish.
A good-looking set of starters. Chicken soup, bread with chicken on it, and so on. All of it properly good, which raised expectations for what was coming.
Chicken ajillo. The vegetables are broccoli and cherry tomato.
The garlic aroma is excellent. A squeeze of the lemon provided lightens it and makes it easy to eat. It goes well with the bread too. Very good.
And then the salad.
Extremely soft, with a light, airy texture — the shiro-reba, white liver. This is very good indeed.
Then negima. Big, springy thigh meat and spring onion. Properly charred, and the fragrance from that is hard to beat.
The yolk bursts nicely.
The whole fried bird. Cut into three, so one piece each. Juicy, and good.
I see. Whether it is ultimate is another question, but it was certainly a good oyakodon.
Apparently the place is quite popular at lunch, and if you can get this quality easily then yes, it would make a good everyday lunch.
So: 6,000 yen with all-you-can-drink, for good yakitori, the fried chicken and the oyakodon — that is decent value and a good evening. The room was pleasant enough too, so if I find myself around Shinjuku again I would happily use it.
Tori Dining & Bar Goto (yakitori / Seibu-Shinjuku Station, Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station, Okubo 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?
