Drank too much last night? Here’s where to eat. Today: an old-house izakaya near Ueno built around miso — and the wild game most visitors never get offered.
Quick Facts
| Nearest station | Ueno-hirokoji Station 3-min walk; Okachimachi 5-min; Ueno 10-min |
|---|---|
| Budget | ¥5,000–6,000 (about $35–42) with drinks |
| Cash or card | Cards accepted; no e-money or QR |
| Smoking | Non-smoking (smoking area outside) |
| Reservations | Accepted — worth doing |
| Hours | Weekdays 17:00–23:00, Saturday 15:00–22:00; closed Sundays and holidays |
| Seats | 55 |
A Miso Specialist in an Old Tokyo House
The name means roughly “miso seat”, and the shop is built on the stuff: miso sourced from brewers across Japan, made only with domestic ingredients. The room is a converted old house — dark wood, low light, the kind of interior visitors hope for and rarely find near Ueno. It is popular enough that walking in is a gamble; I arrived at 17:00 opening and got a seat on that basis alone.
Start With the Miso
Order the three-miso tasting (¥495) — name-miso, thick seasoned miso meant for eating rather than cooking, chosen by the kitchen from sea bream, plum, walnut, chilli, clam, garlic and yuzu. Then add the vegetable plate (¥275), because otherwise you are simply eating spoonfuls of miso, which is a short evening. The spicy green chilli miso was my pick; the sea bream version is good but sweet.
Then the Charcoal Grill
Grilled Shimonita spring onion (¥780) arrives with the charred outer layer removed, sweet and nearly molten. Cod milt grilled on kelp (¥980) is a serious drinking dish. The game platter (¥1,738) — wild boar, pheasant, Hokkaido venison — is the thing you will not be offered in most izakaya: all three are tough and strongly flavoured, which is precisely the point alongside shochu. Pheasant is firmer than expected; boar tastes, unsurprisingly, close to very good pork.
The dish to actually order, though, is the grilled heshiko herring (¥880). Heshiko is fish fermented in rice bran and usually arrives sliced paper-thin and aggressively salty. Here it is thick, juicy and restrained enough to eat as a fillet — crisp skin, rich fat. It was the best thing on the table.
Access & Practical Tips
- Three minutes from Ueno-hirokoji, ten from Ueno Station — easy after the museums or Ameyoko market.
- Closed Sundays and public holidays, which catches out weekend visitors.
- Evening only on weekdays (17:00). Book, or arrive at opening.
- Cards accepted; no QR pay.
Hangover Recovery Index
My completely unscientific Hangover Recovery Index: 3 out of 5. Miso, grilled vegetables and hot fish are restorative, and the dark quiet room asks nothing of you. But game meat and a 17:00 opening are a lot to ask of a fragile day — this is a place to start an evening rather than repair one.
Eat well, drink better, and see you at the next hangover.
