A note on the words: an izakaya is a Japanese drinking house where you order small dishes to go with the alcohol rather than one main course. Name-miso is thick, seasoned miso eaten as it is, with vegetables. Jibie is game — here wild boar, pheasant and Ezo deer. An otoshi is the small dish that arrives unordered and appears on the bill as a cover charge.
Table of Contents hide
Misoza Tamayura on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hangover Meshi here. This time, Misoza Tamayura, near Matsuzakaya at Ueno-hirokoji. Apparently the miso is very good, and there is a fine old-house izakaya atmosphere with cooking built around good ingredients to go with it. It is a popular place and I thought I would not get in without booking, but I reckoned that turning up right on opening might do the trick — so in at 17:00.
A wonderful atmosphere. Very much an old house inside as well.
I decided to work through the menu a la carte, picking whatever looked good.
First, barley shochu with soda.
There was a shochu from Hachijojima, so I asked for that.
The otoshi was simmered shellfish.
And to go with the drink…
It being a miso shop, name-miso first — thick, seasoned miso to eat as it is.
They come from a list of sea bream, plum, walnut, chilli, clam, garlic and yuzu, with the shop choosing which.
And since on its own that is just licking miso (which, arguably, is the product), they suggest having vegetables with it — so I asked for the vegetable plate, 300 yen per person.
What came was sea bream miso, a mildly hot green-chilli miso, and walnut miso, I think.
Personally I liked the mildly hot green-chilli one best. The sea bream miso is good too, but it is fairly sweet.
Very good.
The clean fragrance of shungiku — chrysanthemum greens — and the dashi spreading gently behind it. I hardly noticed any bitterness at all.
Shirako grilled on kombu.
Cod milt laid on kelp and grilled. The plump shirako, having drunk up the savour of the kombu, is very good.
Perfect with a drink.
Charcoal-grilled spring onion. They have presumably taken off the blackened outer layer.
Eating it, the sweetness of the onion is enormously pronounced, and it is very good. The melting texture is excellent too.
And the charcoal-grilled game.
Wild boar, pheasant and Ezo deer.
All of it is tough, as you would expect from game. And there is that distinctive smell — though for something to drink alongside, this much assertiveness gives you something to get your teeth into. I had not realised pheasant was so firm, and boar is essentially pork. (Well, of course it is.)
I had expected heshiko to be sliced much thinner and to be extremely salty.
This heshiko is thick-cut and juicy. The salt is restrained, and it eats like an ordinary grilled fish.
Honestly it may be my favourite thing of the evening. It is very good indeed, and one you should definitely order.
Crisply grilled skin, juicy fat, and a savoury depth that is hard to beat.
Misoza Tamayura (Ueno) — menu
Miso dishes
The origin of the name Misoza. The shop uses only miso made from domestic ingredients, chosen from brewers across the country.
Three kinds chosen by the shop from sea bream, plum, walnut, chilli, clam, garlic and yuzu.
Miso alone is more than you can manage, so have this with it.
Charcoal grill and game
Rustic charcoal-grilled plates — Hokkaido Ezo deer, wild boar and the like — are the signature.
100g is 968 yen.
Small 968 yen / wings 715 yen.
What I ordered in January 2025 (changes with the season)
The following is from the menu at my visit. It changes with the seasons, so some items are no longer there.
Price at my visit. On the current menu, “three name-miso” is 495 yen.
A clean fragrance, with dashi spreading gently behind it.
Plump shirako that has drunk up the savour of the kombu.
The sweetness comes forward, with a melting texture.
Three kinds: wild boar, pheasant and Ezo deer.
Thick-cut and juicy, with restrained salt. The best thing of the evening.
About the shop
Mon–Fri (last orders: food 22:00, drinks 22:30). Saturdays 15:00–22:00 (last orders for food 21:00).
Also closed over Golden Week and for the summer break.
03-5817-0055. A popular place, so booking is safer. Right on opening you may get in without.
Tatami room, low chairs and counter. Private hire for 14–40.
The shop’s own listing and the aggregate of reviews on Tabelog fall in the same band.
E-money and QR-code payment are not accepted.
* Prices are from the official published menu (tax included) and from the menu at my visit in January 2025. The contents change with the seasons. Please check the latest on the official site or at the shop.
So: a fine-feeling izakaya built around the taste of the ingredients themselves. Ideal for a quiet drink. Shochu and sake alongside vegetables, game and even sashimi. Though everything here is essentially something to drink with, so it is a shop I would very much like drinkers to visit. If you are looking for somewhere calm in Ueno, this one is recommended.
Misoza Tamayura (izakaya / Ueno-hirokoji Station, Ueno-okachimachi Station, Yushima Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
