Grilled Fish at Shinpachi Shokudo

Sushi, that's the jewel delivered from Japan to the rest of the world. 

Taking major developed or emerging countries as a example, it's difficult to find out a town without a sushi restaurant (regardless of its authenticity)

However, sushi is not the only beautiful way to eat fish in Japan. How about dried & grilled ones?

Try Shokudo 

Shokudo in Japanese stands for casual diner. In our culture, it has supported the entire working class for years. (& I hope it will from now on as well)

Shinpachi Shokudo, currently increasing its locations across Tokyo area, is a diner chain specialize in dried & grilled fish, accompanied with rice & miso soup.

These set menus called Teishoku, were more common for our breakfast & lunch than now, I mean, before our streets had been invaded by American chains.

What I like about this diner is its specialty in dried & grilled fish. Thanks to our hectic & too fast-paced lifestyle here in Japan, grilling fish at home is becoming a dish on the red list.

Time-consuming preparation, care to perfectly cook & most importantly, troublesome cleaning...these sad reasons are keeping grilled fish away from our table.

Then this type of keep-our-hands-clean diner comes in. Of course, we pay more than doing it at home, but still better than completely lose it from our daily scene.

Himono

This is the main from what I ordered on the day, Grilled Horse Mackerel Set (￥750) If you ask a smaller bowl of rice, you'd probably get a discount. 

As fish is once dried right after caught (this called Himono), it holds all the good parts of its nutrition inside. In addition, it can be felt much fluffier when cooked by charcoal.

The white one on the left is grated radish, often described as the best company with grilled fish. Some drops of soy sauce makes it even more effective!

Flaky & Fluffy 

The meat itself is cooked to perfection, where you can fully enjoy its flakiness & fluffiness.

The only problem you might encounter is how well you can use chopsticks to separate eatable parts from bones.

But don't worry, none of us Japanese judges or look down on you even if you use your hands. Just enjoy your own way.

Taste-wise, simply great. I know some of you guys are not good at fish smell, but trust me, the smell of grilled fish is way more pleasant than Natto!

Thanks for reading.

Shinpachi Shokudo

No official website

Shinjuku 

Just outside the Seibu Shinjuku Sta.

Daimon 

Toei Subway Asakusa / Oedo Line

A3 Exit 

Produced & Posted 

by 3e-Tokyo Project