When I go somewhere with friends I tend to pick places where the odds of striking out are low, and on that score Makochan is a reassuring one.

The place

It’s the main branch, but a seat opened up right away. The crowd was good that night too, and I thought, yeah, a busy place really is different.

A sister shop of Abe-chan in Azabu-juban

Well, how about that… Abe-chan is a famous place in its own right, and it turns out there was a connection like this.

A round of All-Free

My friend and I had All-Free instead of alcohol. At the time they were deep into STEPN, walking every day to earn money (200,000 won a day, was it? Something like that, I think). Rain or snow, they had to walk no matter what, so drinking was out of the question… they got fitter, made money and lost weight, all good things, but in the end I don’t think they ever made back what they put in…

Oolong tea

Inside

Plenty of celebrities have been through here… is what it’s saying, I suppose. Look at the bottom and you can see the autograph of Masayuki Kusumi of Kodoku no Gurume.

Karaage

This one was just plain good.

Yakiton

Yakiton

Yakiton

Yakiton

The taste goes without saying. It’s cheap too, so it’s a friend of the ordinary working person. The rowdy atmosphere isn’t for everyone and it’s hard to hold a conversation… there are problems like that, but if that’s the mood you’re after, there aren’t many places this good.

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