Explaining every single lunch one by one is a hassle, so here’s the oyaji lunch roundup in one go..

Teishoku at Yaki Hamaguriru

The lunch really is very satisfying. So I went in the evening too.. but the evening visit is a story for the next post.

Sashimi at Waraku

This place competes on volume.. the sashimi that comes out is of a frankly ridiculous size.

Kaki furai at Waraku

They’re truly enormous and the oysters themselves are good, but the frying is a little disappointing.

Sara udon at Nagasaki Kaido

I wanted to try something other than the champon, so I ordered the sara udon, and the crispy crunch is superb. A menu item I can truly recommend.

Kincho Sauce

Back in Nagasaki they apparently eat it with this sauce on top, and it definitely seems to make it taste even better.

Seafood curry at Taj Mahal

It’s quite a popular place so I gave it a try, but it just wasn’t for me. Japan has plenty of spice fanatics too. Since you can’t get spicy food at ordinary restaurants, the one specialist shop each neighbourhood has tends to draw long lines. In Hamamatsucho, you could say Mihosai plays that role. And it turns out this place is also famous for its heat, so it’s seriously spicy. I’ve gotten weak with spicy food these days, so I couldn’t really taste much of anything.

Yakitori-don at Torimatsu, Hamamatsucho

A very generous portion, and I remember the price being in the 700-yen range. Unbeatable value for money, you might say. The taste is decent enough too.

Sukiya’s Kuroge Wagyu Bento

Rather un-Sukiya-like, it was about 1,000 yen.

Inside

But it’s tasty. Wagyu never disappoints.. It’s a limited edition, so I probably won’t get to taste it again until next winter.

Mala-men and half chahan set at Ryushoken

The signature menu at Ryushoken, a popular Chinese restaurant in Shibakoen. It has that wok-fire flavour, but being a carb-on-carb combo, well..

Yakitori Okada in Hamamatsucho

A place famous for its lunch.

Maguro-don

It’s 1,200 yen, and the tuna comes stacked three layers deep.. Great value for money.

Grilled mackerel I had the next day

Good value too, and the kind of place I’d want to visit often.

Tokyo Ramen Tower

The kind of Tokyo shoyu ramen I get a craving for now and then.

Kaisen-don at Kitakata Shokudo, Shinbashi

The seafood is remarkably fresh. This place is also unusual in that it opens at 7 in the morning and runs until 4.

Ramen

I asked what their connection to the Kitakata Shokudo in Inaricho was, and they said they trained there but aren’t otherwise related. Maybe that’s why the flavour is very heavy and not my style. I think the original Kitakata style in Inaricho is better, but to do business in Shinbashi that style probably wouldn’t sell.

Beef curry at The KARI

This place is also of the seriously spicy persuasion.. there seem to be quite a few shops like this around Shinbashi..

Kua ‘Aina..

The portion is so huge that eating it at lunch kept me full until dinner. Then again, maybe I just can’t eat as much as I used to.

Grapefruit tea and salad bread at Paik’s Coffee

Surprisingly, the grapefruit tea was the real deal. The salad bread is good value too.. Only the signature coffee is really cheap; everything else is priced like an ordinary cafe. It’s like watching a textbook example of how a franchise works.

Gyuniku-don at Toho Sancho

My default lunch spot.

Kaki furai at Yoshoku Swiss

Fried up nice and rough.

Akamaru at Ippudo

Ippudo’s ramen really is good. You could call it a textbook case of a chain that made it big.

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