Kyobashi Foods recommended by an employee of Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions

Hideyuki Kimura is the director of the Chuo-ku Environmental Information Center, which Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions have been entrusted with the management, as an employee of Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions. He has been working at Kyobashi for two years now.

”I often come to Kyobashi Miyakodori. Their karaage chicken is pretty impressive. Also, Kyobashi Isehiro is one of the famous restaurants that I had been wishing to visit when I took the new post. One of my aquaintances told me there was a good restaurant nearby when I posted the Kyobashi Isehiro’s Yakitori-don on a social network lining up for lunch. Eiichi is great in quantity and cost performance.”

Kyobashi Isehiro was established in 1921, Eiichi in 1948, and Kyobashi Miyakodori in 1951. These three long-established Yakitori restaurants are lining up on Kyobashi 1-chome Street. “I used to be a high-school teacher and instructor of its rugby club,” said Kimura, with a strong body build. He seems to often have a deliscious filling lunch with full volume.

Kyobashi area has many restaurants ― some popular ones require you to line up, and some are hard to book.
“Kyobashi Matsuwa always has a line up to the post office in back of the restaurant from when it opens. Restaurant Sakaki also always has a line during lunch time.”

The Chuo-ku Environmental Information Center was established in 2013 for the purpose of being the focal point to deliver environment-related information and to be part of the city’s environmental NPO activities. It is equipped with training rooms, which the local neighborhood association and surrounding companies often use for meetings. The center also holds workshops for CSR engaged employees from surrounding companies with many events that include clean-up campaigns like the Parent and Child Halloween, where company employees and their children can participate.
Kimura says, “I have many acquaintances in the city, and some tease me when I line up for lunch sometimes,” with a blushing smile, which show how much he is loved by the local community.

He sometimes goes for lunch with his fellows from different industries. Tempura Fukamachi is one of such restaurants. “I had Kakiage-don (rice with mixed vegetable and seafood tempura), and it was tasty. Since it is crowded with many customers ordering the course menu at lunch, I am a bit hesitant to order the tendon a la carte menu. (lol)”

Matsuwaka, which is never be exposed to the media, on a small alley at Kyobashi 3-chome along the Metropolitan Expressway is also one of the restaurants that Kimura regularly goes.
”It is a pork cutlet restaurant but you can make your own lunch combining your favorite cutlets from hamburger, croquette, chicken, or pork cutlets. Most of the times, I order chicken and hamburger cutlets.”
At Toriyasu, directly run by a chicken wholesaler, deep fried items are what he comes for. “Their Kasane-ju, a lunch limited menu item is cheap and filling, is one that I recommend. Since it is a limited menu item, I always order it when I get there early.”

He said, “Chuo Ward Joto Primary School is close to the center, and I want to go camping to many places with the local students,” when he was asked about his future vision. A word about the environment is not abstract, and all the plans by Kimura with the center in the core are diverse and sound very exciting.

Kyobashi Miyakodori serves yakitori for garden parties hosted by the Imperial Household Agency

Kyobashi Miyakodori was established in 1951. The former owner had experience in being responsible for the dishes at the Inauguration Ceremony of the New Imperial Palace in 1968. One of the popular lunch items is karaage rice, which is limited to 30 servings per day. It is a deep-fried dish but not too heavy whose secret is in the oil blended with sesame oil and how they cut the chicken. Garlic is not used in their lunch menu out of consideration.

Eiichi serves Shamo-type chicken yakitori at reasonable prices

Since Shamo chicken is too stiff to eat as it is, Eiichi uses Shamo-type chicken, which is a quarter interbreed with Shamo and has the best taste when it is grilled. The ten-stick yakitori set (JPY 4,500) is a popular item for dinner. They serve two types of dombri, yakitori -dombri (rice with yakitori chicken)(JPY 1,150) and oyako-dombri (rice with chicken and eggs)(JPY 900) at the lunch time. “Their oyakodon is also tasty,” said Kimura.

Well-recognized yakitori restaurant also loved by Yasujiro Ozu

Kyobashi Isehiro opened as a chicken shop when Kyobashi was still a town for craftsmen called Okecho, Kyobashi-ku, Tokyo.  It grills high quality selected ingredients from fresh chicken cut from whole chickens, and Senjunegi green onions to Shiitake mushrooms with Bincho charcoal from Ubame oak every morning. Yakitori full course (12 items, JPY 6,480) and yakitoridon are popular menu items for dinner and lunch, respectively.

A Western and French food restaurant where the fourth owner shows his ability in cooking

Restaurant Sakaki started as a sweets shop in Kyobashi. It turned into a Western food restaurant, and the fourth owner, who trained at Kitajima-tei in Yotsuya, a well-known French restaurant, now serves French dishes at dinner time. Their Western food made by the French chef is mouth-watering. People line up before the opening, and their popular ginger pork is sold out before 12 p.m.

Lunch, limited to 70 sets of the horse mackerel cutlet combo, is sure to sell out

A popular menu item of the Japanese food restaurant that serves fish directly delivered from Miura Peninsula at the Matsuwa Port is the Kyobashi Matsuwa Horse Mackerel Cutlet Combo. The soft puffy horse mackerel cutlet is made by deep frying horse mackerel filets at a high temperature after removing excess water. The smell specific to blueback fish is removed by letting it sit for 10 hours after cleaning. At dinner time, it is served on the dinner course menu.

Delicious udon-suki with dashi from freshly shaved dried soda bonito

A long-established traditional Japanese restaurant in Osaka, Mimiuro turned into the noodle restaurant Mimiu in 1925. People thought it was a theater when the Mimiu building was built in Kyobashi in 1973 where Shimotaya, houses that stopped businesses, lined the street. The finest udon-suki was made combining ] dashi with the deep flavor of dried soda bonito and umami from the fine ingredients.

Address: 3-6-4 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: +81 (0)3-3567-6571
Business hours: 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (LO) (Sundays and public holidays: 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. [LO])
Regular holidays: None

Long-established French restaurant owned by a celebrity chef

As everyone knows, Chez Inno is a fine restaurant of the owner-chef Noboru Inoue. Salade de Fruits de Mer (seafood salad) served as an appetizer in the lunch course (JPY 5,840) is a classic flavor from lightly cooked langoustine and white fish with Ravigote sauce. The classical, sincere flavor is the one that only the long-loved fine restaurant can provide.

Address: Level 1 Meiji Kyobashi Building, 2-4-16 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: +81 (0)3-3274-2020
Business hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (LO) and 6 to 9 p.m. (LO)
Regular holidays: Sunday

A fine restaurant inheriting the tradition of the Hilltop Hotel

The city where Masao Fukamachi, who retired from the Hilltop Hotel after 30 years of service, chose to have his own restaurant was Kyobashi, where he often visited for the allure of antiques. Edomae tempura made by the artisan technique draws a lot of fans. The taste of fresh sea urchin takes over the same taste from the time of the Hilltop Hotel. He lightly deep-fries rare Hokkaido sea urchins wrapped with perilla. This is outstanding.

Yakitori shop of a chicken wholesaler with over 80 years of history in Kayaba-cho

Toriyasu is directly run by the long-established chicken wholesaler Marute Toriyasu Shoten in Nihonbashi Kayaba-cho, which distributes chickens to many well-known shops in Tokyo. Toriyasu deals with the Toriyasu brand broiler selected by professionals; therefore, the prices of the yakitori and chicken dishes are reasonable. Kijiyaki-ju (JPY 800), which sells more than 100 servings every day, and Kasane-ju (JPY 800), which is limited to 30 servings per day and sold out before 12 p.m., are popular lunch menu items.

Address: Level 1 Hitachi No.6 Building, 2-6-14 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: +81 (0)3-3561-2340
Business hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 10:30 p.m.
Regular holidays:  Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays

The authentic carbonara from southern Italy is a popular menu item

“Carbonara that uses eggs and bacons originated in the US before arriving in Japan. The authentic one does not use eggs but uses pancetta instead of using bacon,” said Naoki Hashimoto the owner-chef of Ristorante Fiorenza. He uses plenty of goat’s cheese, which is expensive in Japan, as in the authentic way.

Text: Katsura Oda, Photograph: Akinori Monma
Reprinted from Tokyo-jin July 2016 extra edition