Nihonbashi Foods recommended by an employee of Takashimaya

A day of Masahiro Yahata, the manager of the administrative affairs team of General Affairs Division, Takashimaya, starts by responding to emails and queries from divisions and sales managers of the Takayashimaya department stores. Once it is done, he has lunch at the employee cafeteria, and then patrols the store as part of his afternoon duties. He never neglects checks to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of customers. Then, his day finally ends after meetings.

Where he goes after work is always his home, Nihonbashi. The restaurant he went the day was Ikemasu, a well-known restaurant that offers seasonal Japanese food and selected Japanese sake at reasonable prices.
“If I go alone, I choose a place where I can release stress and make myself comfortable and whose pricing is reasonable. In that sense, Nihonbashi is the right place, where such restaurants are often found. ”

Let us start with the Japanese sake menu.
”From my experience working in the sake department, I can see the taste of the shop from their sake assortment. Ikemasu has Kamoshibito Kuheiji Junmai-daiginjo and KID Junmai-ginjo, and I see they select sake with a strong passion.”

Yahata visited Kikuhime-shuzo, one of the authenticity-oriented sake breweries in Ishikawa Prefecture in the busiest season in December in the third year of his assignment to the sake department.  He negotiated with the brewery saying, “I want to sell rare Japanese sake in Takashimaya not sold at any other department stores.” Since then, he has built full-fledged knowledge of Japanese sake, and now he is particular about how to drink sake.
“I bring my own Lobmeyr glass and enjoy drinking sake with the authentic glass even outside and tasting the umami and gorgeousness of rice.”
He said so while rolling sake around in his mouth like wine. He said that sake brings out the aroma when it is stirred together with oxygen. Lobmeyr glasses are also sold in the Living Goods Section at Takashimaya.

The Takashimaya Nihombashi store is currently working toward the redevelopment plan for Nihonbashi 2-chome area, which is to be completed in 2019. Yahata is also fired up saying, “I want to liven up the entire city by inheriting the tradition and culture of Nihonbashi with people in the city from the standpoint of the member of the General Affairs Division of Takashimaya.”

The Takashimaya Nihombashi store started in 1831 when the founder Shinshichi Iida opened Takashimaya to deal in second hand clothes and cotton in Kyoto.

In 1933, the two-story underground and eight-story building store was completed in Tokyo Nihonbashi. The entire building was fully equipped with air conditioning and the catchphrase of “one of the hottest places in Tokyo is the spot where you just exit from Takashimaya” drew public attention.

It was designated the first national important cultural property as a department store building in 2009.

Address: 2-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku   Tel: +81 (0)3-3211-4111

Business hours: 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Restaurant section (B2, 8F) and special cafeteria 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Irregular holidays

Ikemasu attracts people with their selected sake assortment

Established in 1948, Ikemasu is a cut above other izakaya (restaurants), which draws attention with their seasonal ingredients purchased from Tsukiji every morning. It is equipped with seats at the bar and tables on the first underground floor, and horigotatsu-style private rooms (rooms with low table over a hole in the floor for feet) and party rooms on the second underground floor.
Ikemasu is popular for versatile use from a private meeting or a large meeting to a party.  It serves a unique variety of alcoholic drinks, including selected Japanese sake, and kohakunotoki and real German Löwenbräu beer.

Well-known rice omelet from a long-established Western food restaurant

Taimeiken is a long-established Western food restaurant established in 1931. One of the classic menu items is the rice omelet invented for Tampopo directed by Juzo Itami, which has become the “Tampopo Rice Omelet -Juzo Itami style-” a Taimeiken menu item later on. A big omelet is on the tomato sauce rice with chicken, which is delicious by itself. When a knife goes in, semi-cooked omelet eggs come out slowly.

Address: 2F, 1-12-10 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
TEL: +81 (0)3-3271-2464
Business hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (LO) and 5 to 8 p.m. (LO)
Regular holidays: Sundays and public holidays

Restaurant Toyo has been on Chuo-dori Street for 60 years.

Restaurant Toyo has had their sign out for as long as 60 years on Chuo-dori Street located right by the Nihonbashi intersection. Many people of a certain generation must feel some nostalgia for the food samples in the showcase.
The first floor is a café renovated with the theme of an Italian cafe in mind. Western foods are served on the second floor, and the modern interior that is unchanged from the 60s draws many fans. The Big Plate Dry Curry, lunch limited to 30 sets, is one of the popular menu items.

Address: 1-2-10 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
TEL: +81 (0)3-3271-0003
Business hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (LO) (to 4 p.m. (LO) on Saturdays and public holidays)
Regular holidays: Sundays and the third Saturday

Tomeshi, an oden shop special meal, is highly recommended

Nihonbashi Otako is a long-established Kanto-style oden shop established in 1924. Kanto oden, the so-called Kanto-ni, is characterized by its dark black soup. The signature dish is not only their oden but also tomeshi. It was a dish born from the word of a regular customer “Could you put a large tofu on the chameshi?” Many fans are attracted to the best chemistry of the momen-tofu simmered with sweet dashi soup. Tomeshi is served as an a la carte menu item for dinner and a tomeshi combo for lunch.

Oden with special dashi soup at a reasonable price

The Oden Ippei Nihonbashi shop is at the corner of Nihonbashi 3-chome intersection. There is a popular oden and Japanese food restaurant crowded with business people around the area in the underground of a building connected to the Yaesu underground shopping arcade. Ippei, a traditional fine Japanese restaurant in Kagurazaka, was established in 1929 as the predecessor to the oden shop. Since it provides seasonal dishes and delicious oden with solid dashi soup at reasonable prices, many business people come from Marunouchi by crossing the Tokyo Station zone.

Address: B1 Starts Yaesu-chuo Building, 3-4-10 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
TEL: +81 (0)3-3275-2486
Business hours: 11:30 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. (LO) and 5 to 9:40 p.m. (LO) (4 to 8:30 p.m. [LO] on Saturdays)
Regular holidays: Sundays and public holidays

Chicken-nikomisoba, a popular menu item since its opening, is outstanding.

Yaesu Daihanten started as a small Chinese restaurant and turned into a jazz café from the second owner’s time, who loved jazz music. It has been a Chinese restaurant equipped with a large room since 1967. Their signature menu item is the special chicken-nikomisoba. The udon-like smooth texture white Chinese noodle made without kansui (an aqueous solution containing alkali salt), which goes well with the thick chicken stock, is so tasty that you will never forget it once you taste it. Jazz music, which the owner loves, is played in the shop.

Address: 3-3-2 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
TEL: +81 (0)3-3273-8921
Business hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (LO)
Regular holidays: Sundays and public holidays

Cozy-atmospheric authentic tempura shop near Tokyo Station

Dabohaze has been on a street of Nihonbashi close to Tokyo Station Yaesu for 25 years. The shop name Dabohaze is a type of goby, which the owner used to catch at a landfill in Chiba when he was a child. Dabohaze is not edible but he used the name only because he wanted to focus on spiny goby tempura. His deep-fried tempura is light and soft and never heavy in the stomach since he adequately removes extra water from the batter. The reasonable dinner combo is recommended.

Address: 1F Ohki Building, 3-3-14 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
TEL: +81 (0)3-3271-7533
Business hours: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (LO) and 5 to 9:30 p.m. (LO)
Regular holidays: Sundays and public holidays

A sports bar specialized in rugby, which is gaining a lot of attention

A casual dining bar turned into a sports bar specialized in rugby last summer due to the increasing attention on rugby, which the owner loves. Now, it has become well-known by rugby fans who have heard that the bar is open even late at night and early in the morning whenever a rugby game is broadcast on TV. They also organize Nihonbashi Street rugby events.

A Japanese restaurant with a large room popular for parties and reunions

Izumiya is an izakaya originated from a sake wholesaler at Teppozu in the Edo era, the current Minato, Chuo-ku, and opened in 1947 in Nihonbashi. Since it is close to Tokyo Station and has a large room, it is popular among party organizers. These days, it receives a lot of bookings for reunions by the elderly. Izumiya buys fresh seafood at the Tsukiji market every morning and the smile of the madam is also one of the attractions. It offers course menus ranging from JPY 3,800 as well as all-you-can-drink plans.

Address: 3-3-3 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
TEL: +81 (0)3-3271-2939
Business hours: 4:30 to 10:10 p.m. (LO)
Regular holidays: Sundays and public holidays

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