yasukata sekishi

Yasukata Shopping Street has a sekishi (evening market) on the last friday of every month between 16:00-18:00

Like I've mentioned before, I like to get all my errands done in the morning.

This past Friday though, I was able to get to their evening market and pick up some foods.
 

Musashiya's inarizushi, tamagoyaki, tosani (bamboo shoots simmered in shoyu, katsuobushi and mirin), onion and pork katsu...1300 yen (tax included)

Super reasonable and delicious.

During the pandemic, we've taken out from Musashiya 

I'm glad I got to check this out and will be back the next time my schedule coordinates with this market.

isobe

Every time we pass Isobe, there is a line

On Wednesday, it was a national holiday and google maps said that they were closed.

But, when we walked passed, there was no line and the sign said "open"

There are only 10 seats at the counter

Buy your meal from the ticket machine 

Besides wonton men (noodles), they also have tsuke soba

For the tsuke soba, you can choose the weight of your noodles and which soup you want to have (shiro uma or kuro uma) 

Shiro uma is a white shoyu based soup

Kuro uma is a koikuchi (darker color mor pronounced flavor shoyu) shoyu base soup

You can also choose which type of wonton you want, meat or shrimp or both

I chose the Shiro uma half meat wonton men...950 yen (tax included)

White shoyu based soup, 3 meat wonton

The char siu was super tender...soup was super flavorful

Satoshi had the Shiro uma 3 x 3...1150 yen (tax included)

White shoyu based soup, 3 meat wonton, 3 shrimp wonton

The soup was so ono that he drank all the soup...eep!

We now know why there is always a line here, we'll be back.

Chuuka soba Isobe

1-20-14 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Closed Wednesdays

Hours: 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 18:00-21:00 (dinner)

Dinner served: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays & Sundays

*cash only

back to lee lounge

Saturday, we went to find lunch, since it was a holiday, plan A was closed, so was plan B, C and D...

So we ended up at Lee Lounge...

I ordered their omurice...monstrous! 1080 yen (tax included)

But the egg was so fluffy!

If you are wondering what the kanji says "akaji" (literally "in the red")

Satoshi had their curry pasta...880 yen (tax included)...he enjoyed this and helped me eat my lunch.

oh, I forgot to tell you that Friday, we only had flurries while the rest of Tokyo had snow...boo!

Have a nice week!

touen

Several doors down from Lee Lounge is Touen.

From the outside it doesn’t look too big, but inside the kitchen is quite spacious and there are some tables as well as seats around their L shaped counter.

Satoshi had their canton men, a lot of veggies in a slurry topped his soup noodles…950 yen (tax included)

A shio (salt) based soup...the noodles looked a little thick...he enjoyed this.

And of course, he ordered their gyoza…480 yen (tax included), it passed the gyoza snob criteria...

I ordered their mabodon…950 yen (tax included) this came with some soup and pickles.

I enjoyed this version the minced pork had a nice charred flavor to it and the sauce was a little sweet, salty and a tad spicy.

Lots of rice but I managed to eat it all...bu bu (sound of a pig in Japanese)

We look forward to trying more items on their menu, we’ll be back 

Touen

1-26-26 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3759.8229

Closed Mondays

Hours: 11:30-14:00 (lunch), 18:00-21:00 (dinner)

sunday

Sunday, we went out for groceries and then we had lunch at Lee Lounge.

A tiny cafe that we've been wanting to try.

It was kind of crowded, but we were still able to sit at a distance from others.

I had their napolitan...980 yen (tax included)...this was delicious and the sauce was not sweet.

My only peeve was that it was on a teeny plate, so you had to eat super carefully so as not to spill.

Satoshi had their thai shoyu ramen, he was asked whether he wanted rice noodles or egg noodles, he chose rice noodles.

His lunch came with a mini gapao rice, which was also scrunched into a teeny bowl, making it hard to eat.

But he said he enjoyed his lunch...900 yen (tax included).

It is a pretty laid back place, so we look forward to trying other items on their menu...we'll be back.

Down the street is Yaguchi Fresh House, a grocer that sells fruits and veggies.

I noticed he was selling beets, so I bought a bag, 162 yen (tax included).

I roasted them and we'll eat them in the coming days.

We also picked up something sweet from Cusunoki

Their Zao cheese...525 yen (tax included)...fluffy airy cheesecake filled with blueberry jam and coated with cake crumbs...so good!

Chocolat...365 yen (tax included)...chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream and chocolate curls...delicious.

The wind was icy but at least the sun was out.

Lee Lounge

1-26-1 Tamagawa 2F

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 070.8947.6948

Open daily 9:00-22:00

kaei

We’ve been interested in trying Kaei’s katsu curry.

It's only served on Fridays.

Since Satoshi went back to work, I decided we should try this for dinner.

A millefeuille style katsu..thinly sliced pork layered with cheese and shiso.

Covered with a “chinese style” ankake (thick) curry sauce that has lots of veggies in it.

700 yen (tax included) each for takeout, a little more if you eat it there (920 yen tax included).

This came with a small salad and a small cup of egg drop soup.

Super filling and the curry is quite spicy.

The only bummer is that the thick curry sauce makes the katsu quite soggy.

Satoshi enjoyed this though.

I'm sure we'll be back.

musashiya

Two doors or so down from Kaei is Musashiya.

Most of their items on their menu can be taken out, so we did just that on Sunday.

Sweet sour meat balls and tamagoyaki (rolled omelette)...980 yen (tax included).

It also came with some simmered konnyaku and veggies.

I enjoyed the sauce because there were nice pieces of takenoko (bamboo shoots) in it.

Lots of rice!

Satoshi ordered the double yakiniku....1000 yen (tax included).

His meal looked like it had quite a lot of food too.

Our food came out pretty quick and was still warm even after we walked home.

We look forward to trying other things on their menu and hopefully eat there in the future.

Musashiya

2-6-12 Higashiyaguchi

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3759.6341

Closed: Tuesdays & Fridays

Hours: 11:30-14:00 (lunch), 17:00-20:15 (dinner)
*cash only 

kaei

We tried Kaei back in 2019 and recently picked up some bento for our lunch.

I had their mabo tofu bento…800 yen (tax included)

This came with a small cup of soup, half a spring roll, some harusame salad and a mashed potato thingy.

The mabo tofu was spicy and filling, so I saved half of it for another day.

I'm glad we reconnected with this shop and look forward to taking out again and eating here in the future.

kunseiya ken

We picked up some smoked chicken for our dinner on Saturday from Kunseiya Ken.

Kunsei is the Japanese word for smoked.

This was meaty, smoky and delicious.

The skin was crispy.

I'm glad we tried this place and look forward to trying different items in the future.

Kunseiya Ken

1-2-25 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 080.6542.6008

Check social media for days off and hours 

yaguchi no watashi

Friday, we took out Cafe Akaribi's carrot cake and baked cheesecake...

The carrot cake was bland, it was a non-sweet cake/muffin with carrots in it.. not even cinnamon (bummer)....the baked cheesecake was delicious.

I want to try eating lunch there, so we'll be back when it is safer.

We also took out from Chidori...I tried their Chidori bowl...teriyaki chicken with lots of veggies and some rice.

I would get this again.

Satoshi tried their "loco moco"...the first thing Satoshi said when he opened up his bowl was "where's the gravy?"

Still, he enjoyed it, even if it wasn't local style...

Wednesdays they have taco rice, so I want to try this.

We'll be back.

Cafe Akaribi

1-32-3 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6715.4955

Hours: 11:30-20:00, days off vary*check before going

Chidori

1-25-10 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3756.0090

Hours: 11:00-19:30, days off vary*check before going

cusunoki

About 10 minutes walking distance from where we live, there is a small cake shop called Cusunoki.

We tried their ganache cake to celebrate Valentine’s & Kat’s birthday.

It was rich, chocolately & perfect with red wine.

We’ll be back.

Cusunoki

2-22-2 Higashiyaguchi

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6459.8355

Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays

Hours: 11:00-18:00

p.s. our arms are sore from the booster vaccine and Kat had chills and headaches on Sunday, but overall we are doing fine.

okuniya

There is a wagashi shop in our area that has been in business for 80 years, Okuniya.

We have tried them before and I thought I posted about it but couldn’t find it on the blog...

Saturday we walked down and picked up some daifuku and dorayaki.

Our ward, Ota has a 100 item list of different items made in our ward and one shop is Okuniya.

Apparently their mikan daifuku is a popular item, but they didn’t have it on this day, so I tried their ichigo daifuku.

I used a piece of dental floss to cut the ichigo daifuku in half.

I think the strawberry could have been bigger but this was still delicious.

Satoshi had their salt daifuku...the sweet bean paste is cooked with some salt so it isn’t too sweet and he also tried their mame daifuku, which the outside is studded with black beans.

I also picked up their Ooguri dorayaki, which had a whole chestnut inside.

You gotta love a shop that keeps up with the times, they have FB, IG and Twitter accounts.

Hope to try the mikan daifuku the next time we go.

We’ll be back. 

Okuniya

1-3-15 Tamagawa

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.5732.0928

Open daily 9:00-19:00