Of resolutions and food

I'm not generally one for New Year's Resolutions; they're just one way to set yourself up for failure and disappointment. However, the one resolution I have ever managed to stick to was one from two-three years ago, where I vowed to eat in a new restaurant every week. I didn't literally manage one a week, but I did in in somewhere around 56 new restaurants that year, so I think I nailed it.

This year I decided to make a few resolutions, a couple of vague self-improvement ones, and another go at a new restaurant a week. A friend suggested I blog about each new restaurant, so here I am!  So far I'm off to a pretty good start, with eight new restaurants under my belt so far this month. Over the next few posts, I'll talk about each.

 

北の味紀行と地酒 北海道 池袋西口店

That's a mouthful, even in Japanese. It translates to Travel Taste of the North, plus Local Alcohol, Hokkaido Ikebukuro West Exit store. Which is to say, it's an izakaya (pub) specializing in food from Japan's northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido (think crab and lamb!). It's apparently a chain, and there are several locations in Tokyo.This one is super easy to get to from the Metropolitan exit of Ikebukuro station.

I went with 7 others, and we had what I'd call a semi-private room:  a big table all to ourselves, open onto a hallway for easy food delivery. And trust me, a lot of food was delivered.

The joy of izakaya is ordering a ton of different things so everyone can try a little of each. I lost count of how many dishes, but dinner included a large whole grilled fish, karaage (fried chicken), a pizza with squid, fish cake made of squid, genghis khan (lamb grilled at the table), sashimi (raw sliced fish), whole grilled tiny fish, amazing cream cheese on crackers, fried sweet potato mochi with Hokkaido butter.... and more. 

Of particular note were an amazing shrimp fried rice, a sea urchin/meat platter, and my first time trying shirako, which I thought I would never eat. Note:  I did not eat the sea urchin (it's one of my least favourite foods ever), but the idea behind the dish was to make a sea urchin sandwich with meat instead of bread. And that included lightly seared beef and lamb, and a thinly sliced ham. All three of which were quite good. Shirako ... was surprisingly good, creamy and mild. (It's fish milt, and I'll leave you to look that up). I wouldn't go out of my way to order it, but I'll definitely eat it if it's in front of me.

I had three drinks:  a sake by the name of Otoko (man), a yubari melon (canteloupe) sour and a haskap (blue honeysuckle) sour, all quite good. And dessert was kabocha (pumpkin) pudding, which was much like a creme brulee, and quite good. 

I definitely recommend coming here, but on an empty stomach!

Address: サン･グロウビル, 3F, 1 Chome-10-8 Nishiikebukuro, Toshima City, Tokyo 171-0021
Phone:  +81 3-5958-3771