Takadaya, Otemachi (高田屋)

Y'know, for some reason I thought this was a huge chain. I feel like I've seen tons of them around town. Now, I'm not so sure - the card lists only 4, and a quick googling produces mainly some stores in Hokkaido (which seem like the main part of the chain, but only 6 or 8 of them). The atmosphere and quality are also higher than I expected ☆♪★. There, now this has become a regular OL lunch blog.

Basically what we seem to have here is a 'Hokkaido grilled seafood' specialist izakaya. I apologize if everyone else knew this already; there's just too much to learn. For lunch, you have a choice of about 6 sets plus the daily special. These are mainly some combination of seafood and noodles, or more precisely grilled seafood and udon (hot or cold).

My oyakodon (slices of seared salmon which some might call たたき, a spoonful or two of salmon roe, and another spoonful of flying fish roe for good measure - or to fill in some of the gaps more cheaply, I thought) was fresh and tasty. I've been avoiding salmon for a while now (not that I've stopped eating it, just that I prioritize other fish) because it so often tastes farmed - soft, a little sweet, very fatty. I'm sure this was farmed also, for a Y950 set, but it had good texture, adequate but not excessive banding of fat, and a real salmon-y flavor. The hot udon were frankly pretty dull. Other bowl sets today included soy-cured tuna and avocado, Hokkaido chirashi (included salmon, ikura, shrimp and something else), salmon and snapper with sesame sauce, or the daily special of negitoro.

With most seating consisting of semi-private booths, all of which have grills in the middle, this looks like a real winner for small-group evening dining. Especially if there's a broader variety of fish. At the risk of not providing any penetrating analysis, and also of leaving you hangin', I'd better sign off since I'm about to pass out on my keyboard from food coma.

Nothing like a good fish, is there?
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