Fuki, Ningyocho (地酒と趣肴 風貴)

Well, we didn't have that much luck at Kyowa, but it was early. Walking around left us in from of Fuki, which I had previously noticed as having some of that thar sakay stuff. Initially we were impressed by the seriousness of the master, who was sitting near the cash register working on a laptop. Subsequently we were unimpressed by his disinterest in us and his clear desire to get back to the laptop instead of cooking. I think he used to be more serious in his approach, and could be great again if it wasn't later on a weeknight like tonight, when the lack of customers gives him the opportunity to get really submerged in Angry Birds.

Because hey, the food's pretty good. The sake menu's there if you want to get into it, then some mashed soy bean meal (can't remember what I've called okara in the past), spinach, fish escabeche, fried flounder (yum), herb-roasted chicken (yum yum). The chook in particular took forever to arrive, because the master dispatched the waitress to roast or possibly even microwave it, several times, until he judged it was ready for him to put the finishing touches on. We just sat there watching it grill, but I have to say it tasted great by the time it was done, fairly 'exploding with herbal essence' or somesuch. The menu's not huge though, so let's assume you've now seen the best things on it.

For all those haters who claim there's no such thing as summer sake to cover up for their non-stockage of same (this actually happened to me last week), we drank a smattering of blue-label beverages. Left is the Ishitsuchi (embarassingly, I noted that this is the cheaper of the two summer versions they're selling; it's more refined than the other, but uses in part rice from Hyogo, while the more expensive one is only Ehime rice. That's all I can figure to explain the price difference.), right is a Fumotoi from Yamagata. I usually always like Yamagata sake, but this one, not so much. It didn't taste like summer sake should, in my limited understanding - too heavy, not acidic enough.

I wouldn't say this place requires further exploration, but the fact is, it's a perfectly good place and wouldn't take you wrong if you needed something in the area.
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