頑張れ自分
We visited the restaurant with two people on the last Saturday of July. Just like last time, we started with the first rotation (starting at 5 o'clock). The previous time, the clientele was very calm, and we felt like we were the youngest in our mid-50s, but this time there were many young customers overall, and we felt like we were the oldest. The dishes we had that day were as follows: - Steamed rice with salted squid ink, paired with Kuzuryu sake - Grilled Mirugai and Aoriika on a ceramic plate, paired with Kuro Ryu's "Adoso" junmai daiginjo sake, 2022 - Marinated tuna with rich natural yam (tororo) and eggplant underneath - Deep-fried wild softshell turtle, said to have little oil and firm flesh - Hamo soup, made with hamo bones, a unique style occasionally offered by Nishi-san - Boiled hamo liver and swim bladder - Specialty dish of Handa somen (caviar, sea urchin, raw egg combination) with sushi rice at the end - Grilled hamo with frost, ice, cucumber, and fried hamo belly bones under cucumber leaves - Grilled natural sweetfish with simple salt grilling - Pressed sushi of grilled sweetfish - Hassun with morning glory theme, featuring pumpkin with sea urchin, sweet potato, mozuku vinegar, etc. - Sukiyaki of Omi beef, with a selection of six types of eggs, served with "Ryu no Hitomi" rice - Corn rice - Omi beef curry rice, using a different brand of rice (name forgotten) - Dessert choices of shaved ice, mugwort mochi, and arrowroot jelly, with shaved ice and mugwort mochi for us.This restaurant was recommended to us by a Japanese restaurant called Contrast in Araki-cho. The couple who ran that restaurant at the time (now the location of Bar El Ragito) told us, "There's a great restaurant called Yushima 121 in Yushima, the quality at that price is unbelievable." This was around 2008 or 2009. We visited right away. I don't remember having trouble making a reservation. The first time we visited, it was actually a private room, but I enjoyed the dishes. They weren't confined to the traditional Japanese cuisine framework, with a slightly strong seasoning, and they even served beef tongue stew. I was surprised when the wine bottle we ordered was brought to the private room uncorked, but looking back, the landlady was probably still a beginner. And the course price was only 9,000 yen or 9,900 yen, which was surprising. I revisited soon after, this time at the counter. I remember enjoying it very much as well. The head chef explained the dishes with good articulation. The second chef, Okabe-san, sat at the back of the counter and made mysterious comments, but at the end of the meal, he performed a silk cloth cutting in the Yabunai style while brewing thin tea. Since then, I have continued to visit frequently and consistently. I may have visited monthly at peak times. The price gradually increased, but it never exceeded 20,000 yen, and I felt a sense of value even as the ingredients became more luxurious. The familiar presentation of lining up matsutake mushrooms on the counter started around the latter half of the Yushima era, I think. It was also around this time that I started encountering celebrities more often. As you all know, their subsequent success has made them one of the most difficult restaurants to book in Tokyo's dining scene.