Some time ago, I introduced “Ginza Sankon”, a famous dining room of sake and side dishes located in Ginza. In December 2010, it closed down, much to the regret of many sake fans. The master and his wife had worked for 25 years, running their dining room on weekdays and search sake cellars all over Japan for great sake on weekends because they wanted many people to enjoy the real taste of sake. Most of the sake you could drink at Sankon was special kinds which were to be exhibited at competitive shows. With many different kinds of sake, this dining room offered “a variety of tastes” from all over Japan, including the flavor of ginjo (sake brewed at low temperatures from rice grains milled to 60% of weight or less), rice, and other different flavors due to different waters.

In my opinion, Sankon had a determination to have not only good sake but also good fish. If you take a look at the picture of their sashimi, you will see that the sashimi is well ripe. By letting sashimi stand awhile, the flavor mellows deliciously due to an explosive increase of amino acids, causing sashimi to look even tastier.

Sake is, like wine, not an aperitif nor a digestif. Sake is drunk while you are having your meal. It means that you can truly enjoy sake when it is served with good dishes. Good sake makes good dishes even better, and good dishes make good sake better as well. This cycle was truly formed by the master and his wife.

It is much to my regret that it closed down. But I would still like to leave a record of this splendid dining room.

Negitoro (the fatty flesh of tuna minced to a paste and mixed with chopped green leaves of Welsh onions) as an appetizer.

A selection of sashimi of fatty fish in season now.

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Yushima and Hongo is a town for students and great writers. The old nostalgic atmosphere spread before you once you step in a back alley. Today, I will introduce a walking route of a place where Higuchi Ichiyo and Masaoka Shiki has lived.

We will start from Yushima Station. The first destination is Kyu-Iwasakki-tei, an old resident of Iwasaki family, which represents the Western style house built of wood. There is a huge garden and gorgeous decorations are done everywhere. Since no photos are allowed inside, here is a picture only from the outside.

Leaving Kyu-Iwasaki-tei, there is Muenzaka walking counter clockwise. It is a slope that has become famous by Mori Ogai’s work “Gan” for the main character takes a walk along this path.

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This restaurant is 5 min from Meguro station on foot; serves you a hearty curry and rice. At lunch time, you will probably have to wait in line a while. You may wish to double the size but unless you are starving to death, don’t do it. You will be full with the regular size.

Also, what’s more interesting is that this restaurant arranges western food to a Japanese-like taste, such as a soy sauce omelet. Curry itself isn’t that spicy, so I even recommend it to a person who do not like spicy food.

Pork Scramble Curry: stew tons of pork and scrambled eggs. As you can see from this photo, the plate is covered with curry that if someone tilts the plate, the curry might flow out of it. No one will be still hungry after eating this.

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