This time, I'm not going to choose a Michelin-starred French or Italian lunch. I'm going to choose a set meal lunch that an office worker can just pop in and end up yelling out in excitement. I've eaten a lot of set meals alone at Mogame Shokudo in Nishi-Ogikubo, Kawayoshi in Kojimachi, Narutake in Shimo-Ochiai, Suegen in Shinbashi, and Kaigen in Tsukiji. In short, it's like Bassy's version of "The Solitary Gourmet."
If you live in Nishi-Ogikubo, you'll want to visit this great restaurant every day! "Mogame Shokudo"


This is a restaurant I would like to visit again and again, or even every day. The food is delicious, there is a wide variety of menu items, the restaurant is clean, the service is good, the staff are cheerful... it has everything you would want in a restaurant serving set meals. I would go so far as to say it's a great restaurant.
It's about a three-minute walk from Nishi-Ogikubo Station on the Chuo Line. I arrived five minutes before opening time and was fourth in line. Of course, it's a popular restaurant and there's always a line.
There are nearly 40 kinds of set meals on the menu, including "Chicken and eggplant stewed with grated daikon radish," "Chicken cutlet with grated daikon radish and ponzu sauce," "Chicken and vegetables with aromatic black vinegar," "Bokuboshi mackerel," "Salted silver salmon pickled in koji," "Shrimp with mayonnaise," "Ginger pork," "Pork cutlet stew," "Salted pork and radish," and more... There are about 20 things I want to order, and it's really difficult to choose.
But my heart was set on the "Chicken Nanban" and the extra "Mini Curry". I also added a raw egg, so it was perfect (I eat a lot).
Somehow, this restaurant is not stingy at all. Even the barley tea served first was in a huge cup. Then, four small dishes were brought out immediately. From the left, they were sesame-dressed komatsuna, mekabu (wheat bran), pickled daikon radish, and potato salad. I was already getting excited. Then, after the rice and miso soup, came the chicken nanban. It was a huge serving. The tartar sauce was also served in a mountainous portion, which was very generous.
The side dishes are small, but there are four kinds, so it feels like you're getting plenty of fiber. There's also seaweed, so it's well-balanced. The mekabu seaweed is a really nice touch. The potato salad is classic and has a home-cooked feel to it, which I'm happy about.
Well, the chicken nanban is, of course, delicious. The chicken cutlet is cooked just right, and the tartar sauce is generously sweet. The rice is Tsuyahime rice from Yamagata, cooked on the firm side and is delicious. By the way, refills are free.
I ordered the optional "mini curry" for 200 yen, which I highly recommend. It uses minced meat and has a spicy, sharp flavor that tightens up the finish of the meal.
Actually, this restaurant is a set meal specialty restaurant that serves the same menu for lunch and dinner. If I lived nearby, I would go there both for lunch and dinner.


Mogame Restaurant
3-7-7 Nishiogi Minami, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-5346-0360
11: 30 to 14: 30, 17: 00 to 20: 30
Closed: Wednesday
Chicken Nanban 1400 yen
Chicken and eggplant simmered with grated daikon 1300 yen
Dried mackerel 1400 yen
Ginger pork 1350 yen
Mini curry 200 yen
Raw egg 100 yen
This is the place to go in the Kojimachi area!
"Kawayoshi," the famous restaurant that has supported the author's lunch


Because it was close to where I worked when I was still active, I've been there countless times -- hundreds of times -- and I think it's hard to find a better place for a reasonably priced grilled fish meal.
The menu changes depending on the fish that was bought that day, but to start with, there are usually "Teriyaki Silver Cod," "Salted Mackerel," and "Salted Salted Salmon Belly." These three grilled dishes are always delicious.
Depending on the season, there are dishes such as "filleted fatty horse mackerel," "fried oysters," "grilled salted sardines," and "grilled salted herring," all of which are delicious. There are also set meals with boiled fish such as mackerel.
What's great about this restaurant is that in addition to the main fish, it comes with three small side dishes. Grated daikon and whitebait are standard. The other two change daily. There's boiled komatsuna and vinegared wakame, macaroni salad, tamagoyaki (Japanese egg omelet), potato salad, simmered chikuwa (fish paste), and kinpira burdock... nothing is ever the same, so it's fun.
Now, as for the main part, for example, the cod in the "Grilled Silver Cod Teriyaki" is fatty and even the skin is delicious. The "Grilled Salt-Grilled Salmon Belly" and "Grilled Salt-Grilled Mackerel" are also expertly salted and grilled. The ingredients in the miso soup change every day and the taste is pretty normal, but the white rice has a nice graininess and is cooked on the firm side, so it's delicious. That's right, when it comes to set meals, the rice is very important.
When it comes to raw fish dishes like "Tuna Rice Bowl" or "Three Kinds of Sashimi", my dad will slice it up for you right away. By the way, this dad and his wife are very kindhearted.
There is a wide variety of single items available, such as lean tuna sashimi, medium fatty tuna sashimi, fried horse mackerel, fried squid, fried shrimp, tuna yamakake, natto yamakake, and tuna natto yamakake, so it's fun to add another dish to your small bowl.
There is always a line between 12:13 and 11:13, so if you go after XNUMX:XNUMX or XNUMX:XNUMX, you won't have to wait. If this store didn't exist, my life as a salaryman would be in a lot of trouble. By the way, they only serve lunch.


Kawayoshi
2-XNUMX Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Kojimachi Crystal City East Building BXNUMX
Tel: 03-5272-7930
11:00~15:00
Teriyaki silver cod 1500 yen
Salt-grilled salmon belly 1400 yen
Grilled salted mackerel 1100 yen
Tuna bowl (red meat) 1300 yen
Tuna bowl (medium fatty tuna) 1500 yen
Three kinds of sashimi 1500 yen
The exquisite silver salmon at the famous Shimo-Ochiai restaurant "Narutake" is sure to be a repeat visitor


It's a stylish restaurant. It's hard to believe that it's a fish restaurant. From the outside, it looks like a green building.
I was even more surprised when I entered the shop. The interior was bare concrete and stylish, and on top of that, jazz music was playing on a proper audio system. And it just so happened that the song playing was "Cookin'" by Clifford Brown, the greatest trumpeter of all time. Wow, that was the first time I'd heard that anywhere other than at home or in a jazz cafe. Amazing (but that's not the main point).
Looking at the menu, I was really at a loss as to what to choose. The "Grilled Amberjack Set Meal" was good, and the "Seared Bonito Set Meal" and "Deep-fried Chicken Set Meal" were also appealing. In the end, I decided on the "Grilled Salt Salmon Set Meal" of the king of silver salmon, Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, the "silver king."
There are toppings, which are fun. There are toppings such as "Ikura marinated in soy sauce", "Marinated amberjack sashimi", "Scallop sashimi", "Kamaage shirasu", and "Local chicken tataki". I chose "Katsuo tataki". In the end, the amount of toppings was small, so I might have been better off choosing two types.
Well, here it is. Wow, this is the king of coho salmon. It's so thick. It has a nice color and luster. Other side dishes include boiled spinach and cotton salmon, and miso soup made with koji miso, but it has no toppings, which is unusual. Is there a reason why there are no toppings?
First, the salmon. I sunk my chopsticks into the thickest part. It was chewy and cooked to perfection. All the bones had been neatly removed. As expected, if it was this beautiful, it was bound to be delicious. There was plenty of fat, too. The saltiness was just right. There was no need for soy sauce. I see, now I understand why they made the effort to call it the king of silver salmon. It was quite expensive, but this was the kind of salmon I'd want to have again and again.
I heard that the main dishes, the King Coho Salmon and Amberjack, are available all year round because they are purchased directly from the fishermen. By the way, the spinach and salmon on the side were good. The miso soup had a good stock and was not bad. The rice was cooked on the firm side and was delicious.
In the evening, it becomes an izakaya with a wide variety of a la carte dishes and set meals. Listening to jazz at night will surely make you feel even more excited.


As much as possible
3-17-39 Shimoochiai, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3565-2222
Salt-grilled salmon set meal 1500 yen
Salt-grilled amberjack set meal 2000 yen
Seared bonito set meal 1500 yen
Deep-fried chicken set meal 1500 yen
(topping)
Salmon roe marinated in soy sauce 1000 yen
Seared bonito 500 yen
Amberjack marinated sashimi 500 yen
Scallop sashimi 500 yen
Boiled whitebait 500 yen
Seared local chicken 500 yen
The oyakodon at the long-established Shinbashi restaurant "Suegen" is addictive


Well, I guess there's no harm in going there at least once. It's a one-minute walk from Shinbashi Station, and was founded in 1909 (Meiji 42), making it a well-established restaurant known for its chicken dishes.
Yukio Mishima was a regular at this restaurant, and it is also known that he shared his last supper with members of the Tatenokai Society the night before he committed seppuku in Ichigaya. It appears to have been a course meal.
I sometimes have an uncontrollable craving for oyakodon, as well as katsudon. I regularly crave rice soaked in broth. That's why I set my sights on "Suegen."
The specialty is a chicken and egg rice bowl called "Kama Teishoku". As you can see, the chicken used is minced chicken, which is very unusual. Because it is minced chicken, the meat and egg in the filling are finely mixed together, so there is no imbalance between the meat and egg, and it is very easy to eat.
The sweet and spicy sauce permeates the rice, even though it is cooked on the hard side, and soaks into it. Generally speaking, this sweet and spicy seasoning, that is, the combination of bonito stock, soy sauce, and sugar, is unique to Japanese cuisine. Nowadays, it is a flavor that foreigners also love. The best part is eating this drenched dish with a lacquered wooden spoon.
It comes with a small bowl of pickled radish, pickled vegetables, and chicken soup. Only two kinds of pickles seems a bit stingy, but the chicken soup was quite tasty with a strong ginger flavor.
There is one other menu item that really piques my interest. It's the "fried chicken set meal." The soy sauce-flavored fried chicken looks so good that some reviews have even written bold things like "This is the best fried chicken in Japan." In fact, there is a "fried chicken only" option, but I gave up on that because it comes with five pieces of fried chicken. I'd like to try it someday.


End
Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 2-15-7
S-PLAZA Yayoi 1F
Tel: 03-3591-6214
Lunch 11:30-13:30
Kama set meal 1400 yen
Fried chicken set meal 1800 yen
Fried chicken (single item) 1500 yen
You can't miss this place in Tsukiji!
If you're looking for tuna, Kaigen is the place to go.


Yamayuki, a famous tuna wholesaler, operates a seafood bowl restaurant outside Tsukiji Market.
If you want to eat here, you have to be prepared to make a living. I myself arrived at 10:10, aiming for the 20:30 opening, but the restaurant was already full and I was 20th in line. What a disappointment. Still, customers kept coming out after finishing their meal, so I waited. In the end, I had to wait for an hour. A line of XNUMX people quickly formed behind me.
Therefore, this is not a place that salarymen can just drop in to. Think of it as a kind of event. First of all, the prices are high. You will have to push your way through the waves of foreigners that overflow into the narrow alleys to get to the store. Well, I think it will be worth the effort.
After all, about 12 to XNUMX people in line can sit on the benches, and the store manager will come to the benches to take your order. So, by the time you get to your seat, your bowl will arrive within a few minutes.
Listening to the orders, most of the foreigners ordered the "Ultimate Kaigen Tuna Bowl" for 4000 yen without any hesitation. I chose the "Yamayuki Tuna Omakase Bowl" and "Today's Seafood Bowl" from the "Select 3000 Luxury Bowls" for 1200 yen, which are two mini bowls. The tuna we were able to get that day was caught in Oma, Aomori Prefecture. There are also some cheap options, such as the "Limited Time Tuna Marinated Bowl" for XNUMX yen.
When the meal arrived, I was quite surprised. Look at the mountain of tuna on the right side of the photo. In fact, half of the seafood bowl on the left is also tuna. So, if you combine the two, the amount of tuna is incredible. Moreover, the bowl on the right is, no matter how much you dig into it, it's tuna, and I'm not exaggerating. What's more, it seems to have more chu-toro than lean meat.
First, I tried the top tuna with wasabi on top. It was a wonderful chu-toro. It was smooth on the tongue. It had little sourness, and it was good tuna. By the way, the way he used the knife was also good. If he was not good at using the knife, the same tuna would taste bad.
So, I dug into the seafood bowl on the left and found that today there was sea bream, small fish, squid, octopus, whitebait, lean fish, medium fatty tuna, and belly meat. This one was also heaped with food. So I ate the right and then the left, and it was so busy. I had to dig up the vinegared rice from underneath. However, this vinegared rice was cold, so if it was a little warmer it would be perfect.
I was happy to see a mountain of real wasabi in the middle of the meal, as well as pickled ginger. The wasabi was real, so it was mellow. Two small side dishes were also served with the meal: tuna and daikon stew with grated yam, and tuna salt soup. The stew was soft and delicious. I also ordered the optional "fried tuna cheek meat and eggplant." This sold out quickly, but I was glad I ordered it. The broth had soaked into the cheek meat, making it soft and delicious.
Well, I said this time that I want to come back again and again, but after eating so much tuna, I think I might have had enough for a while. But if you want to be amazed by the quality and quantity of tuna, I recommend you try it at least once. Although it's quite expensive, the "Tsukiji Hikino Homemade Dried Fish and Kaigen Sashimi Set Meal" also looked delicious. In terms of balance, this might be the best.


Kaigen
4-13-8 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Sorasia Building 1F
Tel: 03-6260-4808
10:00~15:00
Closed: Wednesdays and Thursdays (open if the regular closing day is a public holiday)
Ultimate Kaigen Tuna Bowl 4000 yen
Choose from 3000 luxurious bowls XNUMX yen
Tsukiji Hikino's homemade dried fish and Kaigen sashimi set meal 3800 yen
Deep-fried tuna cheek and eggplant 500 yen
What does "If you don't eat this, your life is ruined" mean?
When he hears something delicious, he rushes east and west to eat it all. Rumor has it that he might be the Brillat-Savarin of Reiwa, or even the return of Furukawa Roppa. Bassey is an editor with over 40 years of food-loving experience. A heart-wrenching gourmet essay.
Author profile
Bassey is a foodie who has been eating around for over 40 years. In addition to Japan, he regularly goes to Hong Kong to eat Chinese food at his own expense, and also travels to Taiwan, Singapore, Bangkok, and Seoul for delicious food. During his time as the editor-in-chief of a travel magazine, he visited many Michelin-rated restaurants around the world, especially in Europe, and later on in the World's Best 50 restaurants. We want everyone who loves food to try ``Crab Miso Bean Paste Noodles'' from ``Tenkorou'' (Hong Kong). Actually, I like the Chinese food at this restaurant the best in the world. Another example of the best Western food is "El Seger de Can Roca" from Girona, Spain, which was ranked number one on the World's Best 50 list. Ah, I want to go there again.
Lounge
Premium Salon
If you don't eat this, your life will be ruined.
Premium Salon