The izakaya featured in Episode 1 of the TV drama "Solitary Gourmet," starring Yutaka Matsushige, is in Monzen-Nakacho. Six colleagues and I headed there from Takebashi on the Tozai Line, four stops, for a project wrap-up debrief. We found the shop quickly, but the organizer forgot to reserve and the first floor was full. Fragrant yakitori drifted from the door, and for a moment an uneasy air enveloped seven thirsty people—until the proprietress came out: "As it happens, the second floor is free." An auspicious start to our debrief.
With reruns aired several times, many customers still come after watching the drama.
The second floor has four nearly square two-person tables. Eight can squeeze in; we were seven and pushed four tables together. The second floor is half self-service: "Beer and chilled sake packed in a small fridge—tell us later how many you drank"; "Help yourself to plates and glasses from the sideboard."
We ordered mainly what Matsushige ordered in "Solitary Gourmet." First, ya
kitori—a set of seven kinds including tsukune plus raw green peppers. Twenty-one halved peppers came on a plate. As in the show, we slid tsukune off skewers onto peppers＝main photo—awkwardly making stuffed peppers. The proprietress said this menu did not exist before the show; the director suddenly invented it for filming. A stylish way to eat; the pepper crunch was good and we devoured them. We also had dried whole sardines, mountain
potato with wasabi＝photo, and shingen bags. When debrief topics ran dry, we finished with fried rice＝photo—a perfect closer: light, full marks with shiso, ume, sesame and more.
The proprietress (perhaps her daughter) was friendly, and the cramped second-floor room felt cozy climbing the narrow stairs.