Tonkatsu in Harajuku @ 福よし

This Tonkatsu restaurant is quite highly rated on tabelog. I found the food to be good, but not great. The little egg salad was a very nice addition and the Tonkatsu was good, but I was especially missing the usual Tonkatsu sauce aswell as a salad dressing. On top of that the price of 2200 Yen is quite steep for Tonkatsu.

I expected this to be really busy, but in the end I'm not surprised there was nobody in the restaurant besides me and an acquaintance and that they asked us to leave at 7:15, because they wanted to close down.

Rating: 2/5

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130601/13001858/

Tonkatsu in Takadanobaba @ 坂井精肉店 高田馬場店

So I wanted to check out the highest ranked Tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo this last Tuesday, but unfortunately when me and my friend arrived it turned out to be closed, so hungry for Tonkatsu, we hit up another Tonkatsu restaurant in Takadanobaba.

It looked like a pretty simple place and it was very cheap. Only about 800 yen for a fillet set menu with a massive pile of vegetables. The Tonkatsu was surprisingly good though. Very tasty and there were quite a lot of sauces to choose from plus the usual fresh lemon to sprinkle over it. All in all a great value Tonkatsu. If this was in Ikebukuro I'd be back here quite often, but probably not quite worth the trip down to Takadanobaba for me, unless I'm already in the area.

Rating: 3.5/5

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130503/13097912/

Sushi in Ikebukuro @ 立喰 美登利 エチカ池袋店

 

I went here twice the past week and I can already say I will be coming here VERY often. The first 2 pictures are from the first time. The 2nd time I got 2 lunch menus, only one of which I photographed(2nd picture).

The sushi at this little standing sushi bar isn't the best in the world, but it's definitely well above average. The rice temperature is good and the fish quality ranges from pretty good to really good. The thing that makes this little shop so amazing is that they have a lunch menu of 8 pieces for 525 Yen!!! The pieces are not particularly small nor is the fish quality horrible. Quite to the contrary, I've eaten much worse sushi for a lot more money. How this shop is making a profit is beyond me.

If you live in Ikebukuro, like me, it'd be criminal not to have lunch here at least once a week. I reckon that during lunchtime, this is the best value meal on the planet.

Rating: 5/5

Best Piece:  かんぱち　-　Yellowtail, tasted almost like O-Toro so smooth and fatty.

Worst Piece:　あじ　-　Horse Mackerel, not a big fan of the way they serve their Mackerel.

Recommendation:　Move to Ikebukuro and eat here at least once a week!

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130501/13131023/

Sushi in Ikebukuro @ 梅丘寿司の美登利 回し寿司 活 池袋西武店

I'm not a huge fan of conveyor belt sushi. The sushi on the belt is far from fresh and usually the sushi you order isn't of the best quality either. This one wasn't too bad, but considering the standing sushi bar in Nishi Ikebukuro that's less than 50% of the price and delivers better sushi, I don't think I'll be returning here probably ever.
  
Rating: 2/5

Recommendation:　Go to the standing sushi bar in Nishi-Ikebukuro's Echika underground shopping mall.

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130501/13116431/

Izakaya in Ebisu @ サカバ ゑびす堂 恵比寿店

Today a friend introduced me to a restaurant in Ebisu I had heard him talking about quite a few times in the past. He had said it was popular so we made sure we got there early. At 6PM we were the first to arrive, but not too long after it did indeed fill up entirely.

We started off with a salad that I'm not sure we actually ordered, but I'm definitely glad we got it. The first time ever I've had chips in a salad and while they were good, the dressing was even better. An amazing start to the meal!

It was quite dark so not all of the pictures turned out great, but it got better later on once I turned on the flash.

Second, we had some Sashimi. Uni, Katsuo and Kanpachi. I had never had Uni as Sashimi before and kind of expected a bad aftertaste just like the Uni at Joel Robuchon in Vegas, but surprisingly enough there was none and it was delicious! And the Katsuo was even better! Extremely fresh and served very cold. SUPER tasty! The Kanpachi was the least of the 3, but still very good.

うに - Sea Urchin   かつお - Bonito   かんぱち - Yellowtail

Third, we had some Saba Sashimi that was seared right in front of our nose. Usually I'm not a huge fan of grilling raw fish and prefer to eat it raw and basic, but just like the Sushi restaurant in Nagoya I went to recently, this was fantastic and I dare say the best Saba I've ever had!

Our fourth course was a very special stew that I was told has essentially been unchanged since the store opened 1400 something days ago. And by that I mean that some of the stew they made 1400 years ago has been preserved and used over and over to make the stew again and again. This sounds gross, but at least you know you won't get served undercooked food! ;) The stew tasted good. Similar to a stew my mom used to make and surprisingly 'almost' as good, although not quite. Tasty dish, but not as good as the previous Sashimi dishes.

For our 5th course we went for the chicken. The chicken was served on a special stone and after it was in front of us they poured a special sauce over it. It steamed a lot. The chicken was very delicious, but the cabbage that was served with it not as much, so I ate the chicken without the cabbage.

For out last course we went for some dessert. I ended up with miso, sesame ice cream. I was served ice cream and then they put some miso, sesame paste on top of it and told me to mix it. I think the waiter overdid it a little bit on the paste, because it was quite strong, but it was good nonetheless and I think if he hadn't put so much paste on there, it possibly could've been one of the nicest ice creams I've ever had. I guess I'll have to go back and find out next time, because I'll certainly be back here at some point.

When it came time to pay the bill, it turned out to be less than 6000Yen for 2 people(action going on with 1000Yen discount for 2 ppl, 2000Yen discount for 4 ppl). Which is a total steal! I was honestly expecting to pay about 50% more than that at least, considering the amount we ate and the quality of the food, but instead it was much less than that. In London you'd pay anywhere from 100 to 200% more for this kind of meal. Absolutely astonishing!!!

All in all, I'll certainly be back here sometime. The only downside is that smoking is allowed anywhere inside. Fortunately enough we were lucky today and except for 1-2 people all the way in the back, there were no smokers. Apart from that, this place is awesome and I highly recommend it!! Just make sure to invite me, when you go! (^_-)

Rating: 5-/5

評決：

すごく美味しくて安くて楽なレストランですよ！刺身は特にすごいですので、沢山食べたほうがいいでしょう！

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13061671/

Sushi in Ikebukuro @ さくら寿司

EDIT: I've noticed this post gets quite a bit of traffic, especially from people searching for "Best Sushi in Ikebukuro". If you're looking for the best Sushi in Ikebukuro and probably best in the world under 2000 JPY, please visit Midori Sushi!  English is at the bottom of that post.

Today was the start of my quest to find the best affordable sushi in Ikebukuro. It shouldn't be too long before I've been to every single cheap Sushi restaurant in the area, so I think in a couple of weeks I will know and start making return visits to the best ones.

My first choice was full both at 14:00 and 20:00, so I'll have to return there at off-peak hours. My 2nd choice ended up not being full, so I ate there instead. The sushi restaurant consists of a small bar, which can serve about 7-8 people. There are no seats however and you'll have to stay standing. 2 chefs serve sushi non-stop so you don't have to wait long. They have a few tiny set menus consisting of 1, 2, 3 or 4 pieces of Tuna, besides that it is all a la carte and the menu is entirely Japanese, so make sure you can read at least Hiragana and Katakana, bring a Japanese friend or be prepared to ask for help from an English speaking regular or a chef.
Since the sushi is quite cheap(70-300Yen per piece) I ordered quite a lot.

 赤貝 - Akagai   こはだ - Kohada

 いくら - Ikura

 中トロ - Chu-Toro

 Tuna set menu with varying degrees of fattyness

 しゃこ - Shako   うに - Uni   あわび - Awabi

 すみいか - Sumi-Ika

ほたんえび - Hotan-Ebi

玉子 - Tamago   穴子 - Anago

The sushi ranged from very good to very bad. I thought the Tamago was VERY weak and the Anago also really disappointing. The Tuna set however was excellent and where you usually get 1 good piece of toro for 600Yen, here you get 4! Overall though the sushi pieces are quite small and while it's hard to find cheaper a la carte sushi, usually there's set menus that are just as good if not better value for money. If they had a lot of rare sushi usually not in set menus on the menu it'd be worth it, but I there's not quite as many as I'd like to see. They did have Akagai, which I like, but did not have my favorite Hamaguri. All in all, good, but not great sushi.

Rating: 2/5, 3/5 if you know what to order.

Best Piece: Tuna Set

Worst Piece: 玉子 - Tamago

Frank says: I'm not 100% sure yet, because it'll largely depend on the rest of the sushi restaurants in the neighbourhood. This one is VERY close to me though and now that I know what to order, I think I'll be back here.

I recommend you get 1 or 2 of the tuna sets and a couple of pieces that are usually very expensive like Uni and Ikura, which are fairly cheap here and quite good.

評決：

池袋駅はもっと美味しい寿司レストランがあるはずですが、もしトロセットとかうにとかいくらをたべたら、良いと思います。

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130501/13039505/

Ramen in Ikebukuro @ 中華一番

I really wanted to eat some Ramen today, because it had been a while, so I tried to find a good Ramen shop on tabelog. I found one that was very highly rated, so crossed Ikebukuro station and went there. The thing I didn't pay attention to is that there are 2 Ramen shops next to eachother. One not so highly rated one, that's clearly indicated as a Ramen shop and one highly rated one which is not quite as easily identifiable. I tried to go to the latter one, but ended up at the first, unfortunately enough. The Ramen wasn't particularly tasty. Somehow tasted a little bit sweet weirdly enough. And the toppings were very minimal as you can see. A tiny piece of pork and an even tinier piece of nori. Needles to say I won't be returning here, but will be sure to check out the highly rated Ramen shop in the near future. Only good thing here is the price. 530Yen for a Shouyu Ramen bowl is very cheap.

Rating: 1.5/5

Frank Says: Since I was the only one in the shop and the Ramen shop next door is supposed to be a bad ass, I doubt this will be in business much longer. The tastiness of the bowl of Ramen is the single most important thing for a Ramen store to succeed.

評決：
となりの店ではもっともっと美味しいラーメンを食べられるはずですよ！これはダメです。

http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130501/13045162/