Adventurasia Community

(Written by: Patrick McCoy, 2001)

Snow was falling on the chilling Saturday evening, when we decided to escape the inhospitable elements to dine at Daikonya in Sangenjaya. Once you walk in you will immediately notice the subdued lighting and smart art deco furniture that gives off a sophisticated vibe. The first floor has a bar and scant dinning. We were seated in the basement which has seating for about 20, as does the second floor.

In order to warm up from the cold, we ordered some attkai nihonshu (hot sake), Manzai ranken from Ishikawa. It was just the thing to take some of the sting out of the cold. There are over 20 different styles and varieties of nihonshu from all over Japan available. Jizakei no nihonshu(house brewed sake) is also available. The drink menu also include your usual offerings of wine, cocktails, beer, and non alcoholic drinks.

In order to sample a variety of dishes, my dinner companion and I opted for the smaller of the two set courses available, as well as trying some of the other more interesting offerings from the regular menu. We got the 3,800 yen set course, which includes an appetizer, sashimi, nabe, oden, a meat dish, skokuji(a rice dish), and dessert. The other course is 5,000 yen and includes all of the dishes the former course, but different varieties, and also includes a fish dish. The waitress brought out the appetizers, six dishes with various vegetables, pork, eggs, and of course daikon. In fact, the waitress set down miniature daikon as chop stick rests.

After sampling the appetizers the regular menu items began arriving. First up was a subtle, but delicious Kyoto salad (700 yen), all of the ingredients are actually from Kyoto. The menu states that they use only the best and freshest ingredients in Japan. This was followed by a tangy Korean soup (750 yen), in which the kimchi added just the right tartness without dominating the taste of the soup. Before we finished the soup the oden arrived, and it became clear that perhaps we were a little overzealous in our ordering. The set course included Kansai style oden, which is cooked in a white broth, and we wanted to compare it to the Kanto style oden (650 yen-200-250 yen according to ingredient selection), which is cooked in a shoyu base. They were both good, but we preferred the Kanto style.

As we progressed through the set menu, the dishes thankfully began to arrive more slowly. However, this might be an issue if you are short on time, whereas we would recommend staying with regular menu choices. The intricately arranged sashimi plate arrive with shrimp, scallops, sole, and a large piece of maguro. Appropriately, according to the weather, the winter favorite, nabe, arrived piping hot with the usual accompaniment and cod fish. The last regular menu item followed, fried tofu with a hint of shrimp (700yen).

The set course was rounded out by chicken, shokuji, and dessert. The savoury chicken was spiced up with salt, pepper, and just the right amount of garlic. We hardly had any room for the shokuji, which turned out to be rice and salmon in ocha (green tea). We could only manage a few nibbles at the pumpkin mousse in sweet bean paste, which had just the right amount of sweetness.

Our feast had come to an end and we had seen, several older patrons exit. To our dismay, the snow continued to fall. But after all the delicious hot food and nihonshu served up by Daikonya, we were better able to navigate the elements.

1-40-4 Sangejaya, Setagaya-ku
Tel: 03-3487-5874
Open: M-F 11:30-2:30, 5:00pm-Midnight, Weekends: 5:00-11:30
Menu in Japanese only
Credit cards: accepted
Reservations: three days in advance

Filed under: Japan, Taste of Asia