Today's lunch was my first visit to this restaurant located on the basement floor of Yoshiike Hotel. I ordered the seafood mixed rice bowl for 850 yen, which came with miso soup with clams. Unfortunately, the recommended "fresh whitebait bowl" was sold out, so I opted for the popular "seafood mixed rice bowl" instead. The fresh sashimi slices were generously heaped on top, and it was very delicious. The miso soup with clams was a nice touch. It's easy to see why this dish is so popular.

Seafood mixed rice bowl 850 yen Today's lunch was at Ueno around 11:37 am. I entered the restaurant alone, and this was my first visit here. I wanted to order the premium tuna bowl, but it's only available on Saturdays. It seems like many people don't know about this, as I heard several disappointed voices around me. If it's not available, they should remove it from the menu. So, I ended up ordering the popular seafood mixed rice bowl. It was served in about 3 minutes after ordering, very fast. The bowl contained diced tuna, salmon, mackerel, and yellowtail (I think). Under the seafood, there were chopped seaweed and white sesame seeds. I was happy to see that the rice was vinegared. Being a seafood specialty restaurant from the Yoshiike Group, the sashimi was very delicious. The clam soup was also tasty. I had a great lunch and enjoyed it. Another delicious meal today. Used for lunch on July 20, 2020. Rating: 3.04

I was invited by a friend who is familiar with Niigata to go there. I haven't had much Niigata cuisine before, so I decided to start with an introductory course. I ordered the recommended Niigata cuisine sampler "Echigo-zukushi" which included 6 different dishes. The most delicious one for me was the "ego" made from seaweed, which I enjoyed with mustard vinegar miso. The squid shiokara was jet black due to the squid ink. The kanzuri was a spicy miso-like seasoning with quite a kick. It was a good menu for beginners who wanted to try a variety of things. The noppe-jiru was not a soup, but a thick stew-like dish thickened with potato starch, filled with plenty of vegetables and had a gentle flavor. Niigata cuisine restaurants are not so common in the city center, making them a valuable find for local dishes. The clientele seemed to be mostly men in their 40s and 50s, an older generation. I would like to go back to try more dishes as there are other things I want to taste.

Ueno's motorcycle street, which has now fallen out of fashion. But for me, this place is like a sacred ground. I took my motorcycle for inspection and then met up with a middle school classmate in the Ueno area to have a drink. We hadn't decided on a place to go, and I arrived earlier than the meeting time, so I decided to wander around. That's when I stumbled upon a standing bar called Yoshiike located underground. Since it's Yoshiike, the fish should be good, and the sake as well, right? This seems like a hidden gem, doesn't it? So, I kind of suggested to my friend that we should go here, and we entered the place. It was a Saturday evening, and while the bars under the railway tracks were already crowded, this place was quite relaxed. And the prices weren't too high. There were three older men next to us, but they weren't noisy, which was a good thing. I started with a bottle of beer. - Today's small dish (300 yen) - Ichiban Shibori beer bottle (560 yen) Taking it easy with a glass is nice. The small dish was a perfect snack to go with the drinks. - Sashimi platter with 10 types of fish (1,650 yen) Since it's Yoshiike, we had to order sashimi. They offered a 3-piece platter, but we couldn't decide, so we went with the 10-piece platter for this price. It included tuna, amberjack, mackerel, sweet shrimp, salmon, scallop, grunt fish, golden eye snapper, horse mackerel, and octopus. The pieces weren't very big, but the variety was satisfying. - Fried chicken (620 yen) A generous portion of fried chicken. The coating had almonds in it, giving it a nice crunch. They also offer a half portion. - French fries (500 yen) I couldn't resist ordering some. - Kage Toro Special Junmai Sake (glass, 100ml) (850 yen) Now onto the sake. I usually like Kita Yuki, but I also enjoy Junmai sake, so I went with this brand. They had a good selection of Junmai Ginjo like Tsuru Rei, Jozen, and Shimobari. It was nice to have the option of choosing a glass (100ml), a small bottle, or a large bottle. We were mainly focused on chatting, so I had one more glass of sake, but I can't remember the brand. When we left, I checked the receipt and realized that the last glass wasn't listed. Cheers! If you're not looking for a rowdy atmosphere, this place is great. I'll definitely come back again.