ぺんたろ
Today is a weekday, but I took the afternoon off and had a lunch drink with my senior colleague at work (lol). After careful consideration, we decided on this restaurant. It is located a 5-6 minute walk from JR Asagaya Station, and a 3-4 minute walk from Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line's Minami-Asagaya Station. The ground floor of this shop facing the shopping street is a takeout-only yakitori shop. The entrance is from the south side door. There is a slight step at the entrance, but it is easy to enter. Inside the shop, there are counter seats on the left and table seats on the right. There are also seats on the second floor, including table seats and semi-private room seats. This time, we were guided to the second floor seats. When we sat down, I surprised the staff a little when I ordered a highball (lol). Well, a highball at this time on a weekday is surprising, right? And when the drinks were served, cheers! As for the menu, this is a yakitori and eel restaurant, offering various parts of yakitori and eel dishes such as grilled skewers and kabayaki. The eel bowl comes in three levels starting from 2100 yen. Other rice bowl options include sauce cutlet bowl, chicken cutlet bowl, etc. The salt flavor of the yakitori is exclusive to eating at the shop, and you can only enjoy the sauce flavor for takeout. The alcoholic beverages include beer, sake, shochu, highball, and sour drinks. The prices are all reasonable, and even if you visit in the evening, you can be satisfied with around 3,000 to 4,000 yen. Since we were just having a light drink this time, we ordered a few yakitori sticks and an eel liver skewer for snacks. I wanted to order the chicken tenderloin, but they weren't serving it yet at this time. Anyway, we started with the chicken skin with ponzu sauce that we received as a complimentary appetizer. After about 5 minutes of waiting, the yakitori was served. It looked even more delicious than I had imagined. Next came the liver skewer. The grilling was excellent and it tasted great. After having about three highballs and feeling good, we finished with an eel bowl. This restaurant offers an "eel bowl" instead of an "eel box." The eel bowl arrived after about 7 minutes of waiting. - Taste Evaluation - Eel Bowl (with pickled plum) I asked for the one in the middle. At 2800 yen, this was just right. The thickness of the eel was decent, and it was delicious without any strong flavors. The amount of rice was quite generous, perhaps because it was lunchtime. The yakitori was surprisingly delicious for a takeout shop. You can choose between sauce and salt flavors, but the salt flavor is definitely better. The tsukune had a nice texture with a good balance of meatiness and tenderness. The thigh meat, with vegetables sandwiched in between, was also tasty. The eel liver skewer had a slightly bitter taste due to the liver, but it paired well with the sauce and made for a delicious snack. The size was just right, and I should have ordered two of them. Overall, I was very pleased with this restaurant where you can enjoy eel at this price range. Even after drinking and eating to my heart's content, it didn't go over 4,000 yen per person. It was a reasonable lunch drink experience.