Ichiro - Izakaya in Nishi Azabu

On our first night in Tokyo, the BIL and sister took us out to an izakaya a short walk from their place. It's called Ichiro after the owner, and apparently there are a lot of famous Japanese also called Ichiro, which supposedly means oldest son.

The welcome banner inside the shop

It was still early...the crowd only started streaming in around 8plus

Starting the evening with a warm sake - it was just above 0 deg C that night.

We started off with avocado and okra tempura. The avocado tempura had a surprisingly good texture.

Edamame...the best snack ever.

The fish of the day was a salmon, grilled and served with daikon.

We also had smoked brinjal - this was very interesting, with a literally smoky taste, topped with bonito.

Their grilled chicken wings were pretty good too.

The highlight of the evening was the Ichi Roll.

It's a really interesting take on the California Maki. Instead of having the mayonnaise and avocado on the inside, it's on top and then blowtorched which somehow enhances the flavour. There's prawn, crabmeat and tamago on the inside, and the rice is topped with tobiko. It was so good we ordered another serve.

Squid fried with mushrooms and vegetable in butter. This was also yummy.

The grilled onigiri was simply perfect - crispy on the outside, warm and moist on the inside.

We also had asari, or butter clams.

Absolutely fresh!

There aren't any English contact details that I can find on the internet, but the map's here if anyone's interested - it's just a short walk down from Roponggi Hills. Closest train stations are Azabu Juban on the Oedo line, and Roponggi on the Hibiya Line.