[Tokyo Fall 2008] Kushiya: Food on a Stick

When we went to Osaka we visited this little place where you eat fun fried foods on sticks, and drink beer, and be happy.

I did a quick research online before heading off to Tokyo and found that Kushiya serves food on sticks and you get to fry your own sticks at your table.

I checked their web site and decided to go to one of their stores in Shinjuku.


After being lost for a little bit, we found the store among these signs.

It was a night before a national holiday, so the restaurant was busy. I think we waited about half an hour or so before we were seated. Not too bad.


We were guided to our "frying table." A girl explained to us how things work.

Kushiya designed their seats with a box underneath, where you can store your jackets and accessories in to avoid the risk of having your clothes catch the "fry smell." Cool.


Food area at Kushiya.

At the food area customers can get meats, vegetables, seafood, savory cakes and such on sticks inside the refrigerated glass cases. There were also other food items like soups, rice, snacks, and desserts.


You can theoretically fry any kind of food in the store. They supply you with a light batter and crumbs, and off you start frying!


I got all kinds of fun stuff.

Ahhh I love those small fish with lots of roe inside.


Frying guide at the table.


John taking a bite.

I was frying seafood, cakes, sausages, chicken, meatballs, and all sorts of crazy ingredients. There were also different dipping sauces for people to choose from.


We had quite a few sticks!

We also had almond tofu and custard for dessert. Yum.

Overall the food was OK, but the experience was fun and interesting!

[Tokyo Fall 2008] Shinjuku at Night

The day we went to Ueno we bought a JR East Day Pass, so we figured we'd take advantage of the pass and ride to as many places as we could. We bought some treats and goodies at Ameyayokocho (in Ueno) and brought it back to the hotel (in Ikebukuro) first, then we decided to go to Shinjuki to have dinner at Kushiyamonogatari, which would be a post of its own later on.

We arrived at Shinjuku on the JR, and did get lost for a little bit... but we got to see the pretty and sparkling shinjuku lights!




I really like this photo... it almost looks like something mysterious is coming down from the sky!


One of the things that were really interesting to me was that there could be tons of different small businesses, food or retail, within the same building in Tokyo... and they have the signage to prove it!

I took some more pictures, but most of them were a bit fuzzy... I like them, however, so if you like you can check them out on my flickr.

Oh, and we did manage to find the restaurant among the busy streets and buildings. It was on the 7th floor by the way.