Izakaya

I had been quite busy over the past couple weeks, on top of that the unusual rainy days made my days 'busier' than expected. Eventually we got a bit of sunshine on the weekend and decided to dine out at Musashi in the city (corner of Pitt-Campbell st), an Izakaya style Japanese restaurant in Sydney.

Now talking about Izakaya, in Japanese i means 'to sit' and sakaya means sake shop, Izakaya evolved from a sake shop to a drinking and dining place with casual atmosphere yet has great friendly service. Every city in Japan has its own local famous Izakaya and here are some of best Izakaya in Tokyo I'd definitely recommend:

Yamariki Izakaya, an Izakaya in 'East end of Tokyo' (Morishita) run by 4th generation owner. Yamariki offers its famous Nikomi, beef guts stew cooked in miso for 8 hours and your could try this Nikomi with garlic bread. 

Mimasuya, claimed to be the oldest Izakaya in Tokyo (opened in 1905),  it offers beer-battered fugu (poisonous blowfish) which can only legally be prepared by licensed chefs. It's located at 2-15-2 Kanda Tsukasa-cho, Chiyoda-ku. 

Wish we had those Izakaya in Sydney, we do have some izakaya down here but none of them is as good as the ones in Japan. Musashi has good dishes but for me it's a bit too elegant for an Izakaya and a bit pricey.

(Japanese kir, a cocktail from Musashi)

(Salmon teriyaki from Musashi)

(John dory with garlic butter sauce from Musashi)