Kotaro

Kotaro (高太郎)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍶 Izakaya / 📍 Shibuya

📓 Visits: 8 (2021-2022)

Timing is everything.  I'd been trying to get a seat a Kotaro for years and had called 100s of times.  On the rare occasion I ever got through all seats would already be taken.  So I didn't try very often.

Kotaro closed during Golden Week 2021 where restaurants were asked to stop serving alcohol.  The day before the state of emergency was due to end I called and couldn't believe my luck when I got through first time.  It got better: seats were available in a couple of weeks' time.  I was almost in a state of shock.

The restaurant has a 10-seat counter and 3 tables at the back for up to four.  It's very warm inside but thankfully, as it's an izakaya, shorts and T-shirt are fine.  If you're not seated close to Kotaro-san it's difficult to chat.  He does most of the cooking himself and the restaurant is always busy.  I've only had the privilege once.  Kotaro-san is very friendly, never loses his smile and we chatted a fair bit that time.  Other staff are quite friendly too and they chat as well, if you can speak Japanese.  Kotaro-san can speak a little English but revealed it's his friend who writes his English Instagram captions :)  If you can read difficult, hand-written Japanese you can order directly from the food menu or you can leave all your choices to Kotaro-san, which is what I've done on all my visits.  On six of my eight visits the meal ran at a good pace but in my first and most recent visit there were excessive delays between courses.

The first couple of dishes are always an otoshi of seasonal vegetables and then sashimi and the final dish is always udon.  On each of my visits 2-4 of the dishes from an 8-11 dish course have been new.  Takikomki gohan is available but the minimum size is for two so if you're dining alone there could be a lot to take home.

The food is good.  Menchi katsu is not something I eat very often but this was the best one I can remember eating.  The simmered dishes are my favourites: renkon manju on visit one and tachiuo, imo ebi, baby corn boiled then fried and served in a thick dashi on visit two, which was to the quality of a good kaiseki restaurant, aigamo to satoimo jibuni on visit four and suji, kabu shio ni on visit five - so good I asked for another bowl.  Agemono are a little greasy.  The nori that accompanied the anago shirayaki was, unfortunately, stale on visit two (but fine on visit four).  For non-alcoholic drinks the cold tea and homemade ginger ale are good.  Disappointingly, there's no champagne by the glass.

Kotaro always had an assistant chef until he left in 2020 and went on to open Lamp.  Another assistant, Hideaki Shokai, went on to open Sakai Shokai and then Sowado.  I went to Lamp and Sakai in 2020.  I don't have enough notes to do proper reviews but I didn't have a great experiences at either and haven't been back since.  The main take-away was that the courses were insubstantial and, particularly at Lamp where my bill was 9,000 yen, not particularly good value.

Nihonshu is relatively expensive for an izakaya and the drinks menu is pictured below.  Across my five visits the bill has been between JPY 8,500 and JPY 10,000 for 8-11 courses including 2-4 drinks.  This works out at about 730 to 875 yen per dish.  It's not as gastronomic as Arakicho Kintsugi and possibly not as cheap but you get a full meal.  It's not nearly as gastronomic as Kirakutei (which following a move to Ginza closed and then re-opened as Ginza Komon) and not as substantial but I think Kotaro is good value.  If Kotaro was in a Tokyo suburb I don't think it would be as hard to book but it's right in the heart of Shibuya and there aren't many great restaurants around there.  After each visit I booked my next.  After years of trying, I'm finally a regular!

📅 Visit December 2022

17:20 Otoshi
17:23 Tofu
17:36 Sawara, aji, suzuki
17:42 Shumai
17:54 Kabu gyusuji
18:12 Taco
18:23 Yurine age
18:53 Renkon mentaiko
19:12 Menchi katsu
19:43 Bukakke udon

💴 Damage: 10,000 incl. 3 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 2h50m

📅 Visit May 2022

Otoshi of seasonal veg
Tofu-age
Sashimi: aji, sawara, taco
Kuri, buri, goma
Sawara nimono
Iwashi, shin tama-negi
Potato salad
Chicken liver moriawase
Menchi katsu
Anago
Inaniwa udon

💴 Damage: 9,200 incl. 3 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 2h10m

📅 Visit March 2022

Otoshi of seasonal veg
Kinugoshi tofu, momen tofu-age
Sashimi: sawara aburi, hotaru ika, ishidai
Warabi
Potato salad
Gratin
Takenoko kinome shoyu-yaki
Shumai
+Otoshi
Menchi katsu
Inaniwa udon

💴 Damage: 9,800 incl. 3 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 1h50m

📅 Visit December 2021

Otoshi of seasonal veg
Sashimi: aji, shako, kanpachi
Potato salad
Yurine su-age
Ohmomo kinu-goshi tofu, jikasei momen age tofu
Suji, kabu shio ni
Satsumaimo, shio butter gratin
Menchi
+Suji, kabu shio ni
Udon

💴 Damage: 9,000 incl. 2 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 1h40m

📅 Visit October 2021

Otoshi of seasonal veg
Tofu
Sashimi
Iwashi namban
Aigamo, satoimo jibuni
Kuri chips
Anago shirayaki
Menchikatsu
Inaniwa Udon

💴 Damage: 9,500 incl. 2 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 1h40m

📅 Visit August 2021

Otoshi of seasonal veg
Sashimi: tachiuo, maguro, aji
Maru nasu
Gratin
Shumai
Ika, renkon, mentaiko
Tomorokoshi karaage
Inaniwa udon

💴 Damage: 8,500 incl. 3 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 2h

📅 Visit July 2021

Otoshi of seasonal veg
Tofu-age
Sashimi: aji, kanpachi, salmon
Potato salad
Shumai
Anago shirayaki
Tomorokoshi karaage
Tachiuo, imo ebi, baby corn age-dashi
Kamo nasu, nishin, chicken and kuri
Inaniwa udon

💴 Damage: 10,000 incl. 3 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 2h

📅 Visit June 2021

14:15 Otoshi of seasonal veg: goya, edamame
14:30 Sashimi: kinmedai, isaki, hiramasa
14:55 Fried tofu
14:56 Potato salad
15:20 Renkon manju
15:31 Ayu
15:34 Menchi katsu
15:42 Nasu, chicken, kuri, mehikari
15:48 Gratin of asparagus, ham and gobo
16:03 Shumai
16:18 Inaniwa udon

💴 Damage: 10,000 incl. 4 drinks
⏱️ Time taken: 2h25m

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13123997/ 

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0

📱 Booking: 🟥 One of the most difficult general reservations in Tokyo.  Bookings are taken by phone daily from about 13:30 for dates up to one month in advance.  It's very difficult to get through and if you do, most likely all seats will already be taken.  Table seating is easier to get than counter seating but table reservations for lone diners are not accepted.  They are closed on Mondays and every other Tuesday so to maximize your chance of a booking the best time to call is on a Wednesday following a Tuesday holiday so (at least when these are not holidays) there are more available future dates.  Call a little before 13:30.  Annoyingly, they leave the phone off the hook when they're not answering so you can't tell the difference between line genuinely busy and not answering.  The door is locked outside of service so trying to make a reservation in person will not work.

📍 Location: 28-2 Sakuragaokacho.

Behind the Cerulean Tower.  It's a bit of a slog uphill from Shibuya Station so you might prefer to get a taxi from the South Exit.  If you're a cheapskate like me you can get the red (not orange) 100 yen Hachiko Bus one stop from right behind the Hachiko statue.  They don't run very often though so you need to be careful about times.  For walking back to the station, the footbridge that connects the Cerulean Tower to Dogenzaka is convenient.

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