Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2010
Akira is under-the-radar-Tokyo. Other neighborhoods might boast fashionable crowds, sleek buildings and restaurants offering the trendiest food and drink, but Akira’s humble Sendagi location attracts real neighbors—people who throw on a knit sweater and shuffle over in slippers to sit at the small black counter for an expertly prepared and inexpensive seafood lunch.
Akira’s popular zanmai lunch (¥1,280) combines fish prepared three ways: a pair of tempura-fried shrimp, a dish of assorted sparkling fresh sashimi and a serving of mutsu (Japanese bluefish) prepared in a poaching liquid of mirin, sake and shoyu à la nitsuke style. Bluefish, with its delicate white flesh and luscious fat, is especially suited for this slow, sweet simmer. The lunch also includes two kinds of rice: brown and white, sesame-dotted and nori-flecked, plus a lacquered bowl of clear dashi soup and housemade pickles.
In addition to lunches, the bold brush-stroked menu lists a selection of side dishes, such as the crab-cheese spring roll (¥680), scallop butter yaki (¥980) and anago with plum and shiso (¥980). But one side dish deserves star billing: the Akira original sanma daikon yaki onigiri (¥980). It’s so well-liked that a poster tacked up on the restroom wall explains its preparation step by step. First, a meaty mackerel filet is flattened out on the cutting board. Then a few large shiso leaves are carefully applied. Next, a filling of rice mixed with chirimen-jako (tiny dried shirasu-sardine fry) and diced daikon is centered on the filet, which is then rolled up and grilled until the mackerel is cooked and its juices infuse through the rice filling. Cut into four thick slices, this dish can be a meal in itself.
Akira has been peddling seafood since the Taisho period—first as a fish shop, then as a restaurant; a bustling seafood vendor still operates next door. On a recent lunch visit, the ten-seat counter slowly filled up with matrons on their own or with a pal, an elderly gent or two, and younger customers with a manga to peruse. One old fellow polished off his “daily lunch special” in 15 minutes flat.
For dinner, ordering à la carte is fine, but there are also course menus. A sashimi course starts from ¥1,500, and two other dinner courses center around either fish (from ¥3,800) or a nabe (from ¥3,000). An upstairs room is available for larger parties.
The ambiance at Akira is next to nil. The main attraction is the fresh-from-Tsukiji seafood filling the chilled glass case along the counter. The eatery is sufficiently well known to be marked on the area map near the exit of Sendagi station. Not many restaurants around town are given their own dot on a city map.
