Restaurants in Asakusa

Yesterday, I wrote about Asakusa.  If you visit there, you should try some of the old and traditional restaurants.  Asakusa became a center of recreation spots in Tokyo during Edo Era (17th – 19th century).  Therefore, there are many old and famous restaurants.

I didn’t visit this time, but Daikokuya, the tempura restaurant is one of the famous

Daikokuya (from the website)

restaurants in this area.  Surprisingly, their website URL is tempura.co.jp so they have a strong confidence regarding the quality of their tempura.

Address: 38-10 Asakusa 1-chome, Taito-ku, Tokyo

 

 

This time, we went to Yoshikami.  This restaurant serves you yoshoku which is western-style dishes.  Yoshoku is not completely European or American but it’s a mixture of western and Japanese tastes.  Typically, yoshoku restaurants will serve you dishes such as pasta, hamberg, omelette, steaks, and stew.  The speciality of this 65-year-old restaurant is beef stew and pork sauté.

The tag line of this restaurant is “Sorry to be too delicious”.  It’s somewhat very Japanese way of saying – there is nothing to be sorry about but sometimes Japanese may tend to say sorry if we are too ahead of others.  They don’t have an English website, so instead, you can check this website.

Address: 41-4 Asakusa 1-chome, Taito-ku, Tokyo

The oldest bar in Japan opened here in Asakusa in 1880.  That was Kamiya Bar which is still standing at the corner of Asakusa.  The facade of this building must be once a very modern-looking.

The bottle of old Denki Bran (from the website)

The bar had another name at the begining but it was renamed as Kamiya Bar in 1912.  Today’s building is the one constructed in 1921.

This bar has a special cocktail called “Denki Bran” which was first introduced in 1882.  Denki means electricity which was still rare in those days.  Bran comes from brandy.  The base of Denki Bran is brandy and gin, wine curaçao, herbs are added.

It was started as a bar but now they have restaurants, too.  There is a casual Restaurant Kamiya and a traditional Japanese restaurant Kappo Kamiya, both in the same building.  The Japan Times tells you the atmosphere of Kamiya Bar.

Address: 1-1 Asakusa 1-chome, Taito-ku, Tokyo

And finally, let me show you Asahi Beer Tower.

Next to the Skytree, you can see a glass-of-beer-looking building.  To be precise, Asahi Beer Tower is in Agatsuma-bashi which is accross the bridge from Asakusa.  (The nearest station is Asakusa.)  This is the Head Quarters of Asahi Beer.  On top of the tower, on 22th floor, there is an Italian restaurant La Lanalita where you can enjoy Asahi Beer and Italian dishes.

By the way, my photo above couldn’t capture another monument.  Can you see a kind of golden ball next to the Asahi Beer Tower?  That is a part of Super Dry Hall, a beer hall of Asahi Beer.  Let me take a photo from Wikipedia.

Asahi Beer Tower and Super Dry Hall by 663highland (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15152452)

 

This architecture was designed by a French industrial designer Philippe Starck.

Address: 23-1 Agatsuma-bashi, Sumida-ku, Tokyo

Lastly, if you don’t know where to go or how to get there, pop in to the tourist information.  The building is unique.  From the window of the second floor, you can see the Thunder Gate of Senso-ji Temple.