I am not doing justice to the food here as the lighting in the restaurant was neon blue and therefore cast everything in a different light.
Tachinomiya 立ち飲み屋 translate to “standing bar”. When I was travelling to Tokyo, we had several of these types of bar around our office in Akasaka. These are usually around the subway stations, where many salaryman and OL would just stand around for a quick drink, and maybe a small bite or two before they head home .
A signature of their izakaya is the Japanese sweet omelette with torched mentaiko and tobiko – an appetiser that went well with the sweet sake that we were drinking.
Seasoned and grilled thread-sail filefish goes well with many drinks. Uniquely strong umami of the fish with superb sweetness and saltiness, it looked crispy but actually quite soft and chewy.
Mame Aji Fry (Breaded Deep-fried Kunning) is a staple family-style food in Japanese cuisine. Usually the fish is butterflied before breading and deep-frying, these smaller version were fried whole.
The snow crab claw had been shelled so consuming it was simple. And the chicken karaage, I loved the proportion of the skin and meat – more skin and less meat in this case.
It is said that you would be so lucky to bite into a spicy shishito, because only one in ten is spicy.
The grilled wagyu beef is their bestseller in Katong. Simply grilled with pepper and salt, the juicy cubes of wagyu were gone in a minute.
And then we continued our catch-up with some more izakaya snacks for kuchisabishii 口寂しい. I am not making up this word. The Japanese does have word to describe the urge to put some snack into the mouth because it’s lonely.
The owner Ying is a certified sake sommelier and before when we could travel, she would go to source for unique sake and shochu from Japan. Besides the Dassai Junmai, you can find other rarer varietals on offer here.
Tachinomiya Katong 立ち飲み屋
19 East Coast Road #01-01 Singapore 428746
Disclaimer: I know the owner of this place, a classmate of mine. She is a certified sake sommelier, and also own the other branch in Kovan – the first izakaya in the heartlands.
Visited May 2023
#tachinomiyakatong #tachikatong #ditanjongkatong #立ち飲み屋
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