Ginza Ogura @ Haneda (2023)

I always make it a point to go to Haneda airport in plenty of time before my flights in order to enjoy oden and dashi-chazuke at Ginza Ogura 銀座 おぐ羅.

Ginza Ogura serves oden – fish cakes and vegetables slowly braised in the finest dashi broth. The umami from the broth is in every one of the oden item – be it daikon (radish), tamago (boiled egg), tsumire (sardine meatball), konnyaku or chikuwa (tubular fish cake).

Hitsumabushi Set with Domestic Unagi 国産うなぎのひつまぶしセット

ひつまぶし Hitsumabushi・おぐ羅のだし Ogura’s Soup Stock・お新香 Pickles・デザート Dessert

Each set comes with tsukemono (pickled vegetables) such as pickled cucumber, takuan (pickled radish) and umeboshi (sour plum), tsukudani (pickled nori) and arare (rice crackers) for added crunch.

Hitsumabushi ひつまぶし is a registered trademark of the long-established Nagoya restaurant Atsuta Horaiken あつた蓬莱軒 founded in 1873 (明治6年). First you scoop a portion of the unagi and rice from the lacquer or wooden box into the provided porcelain bowl and eat it as is with additional condiments. Then you repeat with some wasabi, seaweed, chopped scallions or shimichi.

Ochazuke 茶漬け is the comfort food for Japanese, equivalent to chicken noodles for the Westerners. This is a variation called dashi-chazuke だし茶漬け using dashi stock from the oden. You start by putting some of the rice into the bowl, pick your favourite toppings, and then pour the hot soup into the bowl and enjoy the rice soaked in soup.

7 items of Oden おでん７品盛り

(from top clockwise) だいこん radish, わかめ wakame seaweed, 玉子 egg, 大玉 fried fish cake, こんにゃくkonnyaku, 厚揚げ deep fried tofu,  (middle) ちくわ chikuma fish cake.

Oden is about as traditional as you can get in terms of Japanese food, and Ginza Ogura is a steward of this genre. For the unaccustomed, oden looks like a plate of bland boiled food. But actually they are absolute fabulous, lots of umami and very satisfying. There are more than 20 kinds of oden that they serve. “The taste is Kansai style, the ingredients are Kanto style” is the same as the main store.

The clear dashi is made from boiling kelp and bonito flakes and is flavoured only with salt without using any soy sauce. The soup is the best part of the meal as the ingredients are constantly replenished into the dashi stock, adding more flavours into the soup. You can ask for a refill (of the soup) for free if you want.

If you happen to have a flight from Haneda airport, come earlier. This place is in the Edo Walk on the upper floor before immigration. It is open 24 hours and you can eat heart-warming chazuke for breakfast or light snack before the flight. Usually there is no line but the food is very good.

You should not miss trying this restaurant especially during the winter season, when the oden can really warm the cockles of your heart.

Ginza Ogura Haneda 銀座 おぐ羅羽田国際空港店
〒144-0043 東京都 大田区 羽田空港 2 6 5 東京国際空港国際線ターミナル4階
Tel : 03-5755-9920

Visited Nov 2023