Azabu Kougaiken 麻布笄軒 @ Tokyo

This is a very special category of Japanese cuisine called Japanese-style Western or yoshoku 洋食.

We went to Azabu Kougaiken 麻布笄軒 located on the first floor of Kudan Kaikan Terrace for a quick lunch before our next meeting. This is a really interesting building incorporating the old facade with a brand new office building.

The low-rise section at the front of the building was built in 1934 as the 軍人会館Military Hall, and after the war it was known as the 九段会館 Kudan Kaikan for many years. Of the building, only the north side, which is the front, and the east side, which faces Uchibori-dori Street, have been preserved. The design is known as the “Imperial Crown Style,” and is a good example of the design methods used in the early Showa period. It is currently registered as a “Registered Tangible Cultural Property.”

The palace moat near to this building is perfect vantage point for the annual sakura blossoms.

From the new building you can see a bird-eye view of the Imperial Palace as well as the 日本武道館 Nippon Budokan, which simply means, “Japan Martial Arts Hall”. It was first opened ahead of the 1964 Summer Olympics, where it introduced judo as an Olympic sport. This is where The Beatles played their first show in Japan.

With its origins dating back to the Meiji period (1868-1912), yoshoku was encouraged to incorporate Western ingredients into the diets of Japanese people. But while many popular cuisines from across the West were imported into Japanese culture, they merely served as an influence for the way of Japanese cooking. That’s right, yoshoku is Western food reinvented the Japanese way. 

ハンバーグステーキ Hamburg Steak

Every hamburger steak here uses domestic beef and pork, and I do not need to go into how good these produce are in Japan. The result is a really juicy, and tasty grilled meat patty. You can choose the sauce that you would like with the hamburger steak – デミグラスソース demi-glaze sauce, トマトソース tomato sauce, 和風おろしポン酢 Japanese-style ponzu sauce with grated daikon radish. I selected the demi-glace sauce made from concentrated wine, it is tangy and quite a rice killer.

This is a chain restaurant that offers really good, affordable yoshoku and can be found in a lot of locations.

Azabu Kougaiken 麻布笄軒 (九段下店)

Visited Jul 2024