Daikokuya

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner
Price: 3240 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Sukiyaki don
English Menu:Yes
Smoking:No

Outside menu

Another tiny alley way find, Daikokuya has turned my head several times as I walked by.  There is a menu out front that is usually turned to the unagi (eel) dishes, so I took it for an unagi specialty shop.  The prices are...eye popping to say the least.  When I took a closer look at the menu, I found some things that were not unagi, and were more affordable.  So I decided to try it out.

English menu

 The inside is made up like a traditional Japanese house with that weird plaster wall stuff and shoji windows.  The staff are mostly all wearing kimono and soft muzak plays in the background (Hotel California anyone?).  There were a two older couples already there.  I took a seat in the corner and proceeded to hope I could find something affordable on the menu.  Then they brought me an English menu!  This was helpful.  They are the first and only Japanese restaurant in Yokosuka I've seen that have kaiseki ryouri (basically Japanese haute cuisine) that has its home in Kyoto.  I've only ever had one kaiseki ryouri meal at an onsen in Hakone.  It was very expensive, and very good.  A multi-course affair of small dishes that are like eating a symphony of food.  There are several kaiseki options on the menu if that's your desire.  There's also the unagi (expensive too), and some tempura (more affordable) and a couple of sukiyaki dishes too.  This caught my eye, as I like the taste of sukiyaki, but I don't enjoy the cooking process so much (I usually have to do it).  It looked as though their sukiyaki dishes were brought cooked to the table, which sounded good to me.  So I ordered what looked like a sukiyaki don (sukiyaki meat and veg on rice).

Umeshu and green tea

They then brought me some umeshu (plum wine) and iced green tea on the house.  The umeshu was sweet, but nice.  Not my favorite, but it'll do.  The next to arrive was an appetizer I didn't know was coming.  It consisted of a white cube of some kind of gelatin, topped by some orange fish roe of some kind, and laced with some bonito flakes.  To the untrained eye this would look like a dessert, but you would be most surprised if you bit into it with that expectation.  It was actually quite fishy, and the saltiness of the eggs was dissipated nicely by whatever the cube of white jelly was.

Appetizer...still no sure what it was

 Next it was the main dish, which took a little while to cook, but that's understandable.  There was a nice raw egg to go with it (mix it up and dip the meat into the egg), along with some pickles and red miso soup.  I love red miso, so that was a nice surprise.  The sukiyaki don was delicious, with some shiitake mushrooms, negi, tofu and mochi to accompany.  All were nicely simmered in that deliciously sweet sukiyaki sauce, and I didn't even have to cook it!  What a concept.  It was all good, if a smallish amount, but with the courses, and by the end of the meal, I felt plenty full.  As I finished, I got up saying "gochisousama" and made to pay when I was shushed back down to my seat for "okashi" or dessert.  I didn't realize...so they brought me a cup full of sweet cooked azuki beans with mochi, and a cup of tea which matched perfectly.

Finally I could pay and discovered they take cards, which is great because if I ever come back I want to try one of the kaiseki courses!

Sukiyaki don

I gave this place an Ok instead of a Very Good because despite the fact that my dish was good, it wasn't amazing, and for the price, I kind of think it should have been.  If I come back sometime and try one of their big meals and I come away impressed, I might up it to a Very Good.

Azuki beans and mochi for dessert