[Tokyo] Monkfish, oysters and soft roe hotpot at Toyotaya (豊田屋) in Hirai

I thought I can’t go to Toyotaya (豊田屋) that is so popular izakaya in Hirai this season because I couldn’t reserve. But we managed to go there.

It is very difficult to reserve Toyotaya, especially in winter. Only square tables can be reserved and seats along the counter table can’t be reserved. So, we have to go there and wait before the opening time if we don’t have reservation. Because the opening time is 5 p.m., I have to take a day off to go there before the opening time.

The manager said to us we can use one square table if we leave before the reservation time.
So, we were seated at the square table. Until 6:40. Maybe Reservation time of this table was 7:00 🙂

We ordered our drinks quickly. You’ll understand later why Toyotaya is so popular. Anyway, we toasted ! Well, if you say “naka”, staffs add shochu into your glass with extra charge. The inexpensive price of foods and drinks is also a reason of the such popularity of Toyotaya.
A large bottle of beer is 480 yen 🙂

Menus are on the wall.

At first, we ordered seafood. Firefly squid. It’s my delight and tastes of Spring. Toyotaya serves delicious seafood !

Vinegared mackerel.

Anago tempura. Anago is conger eel. It’s similar to eel. Its coating was crisp. And inside, conger eel was soft 🙂

Eel’s innards. Whenever we go to there, we order it without fail. Its bitterness of innards and the sweet sauce was good ! Very inexpensive, too.

Well, The top reason that it’s very difficult to reserve Toyotaya’s seats in winter is this hotpot ! It’s their specialty in Winter.

We can choose ingredients of hotpot from cod (たらちり鍋), pork (トン鍋), beef (牛鍋), tuna and green onions (negima / ねぎま鍋), duck meat(カモ鍋), oyster(カキ鍋), soft roe(白子鍋), monkfish(アンコウ鍋) and monkfish liver(アンキモ鍋). Especially, oysters, soft roe, monkfish and monkfish liver can be eaten in winter only, so, lots of people gathering Toyotaya in winter.

So, of course, we ordered it, too ! It is also called “gout hotpot”. We don’t have to do something about this hotpot. Staffs cook it because underdone ingredients is dangerous. Especially, soft roe, monkfish and oysters. Full of happiness !