Marufuku

I don't know quite what it is-- maybe we don't eat out often enough, or maybe our neighborhood just doesn't have enough good places to eat--but we don't really have any favourite restaurants. Sure, there's a fantastic sushi bar nearby but its high prices prevent us from become regulars; a local udon shop and Chinese restaurant serve good cheap food but nothing fantastic enough to consider them favourites; and there are a number of chain restaurants around here that have good food at good prices, but t doesn't feel right to have a chain shop as our favourite restaurant.

But that's all come to an end, because we've discovered Marufuku, a restaurant next to nearby Oizumigakuen station specializing in seafood. Very fresh seafood at very low prices, low enough for the place to be locally famous and get occasional mentions on TV. It was a recent TV appearance that inspired us to visit on a Sunday last month, and we weren't disappointed.

The lunch menu is six photocopied pages like the ones above, with a huge number of teishoku (set meals) priced between 680 yen and 980 (and one special of the day, Indian Ocean tuna for 1580 yen) and a handful of a la carte items, like oysters for 100 yen each. It took some time to decide, but I finally settled on the kanburi sashimi (winter yellowtail) teishoku while Hideaki ordered saba miso (mackerel simmered in miso sauce).

A cup of very good hojicha (roasted green tea) and hot towl had arrived as soon as we sat down, and within a minute of ordering we were given a bowl of chawan mushi (savoury egg custard) and a small salad, slightly unusual as a teishoku meal is usually served all at once. The salad was mostly iceburg lettuce but had a very nice oniony dressing, certainly better than the usual teishoku salad. The chawan mushi was made with very humble ingredients: shiitake and shimeji mushrooms, kamaboko (steamed fish paste) and a few chunks of fish of some sort. None of the typical shrimp, ginnan (ginkgo nuts) and other fancy ingredients, these were obiously ingredients that were bought cheaply or were trimmings and leftovers from the kitchen. Yet this was among the best chawan mushi I've had, flavoured with a good fish based stock the earthiness of the mushrooms. I was already sold on the place.

The rest of my meal arrived looking beautiful. I think my lunch was 780 yen, and for that price I definitely wasn't expecting this kind of presentation. The kanburi came with a bowl of rice topped with chopped shibazuke (cucumbers pickled with red shiso), homemade nukazuke (vegetables pickled in rice bran) of daikon, cucumber, carrot, and daikon greens, and miso soup.

The kanburi sashimi was just beautiful, as richly marbled as I've ever seen it. The seven large slices were presented like they were precious gems, on a sasa bamboo leaf set on a platter of crushed ice, along with a shiso leaf on a pile of finely sliced daikon held up buy a little twig fence. Finished off with a sprig of shiso buds and a pile of wasabi on a cucumber slice, this wouldn't be out of place in a kaiseki (haute cuisine) course priced at ten times the amount we paid.

It tasted as good as it looks, the fish being very fresh and having that rich, sweet flavour that only yellowtail caught at the peak of its season has. The whole meal was delicious, and I even enjoyed the pickles (I don't normally like the sharp fermented taste of nukazuke, but these were quickly pickled and not strongly flavour). For 780 yen it was an outstanding value, and I can see this meal--or even just the sashimi by itself--going for 2000 yen or more elsewhere.

Hideaki enjoyed his meal as well but was disappointed by the amount, as he only got two small pieces of fish. He was similarly impressed by the value but vowed to try something else on our next visit. I was happy to hear he wanted to come back--he's come a long way since I met him, and I remember I time he shunned fish and thought chili cheese dogs were the finest food in the world.

He was still so hungry we decided to have dessert at a nearby Mister Donuts. I ordered a chocolate dipped old-fashioned and their newest kind of donut, made with rice flower and topped with crunchy puffed rice, which supposedly make this a "Japanese style" donut (don't ask me what the other two donuts are: I'm not a fan of the fluffy and gooey kinds of donuts). I took one bite of the Japanese style dooughnut and liked it: it was much denser than regular wheat flour donuts, and both chewy and soft at the same time. But my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and the richness of the sashimi caught up with me and reminded me I was way too full to eat another bite. Hideaki was glad to help clean up.

Looking at Marufuku's business card along with a little internet searching showed that the place was owned, along with two local sushi bars, by a fishmonger. I've actually been to one of the sushi places a few years ago (and tried an alarming appetizer that I imagine only a well-connected fishmonger could obtain) and although liked it didn't knock my socks off like Marufuku did. Apparently at night the place is more of an izakaya, pairing the seafood with sake, and although it seems it's always a good value, their cheap lunches are what makes them famous. We vowed to go back for another lunch, and a few weeks ago we did.

This time I got the kaisendon (seafood bowl) teishoku, which seems to be what they are known for. It came with the same side dishes as before and cost 980 yen.

It was a large bowl of sumeshi (sushi rice) topped with sashimi and tamagoyaki (thick omelet). Unfortunately my sashimi-identifying skills aren't super but I think the fish included katsuo (skipjack), tuna, salmon belly, some kind of snapper, amaebi (sweet shrimp), scallops, and one more variety (under the wasabi) that I totally forget. It was all very good, and I even liked the scallops (I normally dislike raw shellfish), although I did give the amaebi to Hideaki. But somehow there were just too many different kinds of fish, and the variety overwhelmed me. I'd prefer larger amounts of just a few kinds of fish, something that I really liked. I think the kaisendon is for people who are a little less picky than I am.

Meanwhile, Hideaki was eating the kakiage (fried oyster) teishoku. The oysters were perfectly done and full of juice, and although it's hard to tell from the picture, they were huge--big enough for Hideaki to actually fill up on. No dessert necessary.

So Marufuku is now our favourite restaurant and I can't wait to get back. The best part is that their lunch prices stay the same all week, unlike many other restaurants that have cheap lunch specials during the week but higher prices on weekends. I'm not sure if it's worth going out of your way for, but if you find yourself in Oizumigakuen (or nearby on the Seibu Ikebukuro line) I highly recommend lunch at Marufuku.

Marufuku
03-3925-1345
4-2-2 Higashioizumi, Nerima-ku, Tokyo
Open weekdays 11:30am-12:00am, Sundays and holidays 11:30am-10:00om, closed Mondays

JapanSoc it!

Comments

[Nate]

The food at Marufuku looks great!

[monchichi]

I enjoyed the post very much, it felt like I was reading a short story! We don't have that many good Japanese restaurants in London, surprising considering how many restaurants there are. I mean, there are all the expensive ones of course, but not many reasonably priced ones serving good quality food.

[Tara]

I just stumbled upon your blog, and I'm hooked! It's been a year since my trip to Japan, and I miss the culture/food/people so much! Thanks for the vicarious droolage.

[David]

Chili cheese dogs? Come on! I started to read this post a few days ago, but I had to stop and eat my own lunch.
I'm very interested in trying this place, and have told Aiko about it. She is going back to Tokyo tomorrow so she'll have plenty of time to check it out. As soon as you said hojicha, I knew I wanted to try this place. The only place I could get hojicha is at my old job. I miss it.

[Mari L'Esperance]

Marvelous! Too bad I'm in Oakland (California), but I'll be in Japan in May and may try to stop by for a bite. The fish looks fresh, succulent, and absolutely delectable. I can almost taste it through your beautiful photos. A feast for the senses, if only virtually! : )

(BTW, if you or anyone reading this is interested in poetry readings, I will be reading at The Pink Cow in Shibuya on May 19 with three other poets (Craig Arnold, Morgan Gibson, Taylor Mignon), so please come by! There'll be a DJ, books for sale, and plenty of food and drink...)

[Amy]

Thanks for the comments!

David and Mari, as much as I liked Marufuku I'm not sure if it's worth going out of the way for: it's very much a neighborhood place and I suspect that other neighborhoods have similar places. But if you're already in the area, then definitely stop by!

Thanks for letting us know about the poetry reading. I've never made it to the Pink Cow so that is a great excuse to go. I hope I can make it!

[niko]

such a nice blog...i was in japan 2 years ago but thanks to your blog it brought back memories and made me feel as if i was there only a week ago.
lovely country and the people are the friendliest of all 36 countries i've visited so far! i enjoyed your post a lot!! thank you.