Marumasuya, or Hana Yori Dango

"Hana yori dango" is a phrase you'll hear a lot in Japan around hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season. Dango are sweet rice flour dumplings, a popular snack sold by vendors at festivals or packed into hanami bento (cherry blossom viewing lunchboxes), and the phrase literally translates as "dango before flowers". Which refers to the way some people are more interested in the snacks that accompany hanami than the blossoms themselves.

Normally the expression doesn't really apply to us, as we love the flowers as much as the food that goes with them. But this weekend we had an attack of hana yori dango: we were on our way to have a little hanami party for two, and during the one minute walk to the park we got a phone call inviting us out to dinner. And the picture above of the cherry tree-lined street that borders the park shows the extent of our hanami that day: knowing how long it would take me to get ready, we turned right around without even entering the park. No big deal, we knew the sakura would still be there the next day.

So at home we unpacked the quickie bento I'd put together earlier, and had a quick bite to tide us over until dinner, leaving the rest for the next day's breakfast. I had packed onigiri (rice balls) flavoured with homemade shirasu furikake (a savory rice topping made from baby sardines and sesame seeds): two consisted of rice stuffed with the furikake, and for the other two the rice was simply mixed with it, and all four wrapped with nori seaweed. On the side was kyuri no asazuke (quick-pickled cucumber), cut fruit, and hot green tea. Extremely basic for a hanami bento, but in the end it was just as well I hadn't gone to much effort because we had a giant dinner afterwards.

We ended up at a restaurant called Marumasuya in Akabane, a northern Tokyo neighborhood I'd never been to before. The area had a shitamachi (literally "low town", these are old neighborhoods in Tokyo populated by the common folk) feeling that I liked, and the streets around the station abounded with little bars marked with akachochin (red paper lanterns). When we got to the restaurant there was a line to get in, and I took it as a good sign when an old man waiting behind us started talking to me in Japanese, and a few minutes after he got in (having come alone he was seated quicker), another old man chatted me up. It's extremely rare for this to happen to me, as most people here seem convinced that Japanese is an impossible language for foreigners to learn, so for not one but two strangers to just start talking to me in their language, apparently just assuming I could understand them, was very cool.

From the outside Marumasuya looks like its been around forever (not necessarily in a bad way) and seems to be a local institution. Inside, the place was cramped, crowded and cozy, its walls plastered with hand-printed signs listing the menu items (like a lot of older places Marumasuya has no actual menu). It was packed with all sorts of people, most of whom were older and nearly all of whom appeared to be regulars. Or maybe it was just the friendly vibe of the place that made instant regulars out of everyone. The waitstaff acted more like mothers (or grandmothers, as a few appeared to be in their sixties or seventies) than waitresses, and there was a good deal of interaction between both them and the customers and between the customers themselves, or at least the customers at the counters. A good portion of the diners had come by themselves, but none of them were actually alone. It felt exactly like what a good old shitamachi restaurant should, and that's an atmosphere you just don't find in newer parts of Tokyo. Of course, since this is a nomiya (a drinking establishment) and everyone either had sake or beer in front of them, alcohol probably went far in encouraging the friendly feeling of the place.

According to the sign outside, the place specializes in unagi (freshwater eel), which I was excited about, and koi (carp), which was a bit less exciting. Koi is far more popular in ponds than on menus, and with good reason: it's not very good. Or rather, most people think it's not very good, but there is a small population of people who love it, and Marumasuya is happy to cater to those people. The classic koi dish is koi no arai, shown above, which is carp "sashimi" served with a vinegar miso sauce. It is not true sashimi as it's been boiled, which is probably done to render it safe to eat (freshwater fish has too many parasites to be safely eaten raw) and remove excess carp flavour.

I'd tried koi once before, but it was a very small dish of tiny slices dressed with miso. With a pleasantly chewy texture and no apparent flavour of its own, I liked it just fine but didn't add it to my list of favourite foods. This time around was a little different, with huge undressed slices of the fish that because of the firm texture had to be eaten whole. That really forced me to actually taste the fish, which tasted, at first, of nothing. And after the nothing came another flavour, which can be best described as "muddy". It pretty much tasted exactly what you'd expect a fish that lives in murky ponds to taste like.

I'd probably eat koi again, if I was starving to death and that was all I could catch, but I wouldn't prepare it like this. There are probably a dozen ways to cook koi that are better than sashimi (and to be fair Marumasuya did offer several of them, and I'm guessing that their deep-fried koi is not bad).

The next dish more than made up for the koi disappointment. It was kawahagi (filefish) sashimi, which is firm and delicate in flavour, often compared to fugu (blowfish, a far more expensive--and slightly dangerous--fish). We got the flesh from a whole fish, served on a shiso (perilla) leaf and pile of thinly sliced daikon and carrot that covered up what was left of the body, which was artfully arranged so that only the fins and tail (a surprisingly bright blue) were visible. Garnishes on the right are negi (long onion), momiji oroshi (daikon grated with hot pepper) and a sprig of shiso buds, and on the left is a paste made from the fish's liver. To eat it, you add the garnishes to a dish of soy sauce then lay out a piece of sashimi, smear a small dab of liver in the middle, roll up the fish and dip it in the soy sauce. I'm not big on organ meats, but there are a few types of liver that I like (namely ankimo and fois gras), and now I can add filefish liver to that list. This was fantastic, both the rich, sweet liver and the mild sashimi, and I can't believe I've never had it before.

Aside from koi and unagi, Marymasuya has a number of meibutsu (famous products). One of them is deep-fried fried garlic, which comes as a whole head with a dab of miso as a garnish. I had a first aid class the next day so I tried to avoid the garlic, knowing that garlic breath doesn't go well with the close contact involved in learning CPR and splinting techniques. But I just couldn't resist and ended up having a few bites. I was glad I did (probably much more glad than the other participants in the first aid class) because it was delicious. Similar to roasted garlic, but with a more assertive garlic flavour. It lacked a bit of the sweetness and deep flavour that roasting brings, but the miso seemed to make up for that, and I only wished I had a nice baguette to spread it on.

Next up were gesoten (deep fried squid tentacles, another meibutsu) and basashi (horse sashimi). The gesoten, which I didn't get a picture of, tied with the kawahagi as my favourite item of the evening, surprisingly tender and tasty with just enough bite to remind you it's squid. The basashi was also excellent. Horse is hardly consumed in North America, and although most people there feel horses should be ridden and not eaten, the simple fact is that it's a very tasty animal. It's very similar to beef, but sweeter, richer, and somehow cleaner tasting. This sashimi was a good example, and the heavy marbling seems to indicate that this particular horse was raised to be meat, which will hopefully be reassuring to horse fans (who apparently find it outrageous that some retired racehorses of North America end up shipped overseas to become someone's dinner).

The meal finished with unaju (eel grilled with a sweet soy sauce, served in a box of rice) with pickles and kimosui (eel liver in clear soup). This was a delicious and rare treat: unagi is rather expensive and we haven't had it (or at least good unagi in a restaurant) for a few years. The soup was surprisingly good too. I didn't like kimosui the first time I had it (like I said, I'm not crazy about offal), but this time it was mild and tasty. I guess that's a fourth type of liver I like.

This was one of the best meals we've had in a long time, and one that I was happy to give up hanami for. Hana yori dango, indeed.

Marumasuya (まるます屋)
03-3901-1405
1-17-7Akabane, Kita-ku, Tokyo
Open 9:00am to 9:30pm, closed Thursdays

Comments

[Lynne]

so you could eat koi!
whenever i mention that as a joke (and part curiosity), my friends look at me like a monster. koi fishes here belongs in a pond and that's pretty much it...

i'll be glad to show them this post to prove them wrong...

=)

thanks for eating and reporting...wish there was a way of sharing the actual food =P

[tudza]

I always translate hana yori dango in my head as "the practical over the pretty" but given that dango are a snack food, that might not be right.

I also of course translate it as "Boys Before Flowers"

[astrorainfall]

I always wondered about Hana Yori Dango. I get "food over flowers" and "the practical over the pretty", but I'm not sure about "boys before flowers" — I watched this famous J-drama with the same name, so I came away a little confused.

Btw, love the bento.

[kat]

what a great post, I would give up a day of hanami for a delicious dinner with friends any day.

[Shibuya]

Those are some great pictures!

Also the hana yori dango "boys over flowers" is probably a play on kanji or something.

[Kim]

I rarely post but always enjoy your blogs. I used to live in Akabane so I totally identified with this blog. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Amy]

Lynne, koi are indeed edible, but I think most Japanese people have the same reaction as your friends. It's not terribly popular here.

Tudza, Astrorainfall and Shibuya, I had no idea what you were talking about with "boys before flowers" and had to look it up, which shows how much Japanese TV I watch! Hana yori dango is written 花より団子 and the TV show in question is 花より男子, which would normally be pronounced "Hana yori danshi", but "dango" is an alternate pronunciation of the last word. The Japanese love word play like that.

Kat, I'm glad I did.

Kim, Akabane seems like a neat neighborhood. Have you been to Marumasuya?