By the Sea

We had dinner last night with some friends who had wanted to try out a seafood restaurant in Shibuya. The restaurant was called Kaikaya, By the Sea (開花屋) and from the outside it looked kinda like a bar with lots of stickers and random pictures and posters on the wall. Granted, all the decoration had a seaside theme; it even had a fish mobile. This was kind of a Japanese fusion place. When our friend had made reservations, he was asked if we wanted ala carte, the 3000 Yen, 4000 Yen or 4500 Yen set menu. We decided on the 4000 Yen set menu. After ordering drinks, the dishes started to come out. Overall, we had 10 courses and left extremely satisfied and full. Unfortunately, we only brought the small camera and then only took a couple of pictures. The first course of fish carpaccio, then a salad roll with fish (kind of like a summer roll), sashimi, shrimp and corn fritter, fish collar (which looked like a sparerib!), 3 types of smaller whole grilled fish, beef on a sizzling platter, Kobe beef sushi, fish head miso soup and homemade sakura ice cream with milk (and of course, hot tea to end the meal). The sashimi was SO fresh! We had chou tora (middle fatty tuna) but it melted in your mouth like o-toro (REALLY fatty tuna). The hamachi was also super yummy. The fish collar looked like a sparerib from one angle was also a standout dish as well as the Kobe beef sushi.

Raw, thinly sliced beef on sushi rice with just a little wasabi. The beef was so marbled it was pink and you could see the sheen of oily fat glistening just from the room temperature.

Definitely a place we would go to again.