01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
One dish that catches the eye at Asahi Diner is listed on the menu as “Flame-Seared Shime Saba”. One visitor wrote that the fish had a satisfyingly thick cut. It could be a good place to start if you fancy a drink with something from the sea, before deciding what to order next.
For the centrepiece, there is motsunabe in a soy-sauce broth. The menu describes it as a Kyushu-style hot pot packed with vegetables, and a visitor also noted the soy-based broth. It can be ordered for one, with champon noodles or rice porridge to finish. That gives you something to look forward to through the last spoonful on a leisurely hot-pot evening. The listing says advance reservations are required in summer. For a more robust dish, try the “Spicy Umami Hormones”: a teppanyaki mix of wagyu small intestine and sagari, a cut from near the diaphragm, served with vegetables. The menu suggests stirring the house-made spicy miso into the rendered fat. It makes a change from the hot pot when you want a sizzling dish in the middle of the table.
For a few smaller plates, the meat tofu with a soft-boiled egg includes pork belly cartilage and chicken seseri. House-made cheese tofu comes with a suggestion to eat it with honey toast, adding something beyond the usual izakaya staples. Drinks include gari sour and Kakubin highballs, as well as sake selections that change with the restaurant’s purchases. There is room to build a meal a little at a time, or to gather around a hot pot with a group.
