Tsukushi

When choosing a few fried skewers, it is worth switching between dipping sauces to suit their different flavours. Visitors to Tsukushi have enjoyed them with sauce, ponzu and salt, noting that ponzu goes particularly well with seafood. The wide selection includes beef, pork, prawns, salmon, scallops, whiting and squid, alongside vegetable skewers. Try ponzu with a few seafood choices, then sauce or salt with other skewers as you go.

One visitor recalls enjoying the light batter and freshly fried skewers. Another ordered beef, prawns, corn, lotus root and quail eggs, then rounded off the meal with salmon ochazuke—rice served with tea. Seafood options include prawns and salmon; vegetables include lotus root and green asparagus. For something a little different, there are also chikuwa fish cake with spicy cod roe and nama-fu, a soft wheat-gluten cake. Comparing the names and choosing a few at a time is part of the fun of kushiage.

Before or after the skewers, there are small dishes such as the eponymous “house-special doteyaki” and spicy cucumber or chilled tomatoes. The menu works well for anyone who wants to enjoy a drink with a few snacks as well as fried skewers. Drinks include draft and bottled beer, Namazake-style sake, and red or white wine. Chuhai—shochu-based drinks—come in flavours including lemon, lime, tomato and tea. There is plenty of choice whether you are having a light drink centred on skewers or choosing a favourite drink first and building your meal around it.

Ordering has its own small routine. One visitor reports that diners write down the number of each skewer they want and hand in the slip; several of the same skewer may arrive together. If you would rather try a wider range, it may be better to order the same item in smaller quantities over more than one round. The restaurant is described as having counter seating and as suitable for dining alone. Dinner reservations are available, so consider booking if you would like time to choose skewers, small dishes and drinks.