We stopped by Izakaya Tataki-no-Ikkyu in Tsuchiura after a fulfilling cycling trip around parts of Lake Kasumigaura. The izakaya was within walking distance from Tsuchiura Station.
The layout of the restaurant consisted of a ground floor bar with a couple of tables. Upstairs, they had a number of private rooms with tables of varying sizes. The rooms may have been private, but they were open near the ceiling. We heard all of the boisterous laughter and conversations of our neighbors.
The restaurant was pretty popular and we were grateful that our friends had made a reservation in advance. We were seated at a nice private table on the second floor. Prior to sitting down, we took off our shoes and put them in some cubies. Upon sitting down, a waitress asked us for our drink orders. One unique thing about this izakaya was that unique Ibaraki related things were written on each of the plates. This one in particular mentioned the Ibaraki Robots which is a local professional basketball team.
The menu was all in Japanese. However, the ordering process was done on our phones through a QR code app. One nice thing about the app was that they had pictures of all the items on the menu. We were able to confirm what some things were and find new items.
Izakaya Tataki-no-Ikkyu Food Review
The izakaya was famous for their tataki which was slices of seared raw fish. We ordered some and it came displayed on this beautiful platter. Our friend taught us to dip it in some salt, add a little green onion, grated ginger, and a heap of marinated oroshi (grated radish). The combination of all the flavors was delicious. The green onion and grated ginger added a bit of spice, while the salt and grated oroshi helped balance the natural flavor of the fish.
Other dishes we had were a crisp salad with a rich goma (sesame) dressing, crispy bite-sized crabs, grilled squid, lotus root tempura, and special Tsukuba grilled chicken.
Final Thoughts
We really enjoyed our meal at Izakaya Tataki-no-Ikkyu in Tsuchiura. We were super grateful to our friends for having made the recommendation and reservation. If it weren’t for them we would likely never have had the opportunity to try it. All the food we had was delicious. Our favorites were the Seared Bonito and the Tsukuba chicken.
Here is the link to their reservation site.
More to Come…