Izakaya: The Japanese Tavern

Japanese Required: A lot
Good for: Everyone

If you stay in Japan for a while, you'll probably hear the term "Izakaya" a lot. "Izakaya" in Japanese translates to "Tavern" in English, and they are truly the taverns of Japan. You can find Izakaya restaurants everywhere in Japan: down side-streets, near train stations, in rural areas, in urban areas, etc. They are almost certainly more common in Japan than fast food places.

All Izakaya restaurants are essentially the same. They usually serve food on skewers, rice, and miso soup. They also serve edamame (soya beans). The food is served family-style, and there are usually several different types of meat on each skewer rather than a single place having multiples of the same kind. You can almost always order some sort of fried food, and assorted alcohol is the norm.

I have been to many different Izakaya restaurants around Nagoya as well as to one in Inuyama. Although they are all the same food, each restaurant has slight differences to match the place they were built. The restaurant in Inuyama was a more intimate, close seating style that was suited toward families or close friends. The atmosphere was very comfortable and bright, and our table was actually sectioned off from the rest of the restaurant via sliding doors. This gave it a very personal feel even though, just a couple feet away, there were at least two or three other tables with people seated in their own sectioned off areas. Meanwhile, a place in Sakae had more open style seating.

Something to note about Izakaya restaurants is that they very often have traditional Japanese seating arrangements, which means no chairs. If you aren't used to sitting on a cushion, then adjusting might be a little bit difficult. Although the place in Sakae was more open, the space made it feel less comfortable and relaxed. This was in part due to, despite having a private seating area, being able to hear and see the other people in the restaurant whereas, in Inuyama, I had the feeling of just being with my friends.

I would have enjoyed the one in Sakae if I was eating alone because I would still feel apart of the buzz and would most likely have been invited to join in some of the conversation. I recommend the one in Inuyama (or similar ones) for eating with friends and wanting that tavern feel while having some privacy. Check them out and decide for yourself which you like more.

Hidden Relaxing Spot near Fushimi / Yaba-cho: The Flow Café and Lounge

Japanese required: Advanced (katakana / hiragana and some kanji)
Cost: 500 to 2000 on average, per person
Good for: Anyone (1-4 people for the Flow Café is best)

The Flow Café and Lounge, which is located near Fushimi, is a great place to have a meal and relax for a while. It has a calm atmosphere, and the mood is suited to just taking a bit of time sitting with someone and talking.

When I went there for the first time, I went alone to the second floor and had an enjoyable lunch of pasta. Though the lunch set menu options were a bit limited (two pasta dishes and one rice dish), the food was good. The room they seated me in was lit via a covered window, so it was dimmer than outside. I found it very relaxing, and the comfortable chairs made it all the better. All of the seats are made of soft materials (leather, fabric), which makes it easy to just sit back and enjoy the music (which includes quite a few songs in English). The way the restaurant is spaced made it feel that I had my own private area even with several groups of people around me. I had some white sauce pasta with corn and broccoli for my meal. There was so much sauce that even after I had eaten all of my pasta, there was a small pool at the bottom of the plate. Since it was a lunch set, I also had a croissant and a small salad as an appetizer.

About half of the regular menu was made up of pasta dishes, but there weren't any pictures. Because of this, it would be very difficult to order without being able to read Japanese. You can order a variety of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. I had some orange juice. I would recommend it for eating alone or with one or two others. The restaurant is rather small, and most seating areas are limited to about four people.

The second time, I went to the first floor with a group, and we all spent about two hours talking and eating. We had a separate room from the rest of the restaurant, and it had soothing background music with comfortable, leather seats. The food was alright but not memorable. I enjoyed the atmosphere and company more than anything. The room we had was oval-shaped, so it was easy to have conversations with a lot of people without moving a lot.

 I went there on a Saturday, so the only menu options were Eggs Benedict or traditional Japanese food. I'm not a fan of Eggs Benedict, so I had a Japanese meal instead. The menu had pictures of the different Eggs Benedict dishes, but the normal menu did not have pictures for anything but desert when I looked at it. This would probably be best to take a date or some friends for lunch.

In the evening, the Flow Garden opens, which is an open-air bar / barbeque on the third floor. I've never gone there, but, if the set up is as good as the other two floors, then it'd be a great place to relax and have a few drinks.

Overall, a great place that has variety to suit anybody's interests.

A restaurant for specific tastes: Bistrot Labourer

Japanese Required: A lot
Cost:  2000 or more per person
Good for: Single people, couples, small groups

Bistrot Labourer is a restaurant near Jingumae station. The restaurant is a bit out of the way, but it is very cozy. It had enough space to intimately seat roughly twenty people and then seating for another five people at the bar. I went with a group of friends. The restaurant had three lunch sets: hamburger with miso sauce, fried oyster, and an omelet filled with rice (called omuraisu). I had never had omuraisu, so I went with that. All of the lunch sets came with a salad and corn soup, and the first two options also had bread or rice as a side. The omuraisu came with a desert instead (vanilla ice cream).

Taken from Bistrot's website

The omuraisu was pretty good at first, but the novelty wasn't enough to enjoy the dish. The experience of egg, rice, and ketchup together gave me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I liked the rice's texture and taste. On the other hand, I feel that the flavor of the ketchup overpowered the flavor of the egg, and I prefer the taste of egg. While this isn't something I'd eat again if I had other options, I'd say it's worth trying if you like egg and ketchup. The ice cream was soft enough to eat easily with a spoon without dripping everywhere. A few of my friends had the fried oysters, and they looked rather good. If I were to go again, I'd probably go for the oysters.

The restaurant had an overall pleasant atmosphere. Everyone was talking and laughing, and the servers were very nice. I would probably go there again for lunch if I was in the area with a couple of friends. It seems to be a very local-only restaurant, so I doubt it gets particularly busy in the afternoon. For anybody interested in visiting Bistrot Labourer, more information can be found in their website: http://www.nagoya-labourer.jp/

Yokiso International Cultural Exchange

Japanese Required: A lot

At Yokiso, there's an annual international cultural exchange which involves a variety of different cultural performances that differs from year to year. When I went, there was a mix of Japanese and foreign people aside from my group of friends. The location was beautiful with many things worth viewing even without the cultural exchange. The first thing that we got to see was a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

I enjoyed the ceremony a lot, and I ended up speaking with one of my Japanese friends quite a bit about the traditional ways of being a guest for a tea ceremony. He taught me a little bit of new information, but I knew most of the formalities already. After the tea was made, they served a small bowl of it to everyone. Along with the tea came some small sugar candies and a green tea rice cake filled with bean paste. The ceremony was pleasant, if surprisingly short.

After the ceremony, we got to watch a traditional Myanmar dance performed by two Japanese women. If I hadn't met one of the dancers on the way, I wouldn't have believed that they were actually Japanese. Their dancing was amazing, and I enjoyed the show the entire way through. It makes me a bit sad to think that the dancing changes from event to event, so I probably won't be able to see them again.

 I would definitely recommend going to one of these cultural exchange events to anybody looking to spend some time in a very gorgeous environment. The entire event is hosted in Japanese, so  going with someone who has done it before or understands Japanese would be a good idea. Overall, this was one of the best outings I have done in my time in Japan.