Meshiya Chuunikai (Musashikoyama)
The key is the owner's music selection and the dashi stock prepared in a soba restaurant
The owner, Shigeo Nakahata, is a hip-hop composer who writes songs for popular artists. "I worked behind the scenes in the music industry, but I wanted to feel the customers' reactions directly," he said, becoming a chef. After honing his skills at a soba restaurant for 10 years, he finally opened this Japanese izakaya.
The menu includes appetizers such as pickled oysters in oil and potato salad, perfect as snacks to go with alcohol, as well as seasonal fresh fish sourced from a trusted fishmonger, shumai, fried horse mackerel, ham cutlets and other tempting dishes.
"Fragrant earthenware pot broth! Seafood and green chili pepper hitsumabushi"
"I get excited when I open the lid," says Nakahata. The rice is Akita Komachi, grown in his hometown of Akita. It's cooked in a Shigaraki ware earthenware pot and topped with fresh fish dressed in homemade green chili pepper soy sauce. First, lightly mix the ingredients and rice together and enjoy, then pour in the dashi and enjoy. It takes about 30 minutes to cook, so order early. 1,890 yen.
"Assorted appetizers (5 types)"
Clockwise from the top, there's a variety of ingredients and seasonings: taro potato salad, oysters pickled in oil, kumquats with white dressing, sake lees cheese and raisin sandwich, and pickled burdock in the center. Each portion allows you to pick up a variety of dishes, making it the perfect first dish. 1,000 yen.
"Black Fire Beef Zabuton Yukhoe Style"
One of the specialty dishes. Kurohino beef is a brand of Japanese black beef raised in six Kyushu prefectures, including Kumamoto. It is cooked at low temperature to create a moist finish. It is paired with a yukhoe sauce based on soba broth and a rich egg yolk. 1,780 yen.
Nakahata's forte is using dashi stock, combining bonito flakes, bonito flakes, mackerel flakes, and kelp to create a distinct flavor profile similar to soba soup. For beef zabuton yukhoe, he uses it as the base for the sauce. He also has the clever idea of pouring dashi stock over rice in a clay pot, making it taste like hitsumabushi.
The music is mainly 70's soul and funk, with older house music on the weekends to raise the spirits. Nakahata, who is skilled at both the dashi and the sound, aims to make the party "fun" rather than "delicious."
The owner, Nakahata-san, has a strong sense of curiosity and is also active in the music industry. 
There are spacious table seats and private rooms available.
