Izakaya “Kome-no-Ie (House of Rice),” a casual place for after-work drinking at Meguro, Shinagawa-ku in Tokyo, is now gaining popularity by paying particular attention to rice-centered menu and high-quality rice wine as well as to decoration in the House.
Rice has been regarded as a staple food in the Japanese society, which is only a “supporting player” in the menu of Izakaya pubs.
Moeko Kubota, manager of Izakaya “Kome-no-Ie,” introduces “Donabe-Gohan,” the most popular dish at her “House of Rice.” (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo)
Izakaya “Kome-no-Ie” decided to choose the rice for a leading role, aiming to enhance its ability to attract customers with an “unexpected” function played by the “leading actor” of rice.
The Izakaya started its business this July after transforming itself from a casual gastropub with a main dish of “yakitori (chicken kabob)” to a “house of rice.”
The menu of the “Kome-no-Ie” is now filled with new dishes such as “rice-flour coated & fried wings of chicken” fed with animal feed rice and “special ice cream of rice.”
They serve various kinds of premium Japanese sake (junmai-shu), made from only rice, water, yeast and koji (rice mold), which taste like European wine.
Most popular meal-end dish is “Donabe-Gohan” (rice cooked in a small earthenware pot) at this Japanese gastropub. Its customers can choose his or her favorite rice from among high-graded luxury varieties of rice such as “Uonuma-Koshihikari” produced at a mountainous village in Niigata prefecture.
Izakaya “Kome-no-Ie” has also a unique interior decorated with traditional straw bags of rice and dried rice plants with ears, which is appealing how they stick to their way of entertaining customers with rice-centered dishes.