01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
At Koganeya, the pleasure is in choosing dishes one at a time and grazing over drinks. Diners have described enjoying simmered small taro and tempura, with one singling out figs simmered in wine as especially memorable. The menu ranges from little plates such as okara, kinpira burdock and egg-braised konjac noodles to potato salad and Chinese jellyfish. For a light solo drink, a few small dishes may be enough; for a more substantial meal, fried items or something warm can round things out. It is an easygoing format that lets you order according to your appetite.
Okara and simmered zenmai fern are among the small plates that have stayed with diners. One visitor recalled ordering the fern dish again on a return visit and enjoying it alongside okara. Okara also appears on the menu, making it worth considering when you want something to nibble with a drink rather than a showpiece. For something fried, a diner particularly praised the beef croquette for its crisp coating and fluffy centre. Even a meal built around small plates can take on a heartier note with a fried dish on the table.
The seasonal offerings listed include deep-fried Japanese sandfish from Tottori, ark shells steamed with sake, blanched rapeseed shoots and simmered young burdock from Yao. If you like choosing dishes made with seasonal ingredients, these can be a guide to what to ask about that day. Drinks include beer and wine, as well as Hoppy, a shochu-based drink mixed with beer-flavoured soda, a fresh-basil shochu highball and Takataro, a brown-sugar shochu from Kikaijima. On a night for trying several dishes, you could pick a drink first and then build your meal around a selection of small plates.
The dining room has a long, U-shaped counter as well as tables. A visitor noted that the seating makes it comfortable to eat alone or in a small group. Koganeya also serves lunch, so it can be used for a daytime meal as well as for small plates and drinking snacks in the evening.
