Oden Nikomi no Omise Onikai

Start with an assortment of oden to savour the flavour of the dashi broth. Some diners say the broth is full-flavoured despite its pale colour, and that it is good to drink to the last drop. The menu offers chef’s-choice assortments of 5 or 7 pieces, with familiar options such as daikon radish and egg alongside local Niigata oden ingredients: Shibata-fu, kuruma-fu and Tochio-age. One diner who added wheat gluten to an assortment recalled how thoroughly it had absorbed the broth, and noted the contrast between the soft, airy texture of Shibata-fu and the firmer bite of kuruma-fu. Choose mustard, yuzu pepper or dengaku miso as a condiment to suit your taste.

There are slow-cooked dishes as well as oden. The menu includes beef tendon and tofu simmered in oden broth, offal simmered with sake lees, and tongue braised in broth. One diner who ordered the sake-lees offal stew alongside the oden said its flavour stayed with them. The selection works for an evening of sharing a few small plates around the oden, or for adding a hearty simmered dish to make a more substantial meal.

Drinks include sake, shochu and lemon sours. Sake is a natural match for the savoury oden broth, while a dry lemon sour offers something refreshing to sip with a few small plates. Oden Nikomi no Omise Onikai in Nakano serves diners indoors and has counter seating, making it an option for a solo bowl of oden and a drink.