Ebisu Gyoza at “Taihoki”, Gotanda

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Gyoza restaurant in Gotanda, “Taihoki”

Today I introduce a gyoza restaurant “Taihoki” in Gotanda.
“Gyoza” is originally a Chinese food which is a dumpling of minced meat, vegetables, and other ingredients.

On that day, I had an appointment to see a person in Gotanda, and I stopped by this restaurant in the west Gotanda after the appointment because I don’t come to Gotanda so often, and I thought that it would be a good chance to research restaurants serving Nihonshu.

There are a lot of things which I remember about Gotanda.
When I came to Tokyo from my hometown for entrance examination of university, I always stayed at “Hotel Royal Oak Gotanda” in the south of Gotanda Station.

The day I visited the restaurant was in the latter half of February, and it was similar to the season I had come when I had been a student.
The town reminded me of the old memory when I had been walking around to find a restaurant then.

The young me was not good at choosing a restaurant like now, and I was just wandering around on that day, too.
I smiled wryly to myself because what I was doing was not so different in the present and before.
Well, the younger me had more lifetime left, so he had more hope than the present me^^;

Now, let’s get back to today’s restaurant.
I walked through the hotel street of Gotanda, and I arrived in a quiet office street. The restaurant was there.
There were not too little nor less customers, and it looked comfortable for me.

It’s hard to see it in the first photo because of the light, but there were letters of “Ganso Ebisu Gyoza (Ebisu Gyoza’s Origin)” in the front.
I, as a son of a ramen restaurant, couldn’t help getting interested in gyoza or ramen which I had never heard of.
Therefore, I chose this restaurant.

The inside was like this below.

The things inside looked new, and the wall was covered with green and the design was very fashionable.

The menu of “Taihoki”

I checked the menu first.
Of course, the first order was this.

“Ganso Ebisu Gyoza”.
I could choose from 2 pieces and 3.
And this one.

If you choose “Drink set”, one dish is 158 yen. So cheap!
I ordered Kara-age (Japanese deep fried chicken) and another one called “dish of season”.

I checked Nihonshu menu the next.

I found it!
There were two, and both were sparkling sake.
It was unusual selection.

I had never had both of them before. Such a nice meeting for a story for this blog!
I happily ordered one of them, “Hana-awaka”.
…However, it was sold out( ￣□￣)!!

Then, let’s try the other one, “Sawasawa”
…Oh no, it was sold out, too( ￣□￣)!!!!

It would have been nice photos if I could order them…….
It was so unlucky.
I ordered a Malt’s beer instead.

And one more order for my health.

This is coriander salad.
The dressing was based on salt, and some spice and pepper were added.
It was a bit salty, but it matched the strong flavor of coriander and was good to have with beer.

Ebisu Gyoza

The next one arrived was,

Ebisu Gyoza!
I expected it to come at last, but it came earlier than that.
What does “Ebisu Gyoza” taste like?

Nice!
According to my classification of Gyoza, it was “Takoyaki (octopus dumpling)” type.
The sheet outside was crispy, and the inside was full of meat with deep flavor.
In the filling,

There were shrimps on the top!
I found that shrimps were mixed in the meat as well.
Indeed, this gyoza tasted of subtle sweetness of shrimp.

I noticed something at that point.
“Ebisu Gyoza” is called “Ebisu” because it was made in the town of Ebisu, but also, because it has “Ebi (shrimp in Japanese)” in it, I thought.

I also noticed that this gyoza doesn’t have vegetables.
The reason why I felt that it was “Takoyaki style” was because of the flavor of ginger.
Takoyaki has pickled ginger in it, so it should be why (both are my personal presumption^^;).

Other snacks

While I was impressed by the gyoza,

“Dish of season” and Kara-age of “Drink Set” arrived.
I tried the dish of season, “potato with sansho pepper“… I remember.

The unique smooth texture and flavor of new potatoes matched salt and spice (tasted like curry), and it was good with beer or whisky and soda!

The next is Kara-age.

It was good!
Salt was sprinkled on the crispy coating.
It also had some spice flavor which made it even better.

This one was also perfect with beer or whisky and soda.
I wished to have ramen noodles after that, but my doctor told me to do a diet, so I gave it up.
I had only 1 beer, so I could control myself, and I finished the dinner.

Well, this restaurant was really nice.
Not only their main menu, gyoza, but also other snacks were good to have with drinks, too.
The interior was fashionable, the room was quiet, and you can have relaxing time with good foods and drinks even when you are by yourself.
If it was near the station, it would be a much more busy restaurant.

But the distance from the station should be the reason why the room was quiet and relaxing.
I don’t know the concept of this restaurant, but I thought that they might have chosen the location to supply quiet and relaxing time with their foods and drinks (it’s my personal presumption).
I wish there was a restaurant like “Taihoki” in Asakusa, too.