“Kaku-Uchi” with winery’s sake at “Todoroki Saketen!”

Good evening.
Thank you very much for visiting this blog.
Today’s article is about a restaurant in Fukuoka, “Todoroki Saketen Yakuin-stand!”.

This is the first blog since this website was renewed (in the Japanese Site).
At the renewal, I decided to reform the blog as well.
To make it new, I asked someone else to write an article this time.

First, I thought that I should write the first article, and I wanted to write a positive and bright blog (which is not like my usual blogs) about somewhere in Asakusa where I live.
To collect things to write, I planned to visit restaurants and shops such as “Sake no Daimasu” which is a mix of a liquor shop and an Izakaya restaurant, “Kawarana” which is filmed in an ad movie in trains and where you can do Kawara-wari (breaking roof tiles), “Asakusa Kingyo” where you can do Kingyo-Sukui (goldfish scooping), and “Ameshin”of Amezaiku (shaped candy art)……, but I couldn’t make it because everywhere was very crowded.

Instead, I tried places which I often visited which were not so famous, or “Kawakin” which was the origin of Katsu-curry (curry and rice with pork cutlet).
However, those were also full of people, or some of them were even closed.
Well, I could enter if I lined in a queue, but I couldn’t do it for having no time.

I took it positively and understood it as an advice from the god or Buddha that it was not the right time to write an article for me.
Therefore, I put only the article of a writer “N” who I had asked to provide an article for this blog for this day.

As mentioned in the first of N’s article, N’s job is related to TV and radio, and have experiences of researching things for such media.
The articles are well-organized and easy to understand, don’t get out of line, and have bright atmosphere which is not like mine^^;

It’s been too long for the introduction.
N’s blog starts now!

Contents

Caster “N” is reporting from the location

The writer is the special correspondent “N” in Fukuoka.
It’s my first time to appear in this blog.

I usually work for TV and radio media.
I like any kinds of alcoholic beverages.
My special ability is “being able to enjoy drinks which suit the situation of the party”.

By the way, my favorite drink is Nihonshu.
As I got such an interesting opportunity to write blogs for this website, I’d like to try even more kinds of Nihonshu to introduce them to the readers from now on.
I hope you will enjoy my reports.

Fashionable “Kaku-Uchi”

The first place of my first blog is a “Kaku-Uchi” bar, which means “standing bar”.
This is where I highly recommend you.

Many people should image that standing bars provide canned beer or cup sake, and simple foods such as canned foods or crackers and the customers are mainly middle-aged men.
However, more fashionable standing bars are increasing and they are popular among women as well.

Today’s bar looks like a cafe.
But, this is a bar.

<< Todoroki Saketen Yakuin stand! >>

It locates in Yakuin in Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, where many stylish restaurants and shops are.
It’s a branch shop of “Todoroki Saketen” in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City.

It opened in 2016, and it has been very popular every day since then.
It starts at 12 o’clock as a liquor shop, and it becomes a bar at 16:00.

The time I arrived was 18:00.
I started to drink even though the sky was still bright!

What is the sake on the day?

This is the menu of “Today’s Nihonshu”.
They said that this menu changes every day.

My friend who came with me chose “Hoken” from Hiroshima Prefecture.
It said that the small serve was about 40ml.
Meanwhile, I got interested in a word of “winery” in the right half of the menu.

A staff found me having a trouble choosing one, and told me, “These ‘winery’ sake are made by a winery when the production of wine is in off-season.”.
He also said, “It’s not in the menu, but we can serve you 6 different sake of this winery little each for 600 yen.”

Why don’t I take it!?
I chose the tasting of 6 kinds of “Sogga pere et fils” made by “Obuse Winery” in Nagano Prefecture using 6 different kinds of yeast.

Nihonshu made by Obuse Winery

How beautiful it looks like…!
From the left, “First” yeast, “Second”, and so on.
All of the yeast were found before the war, and some of them were revived in the later generation.

This winery makes sake using these old yeast to match their taste.
The label explained these things.

They said that there are not many places where you can have these sake in Fukuoka.
Even Todoroki Saketen’s main shop (a liquor shop) doesn’t deal the wines, but they do at this standing bar because people can share and enjoy this precious drink.

I liked their spirit!
I understood that the people of this restaurant and the liquor shop are generous.

The tastes of the sake were…, very different from each other!
To explain it briefly, the “First” was gorgeous, “Second” was sweet, “Third” was dry and the scent went through my nose strongly.
The most popular one was “Fourth”, and it was very like “Nihonshu” which had strong and clear sake taste.
“Fifth” was fruity, and “Sixth” was light and clear.

The staff told me that which to choose differs a lot depending on the person, and he asked me which one was my favorite.
I thought that “First” was the best.
The favorite one might change depending on the day even within one person.

Their foods

These black boards are the menu boards.
They had some snacks as well.
Other than sake, they also had Shochu (Japanese white distilled liquor) and wine.

We ordered an assorted snacks.

It was a plate of 3 light dishes; fresh onion dressed with olive, Rapees (a French dish) of carrot and raisins (The menu board said it was dried persimmon, though.), and Namul (Korean food of seasoned vegetables) of seasonal vegetables.
The price was 600 yen.

For a food which has strong taste such as olives, the “Forth” yeast sake was good.
Because it was a standing bar, there were not proper meals.
Instead, they had many dishes which make you feel like drinking, such as raw Karasumi (salted mullet roe).

Liquor shop at the back

The back of the bar was a liquor shop.
Many sake from all over Japan were squeezed in the space.

While I was drinking at the bar, many people went into the shop one after another.
All the staffs are nice and kindly tell the customers about each sake, so the customers can choose which to take comfortably.

By the way, the bar has seats for only 5 or 6 people, and if it gets full, you can use another table in the liquor shop, too.
I heard that some people prefer this special table.

The table was made of a wooden piece on boxes of beer.
It perfectly matched the place.
It was not hard to understood that some people would choose this table.

I had another glass while listening to the staff’s explanation about sake.
It was a nice place where a female customer can visit and drink freely.
I recommend you to visit there when you come to Fukuoka.