Nikujiru Gyoza Dandadan Higashiueno — Restaurant in Tokyo

We thought an izakaya with gyoza as its signature dish was interesting so we made our way over to try

They have a grilled version and a boiled version. We got both. While we were considering, we saw the tables beside us were just getting beer and gyoza while they chatted away.

Think we didn’t get the memo haha. We were here for a full on dinner.

So we got a tofu dish as well as a vegetable dish (cabbage with Yuzu).

I was surprised by their tofu, very deep rich flavour yet not overwhelmingly spicy even though it’s marketed as Mapo tofu. Probably adapted to local tastes and palate.

But stir in a big spoonful of tofu onto piping hot rice, mix it all up. Add cabbage on top. And take each bite with a half of a gyoza. Good stuff.

There’s also a coat wall behind each seat. So no worries about forgetting your coat or taking someone else’s by mistake.

That said, although I had a good meal, for a place that touts gyoza as its signature, the gyoza were pretty average.

And the seats were too close to each other for comfort. But I guess that’s the izakaya experience in a space starved...

Literally the best gyoza I have ever had in Tokyo (Please mind I am a tourist, and this is just my humble opinion) The service was absolutely fantastic, and the prices (oh my god) it was great!! I strongly recommend this as a late lunch place as it’s very budget friendly (I am guessing you blew a bunch of money shopping around here)

The GYOZA - 100/10 absolutely amazing - it was crunchy on the bottom, soft on the top. The sauce inside is amazing. The meat is soft and perfectly cooked. It was fantastic, taste and texture - 100/100

The Soba- I love rice noodles and ate a lot of eating growing up as I happen to be half from the east. The taste was peppery and the soup felt like a warm hug.

My partner had the strawberry cocktail - it was sweet and...

This may be an izakaya but I did not order any alcoholic drinks (only Coke) for dinner. I ordered gyoza, hotplate oyster, rice and soup. Their gyoza has thicker skin and has more bite. I prefer this type of gyoza to those with very thin skin. Be careful when eating them hot, the hot meat juice will squirt if you are not careful. Hotplate spicy oyster in meat sauce comes with 4 big oysters and generous helping of meat sauce. Quite spicy but goes so well with rice, less salty would be better. And I finished off with a bowl of clear...