Hayashi

Description:

• One of the most delightful old-time restaurants I've been to in Tokyo, this cozy, rustic-looking place serves home-style country cooking and specializes in grilled food that you prepare over your own square hibachi. There are only a handful of grills in this small restaurant, some of them surrounded by tatami mats and some by wooden stools or chairs. As the evening wears on, the one-room main dining area can get quite smoky, but that adds to the ambience. Other nice touches are the big gourds and memorabilia hanging about and the waiters in traditional baggy pants. Hayashi serves three set menus, which change with the seasons. The ¥6,300 ($52/£26) meal -- which will probably end up being closer to ¥8,000 ($66/£34) by the time you add drinks and service charge -- may include such items as sashimi and vegetables, chicken, scallops, and gingko nuts, which you grill yourself. At lunch, only oyakodonburi is served -- literally, "parent and child," a simple rice dish topped with egg and chicken.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010