Hachiban

A Izakaya that brews their own beer. In the winter, they are famous for serving monkfish hot pot.
Do you like eating things that are ugly?
Most people don’t.
We humans don’t like to eat things that are too cute or too ugly. Why, I don’t know. We like to eat ordinary looking animals like cows, chicken, and tuna. I likely offended some people that would argue with me that cows are indeed cute.
Well, I digressed. Let me state that monkfish (aka goosefish) is ugly. It is not just my bias opinion; it is a fact. They live 3000 ft under the water living inside ocean bottom mud. Why would Japanese people want to eat such fish? I don’t know, but it sure is very popular during the winter season.
Hachiban is a great place to eat some delicious monkfish. Here, they do not have any menu. As soon as you sit down, they will start serving you food. The course changes with the seasons, but on a December day I visited, we were treated by grilled tuna fish head, three kinds of salads, and another appetizer (I forgot what it was). The main dish was monkfish hot bowl. You heat up «dashi» broth in a hot bowl. You throw in some vegetables and then monkfish. Monkfish of course includes monkfish liver (ankimo), which is a delicacy. As «shime» (finishing off the meal), you throw in some udon noodles in the broth.
Taste? Delicious. One of the best monkfish bowl I ever had. Udon using the incredible broth was a gem.
DRINKS: The system is all you can drink for 2 hours. The owner brews his own German style beer. Yep, Hachiban is not only a Izakaya, but a microbrewery. The taste was awesome! I took a peak of their brewing room and really couldn’t believe that such nasty looking place was capable of producing such craft beer. You can continue drinking the beer — or go on and ask for some really tasty Japanese sake. It really does not matter what you drink. The all you can drink 2 hours is the same regardless of what you drink.
WHEN TO GO: I recommend this place all year long. However, if you want to eat their monkfish, the season usually starts around November and goes through out the winter.
PRICE: Depends on the season. For ankonabee (monkfishi), it was 6000 Yen for the course meal and 2 hrs of all you can drink. There was an option of doing 5000 Yen with Ankonabe without the side items, but I recommend paying the extra 1000 Yen to get the appetizers. Checkout their website for their seasonal pricing.
CONCLUSION: For me, great food plus craft beer = A+