Shinjuku Tatsukichi

I looked at my skewer cup and counted the damage. Twenty-​two skewers. I was around fifty skewers away from having my name immortalized on the wall of Tatsukichi. Damn. I guess I just can’t eat skewers like Takeru Kobayashi eats hot dogs.
But I wasn’t eating just ‘skewers’. With my host in Tokyo, I was eating this type of cuisine known as Kushiage. Essentially, Kushiage are little pieces of Japanese goods fried on a skewer. For those of you who are into etymology, ‘Kushi’ means skewers and ‘-age’ means fried. But let me tell you, Kushiage is much more delicious than hot dogs and regular skewers.
We sat down on the bar as the chef laid 5 different sauces in front of us. Mustard, Shoyu, Curry, Salt, and Katsu. The name of the game is this: Chef puts one skewer on your plate every 2 – 3 minutes, and he tells you which sauce to dip (sometimes you don’t dip at all). At the point where you’ve had enough, you tell the Chef to stop. If you happen to eat above 70 something odd skewers, you would make it to their Wall of Fame with name etched in a wooden plank.
Although my name did not get immortalized on the walls of Tatsukichi, the flavors of Tatsukichi will be immortalized in my memory. Each skewer placed on our plate was different from the next. There were fried mushrooms, oysters, chicken, fish, and a bunch of things I couldn’t name. Each skewer was hot and crispy, yet the batter was light enough to not overwhelm the treasure inside. It was awesome.
With the help of a couple of beers, we skewered through our memories of younger days and had some pretty good laughs. In between stories, a skewer would come and divert our attention back to the deliciousness of the meal, and how far we’ve come from eating lunchables.
I counted the skewers again before I handed it back to the chef. He was busy preparing another course of fried goodness for another customer. He was precise and deliberate with each skewer he handled, completely dedicated to his craft. At that moment I realized that I just had my first legitimate cultured meal in Japan.
Arigato, Tatsukichi!

This is an amazing restaurant that is pretty much frequented by locals. I would not have found it if not for a friends suggestion.
Basically Tatsukichi serves everything fried in panko crumbs (Known as Kushiage)…and it is all delicious.
This place gets crazy busy and you will have to wait a long time if you do not arrive early say 5 – 6.