Your friendly chef can speak a little English, and will go out of his way to help you navigate the menu. Even the baby squid, served with a miso sauce, is tender and soft with a delicate flavor-this is not the rubbery and chewy ika you may be used to. Just remember these are very small side dishes and all are delicious.įor example, the humble steamed daikon practically melts in the mouth, with the ponzu sauce completely mellowing the spicy mustard into a surprisingly sweet and uniquely Japanese taste sensation. If the food sounds challenging, it’s not. If you’re dining as a pair-just get all of them. The selection includes hijiki (dark seaweed), udo (ginseng-like root), hotaru ika (baby squid), kabocha (pumpkin), daikon with karashi (mustard) and ponzu (citrus soy sauce) as well as pickled onions and tomatoes. Though it’s in kanji and kana, all you need to know is that on the left side is your choice of main-either sukiyaki or a fish shabu shabu-and on the right page are the entrees. The top section on the right allows you to choose three of six small appetizers. The meal starts with a presentation of the very reasonably priced course menu (¥5,000). By meal’s end, you won’t feel much like a stranger in a strange land anymore, but more a well-fed local. While it has no English signage or menu (though they are producing one as of this writing), its intimate counter seating, foreigner-friendly course menu and welcoming chef will have you exploring all manner of delicious Japanese dishes. So it is with Toku, a hidden gem on a side street in Tokyo’s Roppongi area. You don’t necessarily need to converse to enjoy good cuisine: food is a language all its own that can be shared between people regardless of their native tongue. Sometimes it’s all about the courage to just walk in and go on a culinary adventure-it’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the journey. It can be daunting to venture into a Japanese restaurant if you can’t speak the language very well or read kanji.