Tokyo Food Page

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Kurumiya/
Niigata-ken:
Japanese
▼025-290-6556
▽Data

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Niigata, on the
coast of the Sea of
Japan, is famous for
excellent rice,
great seafood, and
the craft sake pro-
duced at the many
small breweries
scattered throughout
the prefecture. And
Kurumiya, a stylish
modern restaurant
located in the heart
of Niigata City, is
a good place to
sample the best that
Niigata has to of-
fer, both in food
and drink. Situated
just one minute from
the main entrance to
the JR train sta-
tion, it's a conven-
ient place to stop
even if you're just
passing through
Niigata City (on the
way to Sado Island,
for example).

If you're new to
Niigata sake, the
menu offers a pleth-
ora of tasting sets
to help you orient
yourself to the
different styles
available. Once you
choose a grade of
sake (ordinary hon-
jozo, ginjo, junmai
ginjo, or extra-
refined daiginjo),
you can pick sakes
from three different
breweries in that
grade to compare.
Ordinary tasting
sets range from
Y1000 (for honjozo)
to Y1800 (for junmai
ginjo), while the
special daiginjo set
is Y2800. If for
some reason you'd
prefer an alterna-
tive to sake (if
you've just finished
a weeklong tour of
sake breweries in
the area and you
need a change of
pace, we'll accept
that as an excuse),
the menu also offers
domestic Japanese,
Spanish and Chilean
wines as well as
shochu, beer and
soft drinks.

The food menu fea-
tures plenty of
fresh seafood and a
lot of rice dishes,
as you might expect.
Full-course dinners
run five to ten
thousand yen per
person, but ordering
a la carte is much
cheaper, and por-
tions are large
compared to Tokyo.
For example the 800-
yen seafood salad
comes on a huge
platter holding
three medium-size
seashells, each
heaped with smoked
salmon and scallops
(tender and very
tasty) on a bed of
seaweed with a dash
of sesame dressing.
Probably each sea-
shell would be the
equivalent of a
single portion back
in Tokyo.

The emphasis at
Kurumiya is on
fresh, good-tasting
ingredients rather
than exotic recipes.
The nama uni and
nama yuba (sea ur-
chin and tofu
skins), a dish we've
had many times in
Tokyo, here comes
with a simple, light
ankake sauce, but
what sets it apart
is both the quality
and quantity of the
sea urchin. Even our
otoshi - humble
boiled spinach with
pine nuts - revealed
some of the
freshest-tasting
spinach we've had in
quite awhile. And
the salt-grilled
flounder was abso-
lutely superb, with
perfectly crisp skin
(salty around the
edges) and a nice
smoky flavor from
the charcoal grill-
ing balanced against
the rich flavor of
the fish meat.

Besides seafood
there's a good as-
sortment of meat
dishes (horse, beef,
pork and even
whale), with a se-
lection of domestic
Japanese beef steaks
for the big spenders
in the house. There
are also more fresh
tofu and yuba dishes
and a handful of
other local special-
ties.

The atmosphere is
casual and laid
back, the decor
simple and modern.
There are several
separate dining
spaces, and lots of
room to stretch out.
Floors, ceilings,
tables, chairs and
counters are all
coordinated in blond
wood, with color-
contrasting concrete
walls in which wal-
nut shells are ar-
tistically embedded
(reflecting the name
of the restaurant -
the "House of Wal-
nuts"). Kurumiya is
on the ground floor
of the Tokyu Inn
hotel, across from
the JR station's
Bandai exit (cross
the street, turn
left and walk a
block or so to get
there). JR Niigata
station is just 2
hours and 20 minutes
from Tokyo station
via the shinkansen.

If you're looking
for Niigata sake to
take home as a
souvenir, you'll
find a good selec-
tion in the basement
of Isetan Department
Store (about 5 min-
utes from the res-
taurant), or in the
Asahiyama liquor
shop (025-243-7272;
located in the Sai-
son shop at the
shinkansen end of
the train station).

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◎Niigata-ken,
Niigata-shi, Benten
1-2-4, Niigata Tokyu
Inn 1F. ◎ Open 11:
30am-1:30, 5-11pm
(LO) daily.

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