Higawa is the new (since August) sake specialist izakaya set up by Nakamura-san, who was the manager at Aka-oni for several years.
It's in the back streets of Kita-Sengoku, a 5-minute walk from Ookayama Station on the Meguro Line — an obscure location, even if you live on that side of town, although it's less than 10 minutes by train out of Meguro.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of good reasons why it's worth making the effort to get there.
Top of that list is the sake — as you can tell by that sugidama hanging outside the front door...
...and from the extensive sake list, once you get inside.
For our toriaizu beer, we tried the Ozenoyuki weizen (there are two types).
But we were straight away onto the sake, as soon as our first order of nibbles arrived. Ginnan (ginkgo nuts), kuwai (arrowhead bulbs) and mukago (the buds of jinenjo/yamanoimo yams) — the taste of autumn…
…paired with Tedorigawa (no photo) and Kudokijozu, both old favourites.
Excellent sashimi, as you might expect — it always was one of the specialities at Aka-Oni.
And a cup of Kozaimon to go with it.
Nakamura-san is using really nice ceramics and stoneware, produced at a kiln in nearby Setagaya-ku.
A delicious, piping hot (and not too sweet) tamago-toji with shirasu and enoki mushrooms...
…backed up by a couple of cups of Shigemasu...
Ohitashi...
Excellent buta no kakuni...
A lovely piece of grilled fish...
...with wonderful fluffy, fragrant rice, cooked in ceramic pots...
Nakamura-san's cooking is certainly up to the quality of the sake he serves.
You will notice there are no shots of the interior. That's because it's a bit ordinary and bland, without much character and patina yet.
But we totally approve that it's entirely smoke-free inside. Bravo!
Trivia point: the name, Higawa, is taken from Nakamura-san's birthplace in Okinawa, where the two kanji 樋川 are actually pronounced Hi-jaa [ヒージャー].
Here's Higawa's home page...
And here's the map link...
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