Ootoya

Chicken nanban is as much about the contrast between its crisp coating and tartare sauce as it is about the flavours themselves. Ootoya’s menu includes a bento with juicy chicken-thigh nanban and generously filled homemade tartare sauce. One diner who tried the chicken-breast version on another occasion praised its crisp coating, slightly sweet seasoning and the tang of pickles in the tartare. The menu describes the breast as moist and tender, for a lighter take; choosing between breast and thigh therefore makes for a noticeably different meal. That diner ordered a large serving of multigrain rice, too—a useful idea if you want to enjoy the sweetness of the nanban and the tartare’s acidity with rice.

There are options beyond fried food, including colourful vegetables and chicken tatsuta-age coated in a house black vinegar sauce, as well as a set meal featuring a thick, plumply grilled striped atka mackerel. Choose the black-vinegar dish for chicken and vegetables, or the fish served with grated daikon, depending on your mood. Cold-shabu pork fillet, served with grated daikon and a citrus sauce, is another option for a fresher-tasting meal.

For a more flexible meal, the choose-your-own side-dish set lets you select two prepared dishes, a mini black-vinegar dish and two small sides. Options such as spinach with sesame dressing and simmered hijiki seaweed make this a different way to eat from ordering a set meal centred on a main dish. Ootoya’s Kanamachi Ekimae branch is described as suitable for solo dining and has children’s chairs and a kids’ menu.