Under the train station of the trendy Nakameguro neighbourhood is a fittingly hip selection of excellent places to eat, drink and shop. One of the newest tenants is Uoharu. Beyond its brightly lit, upbeat atmosphere, small-but-excellent sake selection and extremely fresh seafood, this izakaya offers diners another compelling reason to visit: it aims to be sustainable by reducing food waste.
All the seafood served at Uoharu are items that would have otherwise been thrown out at the Toyosu fish market. These are perfectly good seafood, but due to some kind of perceived ‘imperfection’ by the buyers, they are categorised as waste. The ‘imperfections’ don’t impact quality or flavour at all, and are usually superficial things like a shellfish being of an irregular size, a crab missing a leg, or a fish that many regular chefs aren’t familiar with.
This means Uoharu is the perfect place to try many unique seafood that you won’t find in other restaurants. It also means the menu changes daily, as the chefs conceive the menu based on the haul of the day, which keeps things fun and challenging for staff and interesting for diners. Uoharu Nakameguro is the second location for the restaurant – Uoharu Yurakucho was opened in 2015 and continues to draw crowds for both lunch and dinner.
The house specialities at Uoharu Nakameguro are sashimi and tempura, as well as ‘hone-senbei’ (bone crackers), which are deep-fried fish bones, ie the perfect beer snack. There are also temaki (sushi handrolls), fish-mince katsu and other popular izakaya side dishes like pickles and potato salad.