Simmered fish (煮魚/nizakana or 魚の煮付け/sakana no nitsuke) is a quintessential seafood dish in Japan. Especially with mackerel (鯖の煮付け/saba no nitsuke).
Imai Shokudo (今井食堂 / Imai Dining room) bets 100% on simmered mackerel. Served since the 1970s, their homespun simmered mackerel ‘Sabani (さば煮)’ is the staple of its kind in Kyoto. Or it’s just simply on its own.
The storefront of Imai Shokudo.
Inside Imai Shokudo.
Imai Shokudo’s original Sabani Plate. 720 yen ($5.50).
Imai Shokudo’s Sabani Plate (さば煮定食 / sabani teishoku) comes with Sabani, miso soup, and tsukemono pickles. Their Sabani is also known as “three-day Sabani” colloquially among locals. Yes, it’s simmered for three days in soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake, which establishes a unique point since simmered mackerel in general is cooked in miso and ginger.
Each and every fiber of the mackerel at Imai Shokudo was thoroughly cooked in their special sauce. The meat was ever so fragile yet solid. If this is homespun as they say, no home can survive on earth. Take it easy, Imai Shokudo. That’s bonkers.
Imai Shokudo’s Sabani.
Miso soup and tsukemono pickles.
Imai Shokudo’s miso soup was also phenomenal. Japanese people tend to judge the quality of a soup dish by the tenderness/doneness of root vegetables in it. Well, it was a big yes for Sabani Plate’s daikon that was cut in quarter slices or “icho giri / いちょう切り (ginkgo cut).” Deep-fried tofu sheet slices ‘aburaage / 油揚げ’ in the soup were a sheer bonus. Besides, the tsukemono pickles of daikon, cabbage, and ginger were humble and sophisticated.
It was probably the best 720 yen ($5.50) I’ve spent in many years. To be fair, the concern is that Imai Shokudo runs only between 11 am and 2 pm. Wednesdays are off.
Imai Shokudo’s menu. Below is Sabani Plate. Above is Osusume (おすすめ / recommended) Plate: it comes with small Sabani, a panko-fried chicken, a potato croquette, and a tamagoyaki omelette.
Imai Shokudo | 2 Kamigamo Misonoguchicho, Kita Ward, Kyoto, 〒603-8065, Japan
