Every time we come to Tokyo, we go to Ohyama. It's not a plan we make in advance — it just always ends up happening, and every time it does, I remember exactly why it's my favourite place in the city.
Izakayas are Japanese pubs, roughly speaking — places where you order small dishes and drinks and stay for the evening. Tokyo has thousands of them. Ohyama is the one I keep coming back to. The room is loud and busy, and the menu is the kind where you point at things and hope for the best if your Japanese isn't up to it. Ours isn't. It has never mattered.
You start with beer. That's just how it works. The Sapporo arrives cold, the menus come out — there are several, covering drinks, skewers, their famous wagyu menchi katsu, and more — and you settle in. There's no rush at Ohyama. The tables fill up fast and stay full all night, but nobody's moving you along.
What to Order
Ohyama is famous for their wagyu menchi katsu — minced wagyu beef formed into a patty, crumbed, and deep fried. The outside shatters when you bite through it. The inside is dense, juicy, and rich in a way that only wagyu can be. They come out two to a plate with mustard on the side and they are absolutely what you order first.
The kaki fry is another essential — deep fried oysters, golden and crispy outside, soft and briny inside, served with cabbage and Japanese mayo. If you've never had kaki fry before, Ohyama is a great place to start.
The yakitori skewers are essential. Ohyama does them with tare — a sweet and savoury soy glaze that builds up on the skewer as it cooks. The chicken thigh ones are the standout but honestly you can point at anything on the skewer section of the menu and you will not be disappointed. We ordered four rounds before we stopped.
At some point in the evening you should switch to sake. Ohyama has a good selection and the staff are helpful even through the language barrier — point at what's on the neighbouring table, nod enthusiastically, it works. We ended up with a bottle of Jozen Mizunogotoshi, a Niigata junmai that's light and clean and very easy to drink. It arrived the traditional way: glass inside a masu box, poured until it overflows into the box. You drink the glass, then the box. This is a good system.
We've had evenings at Ohyama that turned into three hours without noticing. That's the whole point of a good izakaya — it's not a place you go to eat and leave, it's a place you go to spend the evening. The food keeps coming in small plates, the drinks keep flowing, and the room stays loud and warm and completely alive the whole time.
I've recommended Ohyama to everyone who's asked where to go in Tokyo and I've never had a bad report back. It's the kind of place that makes you feel like a local even when you absolutely aren't.
Go on your first night. It's the perfect way to arrive in Tokyo — cold beer, wagyu menchi katsu straight from the fryer, yakitori, sake. After that the city feels like yours.