Dinner @ The Kaiju Sakaba, Wing Shinbashi, Shinbashi, Tokyo

 

It has been a long time coming for this one. As a serious Ultraman fan, I made it a mission to visit this place at least once. And a trip down to Tokyo provided me the opportunity to do this. I bring to you the Kaiju Sakaba, or in English the Monster Bar. 

Front of the house. 

This place is as what the name describes. It is a monster themed bar, particularly the monsters from the Ultraman series. So indirectly, it is also a homage to the bad guys who terrorize my TV screens during the weekends, although there are also friendly kaiju as the series progresses. Modern fans may heard of the phrase kaiju because of Pacific Rim, but the Ultraman series was one of the franchises that put it into the forefront. 

The theme is indeed on point!

Being one of those themed bars, there was a wait. And what a wait it was. For me it took me 1.5 hours to get a table for 2! But luckily I was with a friend I have not seen for a year so we took that time to catch up on life. Once we got inside, we were pretty impressed with the surroundings. The place looked like a speakeasy but with monster paraphernalia and merch. Stained glass panels with designs of iconic beasts and plastic figures galore, the decor was on point. Even the staff were wearing DaDa-like costumes. Ultraman fans would know what I mean. Well, this is a blog about food and not Japanese pop culture so how was the food? Actually, it was pretty good!

The first of many great dishes. 

Being a themed dining space, the names of the food really followed suit. The English names seem pretty generic, but the Japanese ones were serious killer with deep inside jokes. Like for example, the first thing that we got were fried edamame which stood at 538 yen a pop. It was fried in soy sauce and chilli, giving it a nice tang. That sounded alright, but then eventually the fun starts to pick up. We got ourselves some chicken tenders that were called Pandon Crispy Chicken or パンドンクリスピーチキ in Japanese, a call back to the Pandon alien species. This was also delightfully spicy and crispy and it went well with beer. This stood for 990 yen. 

From the depths of the monster graveyard, here he is! 

The next dish was also chicken but definitely had more punch than the earlier one. Called the "Ultraman Belial", it was named after the evil Ultra of the series. The callback was also taken very seriously on this one, where onion rings were made to look like his claws. Great effort on this. This grilled chicken dish was alright. Other than the onion claws, it was somewhat generic. Still tasty though, you cannot go wrong with grilled chicken and chips. This stood for a modest 1320 yen. 

Incredible...

But that is not all, as something very interesting caught our eye, and it was horse tartar. Yes, raw horse! It had such a complicated name, that I forgotten what it was. But I did remember ordering just saying "horse meat" in English. This stood at a modest 913 yen. But this really packed some serious flavour. The raw horse actually was very good. The meat was tender, and it was slathered with sesame oil, garlic sauce, and a variety of spices, fresh onions,scallions and fried garlic chips. The overall dish was then bound together with a raw quail egg. So this was more akin to a steak tartar. It was utterly complex and yet very easy to eat. Put your inhibitions aside and try this dish. It really made our night. 

Lemon sour was pretty good and interesting.
Having said that, even the regular beer was not spared. 

Being a bar, we have to talk about the drinks. They have the usual suspects like beer and sodas. But how about their themed ones? I got myself the limited edition blue lemonade sour which was very refreshing. it has a nice glow and had a bit of a sour punch sort of feel to it. As it was the beginning of summer this was very welcomed. It stood at 660 yen. It was not too bad as the overall experience it was ok. 

An invasion of my liver!

But the next one was stellar. As the bar have their own brand of shochu, I decided to take the alien invader shochu on the rocks, which 638 yen. Strong, smooth and packed of flavour, this was what great shochu should be made off. Plus the name was very amusing. 

A wider view of the premises. 

Please note that there is a 440 yen seating charge, but you would be given a monster themed coaster and some light snacks, so it's somewhat justified. If you are a fan of Ultraman, Godzilla or big aliens, you would probably love this. This establishment is a real homage to the giant monsters that terrorise our movie screens and TV sets. 

Why not get some merch for the trip home?

However, as the food was pretty good and actually reasonably priced, you won't even realise it was just for fan service. Heck, this place itself is good to come for the food alone. My only gripe is the waiting period for our table. In any event, if the above has caught your attention, then why not make that visit? Do note that it is at the basement area of the Shinbashi station complex which makes it a bit tricky to find. With that being said, the address is as follows

Wing Shinbashi East Exit Underground Mall, No 1, 2 Chome Shinbashi, Minato City, Tokyo 105-0004

PS: Thanks Chen Song in joining me for this one. Wishing you the best for your future endeavours. Let me know if you are back in Japan again!

With my friend and former classmate Chen Song. See you soon!