SHINJUKU/KABUKICHO: MEDAKA Izakaya Revisited... Cheap Beer Campaign Extended!!

April 40, May 50, June 60, July 70, August 80 and September 90yen for Beers/Whisky Hi-Balls/Sours!  

I had 2 great guests visiting from Hawaii and what better place than to check out Medaka on an unusually cold rainy Tokyo April evening... Staton is a Spiritual Advisor so if you are interested in learning more pls visit her website  http://www.statonann.com/

Today's automatic Ootoshi 400yen "aka Service Charge"... Came out to 2,000yen for the 5 of us.

Meet John a Digital Designer... with two of the best camera bodies - Canon 7D and Canon 5D Mark II.  http://www.john-garcia.com/  A foodie and Photographer... my kinda guy.

What a great idea to light up food in a low light setting!  iPhone flashlight app!

Staton giving "Kawa-Ebi" a try.

Ebi-Mayo

4 Kinds of rolls for 900yen... Negi-Toro, Tekka (tuna), Ume-Shiso with Wasabi and Mentako.

One of Johns amazing lenses.

Had my Lumix LX5 (that I accidentally dropped this night) and my Olympus PEN e-PL1 with a Sigma 19mm f2.8 lens.  

So 3.5 hours of drinks and what John spot on called Izakaya food "Beer Food" the total came out to 7,350yen for 4-5 people.  16 Beers, 13 Orange sours, 1 lemon sour, 1 chu-hi and 1 hi-ball.

Another enjoyable night at Medaka. 

Shop: Medaka Izakaya

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13150823/

Address J: 東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-3-6

Address E: Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku, Kabukicho 1-3-6

View Larger Map

SHINJUKU/KABUKICHO: Medaka Izakaya... 30yen Beers!! JUST GO!!!

It was all about word of mouth... Beers/HiBalls/Sours all 30yen til the end of March.  Holly molly... and mind you this is Kabukicho where rents must be sky high. 

A few warning signs at the entrance... No University students, young people and rowdy trouble making foreigners.

1st Floor was jammed... but there are 6 floors!  Seating capacity?  600!

What a beautiful sight... 30yen Drinks for March, 40yen April, 50yen May and 60yen JUNE!  Its just soooo craaaaazy.   

Kegs!

4th Floor was nice and quiet at 7:20pm.  No smokers... just so calm and mellow.

The Automatic "Otoshi"... seasoned kamaboko.

Service rocked with this push button system.

And by 9pm the 4th floor was fully packed.

You just gotta check it out.

Shop: Izakaya Medaka

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13150823/

Address J: 東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-3-6

Address E: Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku, Kabukicho 1-3-6
MAP:

View Larger Map

SHINJUKU: Yakitori MaruKin 299yen-30min Nomihoudai (all you can drink)... I've landed on Gulliver's Island with tiny yakitori chicken sticks! Lets drinks!!

March 20 is a national holiday "Spring Equinox Day" (shunbun no hi) so it was time to begin drinking at an early 6pm... where to start?  

I've passed by this sign many times in Shinbashi... 60yen Yakitori and 299yen all you can drink for 30 minutes.  Just had to check out their Shinjuku branch.

Its your very own bar!  They had everything... lots of Sake (even Okinawan Awamori), Korean Makkori, Wine, Hi-Balls, Sours, Draft Beer, Hoppy and you can create your own mixed drinks.  All self service...

The yakitori sticks are mostly 60yen... I've never seen it so cheap before... but there is a very good reason for this pricing. 

Honest to goodness... the yakitori sticks were sooo tiny!  Its felt like we were ordering off the kiddy menu.  But I guess you really only get 60yens worth... and nothing was really that good.

Special ultra garlicy sauce for your sticks.  Had a great kick.

Potato salad... pretty good.  

Normally my absolute favorite... but it was rather hard here.  Not the usual crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Shop recommended Tofu.

This was interesting... I think it was like a chicken ball with red radish normally seen as a topping on Okinawan Soba.  Hmm....

Oh boy... I really can't remember what we paid for this tiny bowl of seasoned bean sprouts.  If you are broke in Japan and really need to eat just goto the supermarket to get a pack of this for 29yen.  Its THE least expensive veggie in all of Japan.

Oh, there's a mandatory 1 hour minimum for the drinks so just think about 600yen per hour for Nomihoudai (all you can drink)... atmosphere was cozy, BGM was alot of famous Japanese hits from the 80s, nice mixed crowd of salarymen-young girls-college students... Overall the food was very lackluster but who really enters this place for the food.  Our bill came out to 4,200yen for 1 hour... so be careful.  Its really not a bargain if you order too much mediocre food.  I suggest using this place as a Ichijikai (1st spot) for an hour then move onto a place with better food.

Restaurant: Yakitori Marukin Shinjuku Main Branch

Restaurant J: やきとり○金 新宿本店

Foodie Website: https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13134341/

Address J: 東京都新宿区新宿3-34-16 池田プラザビル4F

Address E: Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-34-16, 4F

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7f4nqe7wgPzeSK2n7

View Larger Map

焼き鳥、もつ鍋、居酒屋, 新宿駅, Japan, Japanese, foodie, yelp, tokyobelly, cheap, pub, bar, chicken, skewers, izakaya, shinjuku,