If you want a nice restaurant in Tokyo to chill out with friends/colleagues and experience traditional Japanese culture at the same time, this is it!
Shinjuku Awaodori Restaurant (新宿 阿波おどり) is a new Japanese traditional dance themed restaurant located right outside Shinjuku station's East exit and sits right next to ABC Mart (shoe shop). Very convenient!
There are 2 Awaodori performances every night: 7.30pm and 9.30pm. So what is AWAODORI? "Awa" is the former name of Tokushima prefecture and "Odori" means dance. The Awa Dance Festival is a major event held annually at Tokushima even before 17th century!!!
Absolutely love their dance and taiko performance!
We were also invited to dance and take photos with them too!
Food
Yes, as far as foreigers are concerned, we are very interested in food :)
Especially big fat fresh sushi!!!
...and yummy sukiyaki (sliced pork in hot pot).
Fresh eggs are served with sukiyaki...
...and you dip the cooked meat inside the eggs like a sauce.
For those who don't eat raw eggs, you can always put them into the hot pot and cook instead.
Dessert was included in our course, not too sweet, we love it!
Their course menu for food is from 2,000yen onwards or you can order a la carte too. Just take note that there's a 500yen cover charge to enter the restaurant.
Drinks
They have an all-you-can-drink course for 2,000yen!
There were so many choices! WOW!
Unfortunately my friend was having diarrhoea and my stomach was feeling bloated, so we only ordered my favourite カシスオレンジ (Cassis Orange: Mixed orange juice with Creme da cassis, which is a sweet dark red liqueur made from blackcurrants) and hot tea.
Little did we know that they served us this very rare tea called 晩茶 (Bancha). Bancha is fermented green tea that can only be made in a few places in Japan with the right climate such as Tokushima. I must say we fell in love with it immediately!
Location
It is very easy to find ABC-mart outside the East exit of Shinjuku. The restaurant is in the building next to it.
Look out for "Japanese, Culture, Entertainment, Restaurant". Don't know why "Awaodori" wasn't in English.
Address:
5F, Seno Building
3-18-4 Shinjuku, shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022
〒160-0022 東京都新宿区新宿3-18-4 セノビル5F
You can find booking information and google map here:
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g600110/lang/en/
and their FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/shinjyukuawaodori
Thank you Shinjuku Awaodori for your warm invitation!!! ＼(≧▽≦)丿♪♪♪
Hope you like my book too!
UPDATE (5 Nov 2015): Sadly the restaurant is now closed for renovation and no plans to re-open with the same theme.
Curious, but were all the egg sauce eaten raw even if there is nothing left to dip? :-)
ReplyDeletehmm... I actually left it there but I think you can put it back in the soup or just sip it like this with a bit of soy sauce :P
DeleteOne of the few restaurants focused on tourist...the menu is in english...I wonder...do they speak english?
ReplyDeleteThe food seems delicious and I does indded look like a must visit.
They will understand at least those on the menu and basic words like "take photo" or "dance", etc.
DeleteIt's a great place for tourists and foreigners working there ~
Hi Eva, wanted to visit this restaurant as per your recommendation. But it has closed... :( Any other recommendations?
ReplyDeleteOh dear, maybe too costly to operate as they need to hire a lot of dancers.
DeleteThey operate another theme restaurant called Kawaii Monster Cafe Harajuku: https://www.facebook.com/Kawaii-Monster-Cafe-Harajuku-702622043198300/?fref=ts
I had never been there though, but looks fun as well.