店主の人柄がにじむ、何度行っても飽きない隠れ家鉄板焼のお店 : Teppanyaki Tokuyoshi

一体何度目になるか、もう勘定し切れないほど通わせて戴いていますが、今回は息子も連れて家内と3人で出掛けました。
実は4月に借り切りで、友人たちが集まる会をやらせてもらうことになっているので、ちょっと打合せがてら訪問したのですが、相変わらず徳吉さんの腕は冴えています。鉄板越しのトークも冴えていました。
私と家内は最初から赤ワイン。息子はいつも通りビールです。

何しろ一番好きで、一番美味しいと思っている鉄板焼ステーキのお店です。
このお店が好きなのは、先ず、シンプルな理由ですが、いろいろ食べ比べて来た結果、抜群に美味しいということ。さらに、内容に比してコスパが凄く良いということです。沖縄出身のシェフが好んで使う、沖縄本島の北部にある本部町（もとぶちょう）の牛が美味しいのも大きなポイント。本部といってもなじみがないかもしれませんが、美ら海水族館のある町といえば、沖縄に行ったことのある方ならお分かりでしょうか。東側に位置する今帰仁村（なきじんむら）は、元祖アグー豚で有名なところで、牧畜が盛んなエリアともいえます。
三線（サンシン＝沖縄の三味線）の音が響くBGMを聴きながら、鉄板カウンターが２つ横に並ぶこぢんまりとした店内で、ふんわり落ち着けるのもまたいいところ。隠れ家といいましたが、路地の裏の奥のほうにあって、分かりにくいのもまた宜しい。
この本部牛のシャトーブリアンとサーロイン、そしてそれぞれの筋も焼いて戴くのが今日のコースのメインです。

最初にお魚のカルパッチョが付き出しで供されます。この日はスズキでした。
その次に揚物が出ます。今回はカキフライです。どちらもワインに合います。
そしてこの店の名物が、沖縄産の車海老。今日の海老は久米島産。海の脇に生け簀を作って、そこで養殖しているのです。この活きのいい海老を鉄板で焼いていきます。焼き始めで、鉄板から逃げようと飛び出してくることもあるので、可哀そうですが、飛ばないように尾っぽから焼き付けていきます。ゴメンね。
身はさっとバターで仕上げて、頭部は上から重しのようなコテで押さえて、まっ平らなお煎餅状にして出してくれます（今回は写真撮り忘れました）。
サラダがまた美味しいのです。レタスやキュウリやニンジンのサラダの上に、何か（いつも忘れます。多分ジャガイモです）を刻んで揚げたフリットを掛けてくれるのですが、これを混ぜて食べるとうんまいです。

そしてアワビ。今日のはでかくてこれまた活きが良い。良すぎで凄く残酷。のたうち回ってぐるぐる回転するのが痛ましい。考えてみると活けを鉄板で調理するというのは聊かSDGs的にアカンのかもしれませんが、この美味しさは何者にも替え難いので許して下さい。
アスパラガスのソテーと共に戴きます。肝は肝で別途調理します。

そしていよいよ、本部牛のオンパレード。丁寧に焼き上げたニンニクとともに塩やワサビで戴きます。筋の部分も押さえつけるように油を出し切るように焼き上げているので、しつこくなくて美味しく戴けます。この後に続くガーリックライスは、これまた最高です。

最後に、シメにはやっぱり「泡盛」。息子も妻も私も、今帰仁城という琉球泡盛の甕仕込み古酒をロックで戴きました。

今日も有難うございました。

A hidden shop that I don't really want to tell about. One of them is Tokuyoshi, a Teppan-yaki Restaurants. The encounter dates back more than ten years. At the time, I was living in the Asakusa area for a short time, and as I'm sure everyone did in the past, I expanded my range of activities by popping into new stores and becoming familiar with them if I liked them. Tabelog started in 2005, so back then I couldn't watch it even if I wanted to. One day around lunchtime, I was hungry and wanted something a little more substantial, so I wandered around the back of Kaminarimon Street and ``discovered'' Tokuyoshi, tucked away in a corner of an alley. The door happened to be ajar, so I peeked in and saw my father, who looked a little scary. A voice called out to me, and I was sucked inside. The small store has two iron plate counters that can seat about 6 people. The room is simple, but there are Okinawan shisa statues placed here and there. The lighting is also good. I was shown to a chair in front of a teppanyaki grill and was served what looked like Teppan-yaki set meal for lunch. The skill with which they grilled the garlic and grilled the meat, as well as the flavor of the meat seasoned with salt and wasabi, was exquisite. I really liked it and kept going to the store. I visited with friends, family, and clients, and it became the base of my Teppan-yaki life. I live far away from Asakusa, and thanks to the coronavirus, I missed the opportunity to visit Tokuyoshi, but I visited there for the first time in three years, and I was like, ``Hey, it's been a while, how are you doing, and how are you still surviving?'' After a conversation, I was guided to the counter. What made me happy was that the same red wine that I used to drink was available at the counter. It was a wine with a label decorated with a picture of a nude woman (rough) that I joked to the person I was taking with me, saying, ``We have rough wine.'' Thank you, husband, for remembering me! Made in Piedmont, Italy. La Cortidiana Rosso, La Cortidiana Rosso, is a nude wine. This red, with its berry aroma, has a thick body but is easy to drink, and in a sense it's a wine that will appeal to everyone, as it doesn't compete with the meat. The price is also reasonable. It's right in front of Teppan-yaki. First, in Okinawa they serve a sashimi called akamachi, which has a slightly reddish color to the flesh. Comes with original sauce. Like all fish from the southern seas, the flesh is soft even when fresh, but it has a slightly sweet taste. The fried white fish that came after the sashimi was also delicious. On the iron griddle, the host grills the garlic slices carefully, carefully, as if in a ritual. Grilling the garlic evenly and without burning requires a lot of skill and patience. Then, a medium-sized abalone appeared, writhing vigorously. The tiger prawns from a remote island of Okinawa (probably Kume Island, farmed inland, far from the sea) in a basket next to them were also bouncing as if in opposition. We humans are truly cruel creatures. After a while, the abalone is served on top of a large shiitake mushroom. The buttery sauce deepens the flavor. The liver that comes with it is also delicious. Three prawns lined up in a row were staring at me on the iron plate. He jumped up and down energetically until he got too excited, but it seemed like he had finally given up. The body is served with an original sauce, and the head is made into a flat rice cracker. Although it comes from the remote island of Okinawa, it is farmed, so it is grown on land. However, the meat is firm and delicious. Now, the meat is here. The cows are from Motobu, which is located a little west of Nago City on the main island of Okinawa. Ishigaki beef is well known, but Motobu beef is not so famous, and many people probably don't even know where Motobu town is located. However, when you think of a town where the Churaumi Aquarium is located, you probably know it. Next to Motobu Town is Nakijin Village, which produces the Nakijin Agu, an ancient breed of pig. We shared half Motobu beef fillet and half sirloin. Enjoy the juicy juicy fillet and the sirloin's oily meat, which for some reason doesn't leave your stomach feeling heavy. It is cooked medium rare and served with wasabi and Okinawan salt or soy sauce. Served with carefully roasted garlic slices and stir-fried vegetables. The appetizers were sashimi, fried fish, writhing abalone, and jumping shrimp, followed by fillet and sirloin, and I also drank a glass of wine. But here comes the final fun part. It is garlic rice with meat. The key is fried rice. I can't finish dinner without this. Teppan-yaki is like ◇◇ without 〇〇 (I can't think of it, sweat). Grilling on a 3cm thick iron plate doesn't make everything better. After all, it is the master's hand. This crunchy fried rice doesn't contain eggs, but it has just the right amount of char. I finished the meal while slurping up the green seaweed miso soup. Finally, after tightening your stomach with not-too-sweet Ogura ice cream and hojicha, head to see the night view of Sensoji Temple, a 5-minute walk away. This is also a set.