Day 142 - Izakaya in Ikebukuro (Zawatami)

Hey everyone!
I hope you are all well!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I have had lots of coursework lately and just recently had to move to a new house! It is the holiday now so hopefully I should more time to write posts up.

On January 24th a group of friends and I went to an izakaya in Ikebukuro.

One of our friends was coming to visit from another part of Japan so we wanted to go somewhere nice. We eventually decided on trying out an izakaya called Zawatami.

Zawatami 座和民 is a chain of izakaya Japanese pub that is part of an even larger group of restaurants so there are many of them across Tokyo. We went to the branch near Sunshine City.

When you enter you need to remove our shoes before stepping into the elevated floor. There free lockers  that you can store your shoes. The lockers were even big enough to hold my tall boots.

I really liked the atmosphere of this izakaya, it had quite a Japanese feel to it. Our table was in  an enclosed area with tatami flooring and cushions. But there was a sunken area to put your feet in case you don't like sitting in seiza kneeling. You can also choose between smoking and non-smoking areas.

Ther menu had a wide range of food from sashimi to chips. Being an izakaya there was naturally lots of exciting cocktails on offer too. We ordered lots of things to share which is always a great way to eat!

As usual I couldn't resist the allure of the unnaturally blue drink

fried Gyoza dumplings

Cheese-filled meat croquettes - bad for the heart, good for the soul

tofu!

Takoyaki squid balls

The food was really nice and the table we were sitting at was perfect for catching up as the seating was quite intimate and we could all face each other.

If your ever in Japan I definitely recommend trying out an Izakaya!