Gomaya: Neo-Japonesque izakaya fare

What’s “neo-Japonesque” cuisine? Well, it’s basically a mix of European/Asian faves and Japanese dishes with a twist. The twist could go either way: a Japanese dish with a European touch or vice versa.

This approach is very common in Tokyo izakayas — you often find pasta and pizza next to hot pots and sashimi salads or what I call Japanese-Chinese dishes like mapo anything (from tofu to prawns) and fried rice, cha-han. Despite the attempt to make things fusion, there is almost always nothing complicated in a neo-Japanese izakaya.

Now there are those who do it okay and those who make it a little more special and I think Gomaya (details here) is a cozy nook in the heart of Shibuya that does neo-Japonesque well.

The dishes are simple but very full of flavour and it won’t cost you very much (3,500 – 4,000JPY).

We started with a few salady things as usual.

Raw veggie sticks with dark miso paste. Obviously this is one of my favourites because it’s raw, but you will find this to be true — the vegetables were fresh and succulent when dabbed in the miso. It was just the perfect way to ease into our meal.

A hot salad of sautéed mushrooms in olive oil and herbs with some lettuce on the side was the first non-Japanese dish. I think it was a bit Italian? It was quite delicate and savoury but the serving was teeny tiny.

Though thoroughly French, the liver pate salad with sliced baguette was very Japanese in terms of presentation where you can see its miniature spirit at play and carefully scooped out pate.

Steamed fava beans — 100% Japanese. You will find this at any yakitori or bbq party. I can’t stress this enough about dining out in Japan: fresh produce plays an essential part and they always never drown it in heavy sauces. It makes you appreciate dainty, wholesome flavours.

The pumpkin gratin was just delightful in that it used a tasty but light cheese so that the pumpkin could take centrestage.

This dish doesn’t look like much but it was extremely savoury, even though we requested for the bonito flakes to be left out. I think it was just shoyu and sesame oil and seeds tossed together but it kept me very happy.

Above is a typical Japanese steamed veggies wooden box with broccoli, okra, cauliflower, baby corn and carrot. You can’t see the sauce but it was a lovely Asian sesame based sauce.

I ended my meal with an ume onigiri. It wasn’t as tart as some that I’ve tried at other joints, so I totally savoured every mouthful.

The meat dishes were karage (deep-fried chicken nuggets) and prawns drizzled with mayonnaise (another very Japanese fusion dish) which are ubiquitous izakaya fixtures. Just looking at the pictures, you would find this is what you would normally get at typical bar restaurants that dot the city.

I wouldn’t call the food at Gomaya out-of-this-world “wow”, but it definitely has homey fare that is very comforting and delicious for a casual evening out. If you’ve got an out-of-towner who is keen to visit an izakaya, I would highly recommend Gomaya because you can show off that you know a little about “hole-in-the-wall” places in Tokyo so you can impress your guest without breaking the bank.

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