torinabetei

とりなべ亭 * トリナベテイ, or Tori Nabe Tei, is a very low key yet popular neighborhood eatery, about a 5 to 8 minute walk from Teradacho station in the Abeno Ward area.
We were very lucky to join our Air BnB host one night to have him pick his favorite local eater, and he chose Tori Nabe Tei. Quite simply put, Tori (bird, in this case Chicken), Nabe (hot pot), and Tei (booth, pavillion, eating establishment). Chicken cuisine and hotpot, really what more could you want during an icy cold winter in this part of town (along with a frosted mug of beer on tap) if not okonomiyaki across the street?
This is totally my kind of place. Bustling with locals, and pretty much no English on the menu (much to my detriment if I were by myself). We let our gracious host do all the ordering, and pretty much at the end of the meal we all agreed it was once of the best during our trip to Kansai.
One thing I love about the local izakayas is that when you order draft beer, it automatically comes in a frosted mug that has been shoved in deep freeze and topped with ample froth (far more than your average boba milk tea!). It’s standard! The local beer, whether Asahi or Kirin draft, is not as strong as the kind in the bottle, but is still pretty good! But when they turn the heater on and you are eating super hot food (especially the hotpot), thus you need something to cool you down, it’s right there and hits the spot. Back in Northern California? You’d be lucky if the beer glass was mildly chilled.
We started off with a quartet of… chicken sashimi! Thigh meat, breast, gizzard, and liver. As you see in the photo, there’s no drenching in ponzu sauce, and unlike Ippuku in Berkeley, also no «spicy sauce» or chicken sashimi that is seared on the outside. Just ginger, wasabi, and shaved scallions (almost like eating aji or katsuo tataki). For visitors there is a touch of a fear factor before you taste it, but once you put it in your mouth and dip a little soy sauce, you will come to realize that 1) the product is fresh 2) the texture is smooth, supple, almost like eating pristine raw fish, like a nice thick of pristine sea bream/​madai and 3) there is no slimey or wrong weird or guilt taste for that matter.
Yakitori
Sunagimo (gizzard) in salt
Hatu (heart) in sauce
Momo (thigh) in sauce
Grilled mountain yam (yamaimo) with a delectable plum sauce dip
Tsukune in sauce (ridiculously good)
then followed up with
Kamameshi — this is a metal pot steamed rice, cooked with chicken, gobo, carrot, and chicken stock. Such a basic dish, yet comforting and done so well and right. It’s appalling not to be able to find anything in this level back home :-(
Tori Nabe — chicken hotpot. The grand finale! A huge almost yosenabe like pot on a portable gas stove is delivered to the table, and our gracious host starts cooking for the rest of us. In go vegetables (cabbage, onions, tofu, mushrooms (including enoki), bean thread noodles or shirataki) and the meat (various bits of chicken and also their tsukune but as a raw paste), Some udon was added at the end and this was the highlight of the evening. Super comfort food, and done so right.
Caveat, they do allow smoking in here.
Downstairs you have counter seating for pure yakitori and side dishes, but if you have a group of friends, a booth (where you remove your shoes) is the place to be particularly if partaking in hot pot.
Tabelog’s rating is around a 3.0 out of 5… hard to believe!