Tori no Su 鶏の巣 横須賀

Tori no Su was one of the first restaurants we ventured into after arriving in Yokosuka, Japan. The English menu made it a snap, and the staff was really nice, giving us a small food take home gift when we left.  It is also a place well liked by the locals based on a faithful customer base.

Front entrance

steps up to Tori no Su

鳥の巣 is the Kanji and the name (Tori no Su) simply means Bird's Nest.  You know - tori as in yakitori. The restaurant is on the second floor and third floor. The second floor is all tables and a counter seating area. The third floor is more counter seating, the main kitchen, some floor seating and private rooms. They also have a party room available. 

Tori no Su is located a half block off of Blue Street and not far from Chuo station. You can find it on the blog map. It's a good bet for lunch and dinner. Lunch menus are all in Japanese and two of them are translated below, but the dinner menu is available in English. 

View from the counter seating

Deep fried saba (mackerel) with sweet vinegar sauce lunch set

Chicken bowl lunch set

Tempura lunch set

The lunch menus change every day but repeat about every two weeks. Two of the menus are below and you can see that some of the choices remain the same while others change. The white lettering describes the main dish and the yellow provides additional details. As for the side dishes I've translated them once on the right (lower) part of the menu. As you look at the other offerings you can see that the side dishes are repeated there as well for the most part.

clockwise from top left, kamameshi, baked fish, sashimi, and tempura set meals

A special Bibimbap set meal

 

Otoshi is the "mandatory" little appetizer for which you will be charged

 The otoshi is common at most izakayas. 

Shishamo smelt. Really good with Mayo

Simple potato with butter

Meguro kama - Tuna Collar

 The tuna collar was really substantive in size. Just use your chopsticks to pick the meat off and dip it into the awesome sauce at the bottom of the plate along with a little grated daikon radish.

Nice looking salad

 

Bar seating. There is also a 3rd floor.

 
Recently updated/new English dinner menu: 

Below is the old English dinner menu. As with any Izakaya, you should be able to find a few things you like. It's a  good way to improve your food vocabulary as they give the hiragana/katakana along with the romaji and English.

The above menu says Eihire or stingray. Ei えい　is stingray and hire　ひれ is fin. Although I haven't had it here at Tori no Su, I did have this at another restaurant in Tokyo recently and enjoyed it. It's grilled and has a consistency similar to a soft beef jerky. You typically would dip it into a mixture of mayonnaise, soy sauce, and perhaps some shichimi. I liked the dish so much that I was able to make it at home after finding some at AVE grocery store in the seafood section. Just grilled it up a bit over the stove burner. It's a good snacking food that goes well with a beer.

If anyone ever tries the "salted entrails of sea cucumber" please let me know!