Utsuki Robatayaki - Kamakura 卯月鎌倉

Certainly this is in the "beyond" Blue Street category. But it is quite worthy of mention. A regular contributor to Japan Travel, Larry, recommended this place. Larry has lived in Kamakura for over 20 years. And someone who lived in Kamakura all their life recommended Utsuki to Larry. 

Front entrance to Utsuki

If you live or work in Yokosuka, you have likely visited Kamakura. And if you've been to Kamakura you have almost certainly walked down the street where Utsuki is located - Komachi-dori. It's the busy shopping street out the east entrance of Kamakura station. The restaurant is a few blocks in.  You go past the first "intersection" - where there are likely some creepy guys in tights with unusually dark tans, trying to give you a ride on their carriage. You should then see it on your left after a few more steps. Below is small map showing it's location. A picture of the sign is below and I've put it on the blog map of course.

The Utsuke sign is the narrow black and white sign just to the left of the streetlamp. The entrance stairs are under the A-frame eaves on the left.

I've posted on a lot of restaurants and you can usually tell by my words how much I like them. My first rule is I will not post a restaurant unless I'm willing to go back. Utsuke is one that I definitely want to go back to, and was certainly one of my best restaurant experiences in Japan.

What made it nice was it's authenticity. Utsuki is a robatayaki and I'll talk more about this below. Some Tokyo robatayaki's are high on the list of foreigner favorites. I've been to one in Tokyo and found it to be fun, but way overpriced. They were charging more for one fish than we spent for an entire meal here. Utsuke has less banter and shouting than the Tokyo robatayaki's, however it's a very Japanese dining experience and not touristy at all.

Utsuki is run by Hiroshi, his wife Etsuko, and their son I believe. I asked them how long they've been open. The answer is an astounding 40 years! Where were you 40 years ago??!  They are very nice and treated us newcomers like family. They didn't speak much English so we got by with my elementary Japanese.

Veggies on the counter and some meat and yakitori in the cooler

How Etsuko feels about math

For the most part you just point to the food you want to eat, so no Japanese is necessary. The food is laid out in front of you on an wide bar/counter. Mostly you'll see vegetables out on the counter. In a cooler you'll see beef, pork, chicken yakitori, and tsukune (like a meatball). Behind the scenes there are some other dishes like salads, deep fried chicken, and kamameshi. The English menu (which they have) was not that great so I've tried my best to translate the Japanese menu.

I recommend you give Utsuki a try. Their phone number, hours, and website are listed further below.  I'm surprised they have a website. When I asked them, they said they don't have an email address and don't have a fax either. You may laugh, but the Japanese rely heavily on fax machines. If you're coming in the evening, I'd recommend reservations. You can have someone call for you, or stop in during lunch and bring the restaurant reservation aid found on the key food kanji page, then make your reservation for dinner.

I've posted the Japanese menus below. I did translate the menus, however, I left my only translated menu with the restaurant.  Etsuko was truly touched when I offered it to her. So if you ask for the English menu when you go, hopefully they will provide you with the menu I left behind.  I will work to translate it again and post it. 

Sake serving box - masu

 If you order a particular sake, it will be served in the traditional sake serving box. The smell of the cedar box and the sake make for a very enjoyable drink.

The grill is the centerpiece at a robatayaki

Kanji Sidebar - A robatayaki or 炉端焼き is a restaurant where the food is cooked on a grill in front of you. There are many yakitori restaurants where you can kind of see the chef cooking your food. But at a robatayaki the grill is typically center stage.
The first kanji is "ro" or 炉. It is made up of the "fire" and "door" elements. Together it means hearth, or furnace.
The second kanji is "bata" or 端. This means edge or border. It's kind of hard to see, but on the left is 立 "vase," on the top we have mountain 山 and on the bottom right is rake or "comb" 而. Now I know some of the experts out there are saying "that's not a vase - that means stand up." Yes I know, but in Remembering the Kanji we are not learning Kanji in the traditional way. Some elements are assigned non-traditional meanings. So anyways to come up with a story with these elements then we might say "The vase was overflowing to the edge with a mountain of combs." Sounds strange but the stranger the stories you make up the easier the kanji are to remember.
The third kanji is yaki 焼 which means to bake or burn and I've explained it previously in another post. So now we put it all together and it is simply grilling/cooking on a fire in front of you - or near the edge. In this case the edge is the other side of the counter.
End Kanji sidebar

As far as the name, 卯月 Utsuki, it simply means the fourth month of the lunar calendar. The 卯 part of it is the Sign of the Rabbit or the fourth sign of the Chinese zodiac.

In 2004 several Miss International Pageant contestants ate here on a visit to Kamakura. You can see a picture of them sitting on the steps leading to the restaurant here. You can also see more photos inside the restaurant. So if they are bringing international guests here you know there is something special about Utsuki.

At this robatayaki, the food will be delivered to you by the owner, in our case Hiroshi, on a wooden oar. Not only is this fun, but it's pretty convenient for the chef and his staff.

Incoming!

To order, simply point to what you want if the item is on the counter

Ginko nuts

Tsukune or chicken meatball. Very tasty.

Shimamo

Shimamo are small fish who's guts have been cleaned out, but the rest you just eat whole. Good with a little soy sauce and grated daikon radish.

This is the fried chicken or chicken karaage

The salads, chicken karaage, deep fried fish, etc. you will not see on the counter. So you'll have to order them. You can always pull up this blog post on your phone and show it to them. That will work too. In two visits to this place I certainly have sampled quite a few of the dishes!

Crab or "kani" salad - awesome

Avocado salad

Forgot what this was exactly, but I think it's a kind of fish cake

Taro root

I ate the skin and I'm still alive. Lots of fiber.

Potato with butter and salt

A whole, deep fried fish

I don't remember what kind of fish this was, but perhaps a rockfish. It was deep fried quite well until it was very crispy. You can eat the fins and most of the bones!

Ika or Squid

Whale meat

Noodles and mushrooms

Steps leading up to Utsuke

grilled garlic

Garlic in Japanese is Ninniku.

Friendly locals

We met these nice folks at the counter. They live in Kamakura and come to Utsuke quite often and spoke pretty good English.

Shopping street

Some personal bottles on the shelves

At many places in Japan, if you're a regular, they'll save your personal bottle of shochu for you on their shelves. Your name is written on it.When you come back, it'll be waiting for you.

There are a few tables to sit at too, but the counter (8-10 seats) is where the action is

Eggplant or nasu

Utsuki's website is here.
Telephone: 046-725-4351
Lunch 11:30-2:00pm on weekdays and dinner from 4:30pm to 10:00 pm. On weekends, I believe they just stay open all day from 11:30 to 10:00 pm. 

Closed on Tuesdays

Menus

Couple of locals and some out of towners

 

I think I know these folks