Hobo Ueno Osushimachi serves Edomae sushi with a modern twist. Its popular nigiri sushi features a thick, 40-gram slab of sashimi, seared and scored with a criss-cross pattern like a piece of mango. You can get fatty tuna, salmon or amberjack, all goes for ¥549 per piece. There are standard nigiri sushi, too, such as shrimp, eel and squid, as well as unconventional maki rolls like salmon cream cheese and beef short rib.
The menu here goes beyond sushi, with creative side dishes inspired by classic izakaya fare. The yukke (raw fish; from ¥659) especially, comes in three different preparations – one of which is served on an ice cream cone and dressed with the restaurant’s speciality sauce. There are plenty of cooked seafood, too, from steamed clams and deep-fried oysters to greater amberjack sashimi topped with sesame seeds.
The easiest choice is to go for the course menu (from ¥5,000). This gets you around half-a-dozen of its popular dishes, plus two hours of all-you-can-drink.