Ikura, or salmon roe, is one of my favorite Japanese foods. It's also one of my favorite Russian foods, and one of the few Russian words I have no problem remembering or pronouncing, since it's basically the same as in Japanese: ikra. Russians spread it on toast, because it is, after all, caviar - though the eggs are much bigger, and thus differently textured, than ordinary caviar. Japanese mostly eat it on rice, either on sushi or in a rice bowl, or donburi. I love the bright red-orange color of ikura and the way each egg bursts saltily on the tongue, and I think the best rice-bowl combo is the parent-and-child oyakodon of silky-smooth salmon sashimi and bouncy ikura. But when I had lunch at Matsuba Sushi the other day and saw that the daily special was a maguro (tuna) and ikura don, I didn't even have to look at the rest of the menu.
Like many other Japanese restaurants, Matsuba Sushi offers lunch specials consisting of the main dish plus a few extras included in the price. Here, it's miso soup and a chawanmushi. Literally "steamed tea cup," chawanmushi is an egg custard with assorted goodies, usually shrimp or vegetables, buried inside. This one was very simple, containing just a ginko nut and a shrimp, plus the mitsuba leaves on top. The miso soup was also plain, with just a bit of wakame seaweed floating in the cloudy broth. But with a big rice bowl covered with tuna, ikura, and a few slices of pickled daikon radish and ginger, I didn't really need anything fancy on the side.
Minato-ku, Roppongi 1-6-1
Izumi Garden Tower, 2F
3-3568-6653
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