【FOCUS IT.] There is a diner in Nakameguro that is open only late at night. The name of the restaurant is said to be "The Ginzara.

. When people are hurrying home. As you walk up Komazawa-dori from Nakameguro, you will see a store lit up. The Ginzara opened in October. It has a five-seat counter with a few drinks and a few dishes on the menu. It is hard to tell what kind of restaurant it is, as there is only a small sign and a "open for business" tag on the front of the store.

Looking at the restaurant's Instagram page, one can see pictures of dishes served on silver plates, along with some small stories. The owner of the restaurant's Instagram page was a man who seemed to have a gentle personality. I was curious, so I contacted him and received a reply from Mr. Odajima, and I was able to go and talk to him.

A space with two faces.

It's been a month since the restaurant opened , how is it going?

At first it was mostly acquaintances, but we are finally getting first-time visitors. Some of them live nearby, and since we don't specifically say what kind of shop we are, they seem to be curious about it and come in.

It is true that the signboard is a little bit hidden, with only the name of the restaurant on it. How did you come to set up store here?

At one point in my life, I worked at a restaurant that used to be behind this place. At that time, I was at an age when I wanted to grow a little taller and go out for a drink, and in my search, I found this place. At the time, it was a nice, small bar. I became friends with the owner and started going there.

Around July of this year, I heard that the bar was moving and this space would be vacant, so I decided to own a restaurant to do something here.

This is a coffee shop called "Frequency" during lunch time, right? What was the impetus for starting this together?

The owner is a boy named Rui, and we are actually childhood friends from Iwate Prefecture, and we went to the same high school, so we have known each other for quite a long time. After graduation, we didn't see each other much, but when he opened a coffee shop called "Ambient Brew" in Yutenji, we started going there often.

I decided to open my own restaurant, but (since I work at a different place during the day) I felt that if I only opened at night, my daytime hours would be empty. I wanted someone else to do that part, and the first person who came to mind was Rui. He only works during the day, too, so it was a win-win situation, as they say now (laughs).

Store cards for both restaurants placed right next to the kitchen.
Sometimes there is a red pattern on it , but they say that is ketchup that bounced off when making Neapolitan. Isn't that something good? . but between you and me, Mr. Odajima was shaking the frying pan in an exaggerated manner.

Seeing culinary possibilities on a silver platter .

. The name of the restaurant and the restaurant's Instagram shows a "silver plate" standing in front of the restaurant. Can you tell us about your concept?

Let me go back a bit , a few years ago. I started catering in my spare time while doing my day job. Gradually, I was getting invited to more and more events, and I was able to connect with people of my generation, but after about six months, I started to have some doubts. I felt that I couldn't decorate the food in a presentable way or serve it freshly prepared.

The post is full of silver platters.
The wide range of dishes, Japanese, Western, and Chinese, demonstrates Odajima's versatility and the depth of his silver-plated dishes.

I thought about what to do next, and for starters, I created an Instagram account where I post dishes served on silver platters. I had always liked the idea of silver plates. Then, after a period of self-restraint, I had time to post more and more, and in July I got an offer to open a restaurant, so I decided to turn it into a restaurant.

The timing is exquisite. Since you serve everything on a silver platter, my question is a bit mean-spirited, but why does it have to be a "silver platter"?

I feel that the Neapolitan on a silver platter served in coffee shops is just a part of the atmosphere, and having worked in the kitchen for 10 years, I think that there are more possibilities if we really try to serve not only Neapolitan but also other coffee shop dishes on a silver platter. Maybe I'm being too cool, but .

Three strong dishes! Red sausage, potato salad, and "a handful from the shelf" ... what's that?

Tatsuro Yamashita's radio show had a corner with this title, and I'm paying homage to it (for more details, please refer to the following page).Instagram on October 17(at). We decide on the menu depending on the mood of the day, but some days we have it, some days we don't, and some days it varies. Some days we have it, some days we don't. If there is a popular dish there, we can make it a regular menu item. Right now it is Neapolitan.

. So you are trying not to make too many decisions.

Yes, I did. Partly because I liked the original look, but I also kept the interior as simple as possible, with very little tinkering. If you start out with a lot of work, it will be difficult to make changes later on, so I thought it would be better if I completed the project gradually. . I am also thinking of increasing the number of alcoholic beverages if customers request it.

Exactly. It seems to have the bare necessities. You say that you are open late, but do you have many customers who come to the restaurant only to have a drink after the second or third bar?

. Yes, sometimes people are tongue-tied. If they are hungry, they can have something to eat and go home without drinking anything (laughs). (Laughs.) I also like to hear their personal stories.

When I heard your story, it reminded me of a certain restaurant.... I don't mean to be rude, but are you aware of the comic book "Midnight Diner"?

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but recently I saw it and thought it was interesting. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but recently I suddenly saw it and thought it was interesting and wanted to do something like this (laughs). . I'm not making a big deal about it, but I hope there are some people who are aware of it.

I asked you to do this interview because of your Instagram, so can I ask you a little bit about that? You post something that makes up the store and a small story derived from it. I thought the temperature of the text was exquisite.

Thank you . If I write too long, they won't read it, so I try to make it just barely long enough to read. . I write with such intensity that you can read it in the bathroom.

That's a good way to put it (laughs). I see proper nouns like radio and comic books in your post, did you go through that kind of culture?

. I don't have any particular hobbies that I can proudly say I have. When I came to Tokyo, I thought it would be cool to train as a chef instead of playing around, and that was completely due to the influence of "Yumi-shinbo.

But after realizing that I was narrowing my perspective, I started working at different stores and getting more involved in pop culture. . I also started listening to late-night radio to increase my vocabulary.

Well, I started watching "Midnight Diner" because Mr. Iwai of Haraiichi said it was interesting on TBS radio's "Haraiichi's Turn" (laughs). I was easily influenced.

. I started cooking largely because of manga. My family was very strict, so I was not allowed to play video games or anything like that, so I had no choice but to turn to manga. My family was even stricter than strict, so I was not allowed to read battle manga in which something dies or bleeds, and the only way I could get past the censors was through cooking manga. I could read "Mimi Shinbo" and "Shota's Sushi," which I mentioned earlier. Those were the things that got me started on the culinary path.

So you are doing this job now because of your parents' restrictions?

The impact in Germany is also in the store.

What is the first thing you do when you have free time?

Before I became a Corona, I used to travel abroad a lot. I once went to the U.S. on a whim and lived there for less than a year. I did some food truck work at that time, which gave me a good foundation, and since then I have been able to go back every year.

This is a picture hanging in the store. The motif is a flight jacket that Double Taps used to make in the past. The store's name is embroidered on a commercially available jacket worn by a hikikata.

Do you make things here based on what you ate there?

The red sausage on our menu is based on the curry sausage we had in Germany. It is a kind of fast food popular over there, a sausage with potatoes, mayonnaise and ketchup for seasoning, and curry powder on the ketchup. It's interesting that they call it curry sausage just by itself, but when I ate it, I thought, what the heck, and found that ketchup and curry powder go surprisingly well together, so I reproduced that on the menu here.

. a little new, even though I've had it before, but not too much of a twist. I like it. What do you want to do with the restaurant in the future?

I would like to make the store less aggressive. I think there are stores that make money by increasing the turnover rate, but that kind of thing is inevitably reflected in the customer service. I think there are people who are looking for a store that is not like that. Since we are located on the outskirts of Nakameguro, I want to make it a place where people can relax.

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Toward the end of the interview, I asked him, "Do you have a favorite restaurant? I asked him if he had a favorite restaurant. Expecting him to answer with a restaurant that was not well-known, but that those who knew it would know, he replied, "Yoronotaki in Gakudai, a franchise restaurant across the country. It's a franchise restaurant that has branches all over the country, but only there? The rice is usually very good.

Surprised at how easily he dodged the question, I was reminded of a certain comic strip about how a restaurant like this is only possible with a master who can't be grasped.

An article on the daytime "frequencies" will be available soon.