One Coin Fest in Hatagaya

My local hood of Hatagaya had it's monthly one coin festival recently. One coin? This concept is simple. One shiny gold coin (500 yen) gets you something. In this case, a bunch of the local bars were selling a drink and food combo for the low low price of about $5. Rad!

Yeah, there is a map with cute characters. Anyways, let's enjoy tasty meals and liquor and nice buddies!

Spice Market did a Thai curry with a Thai iced tea. With booze. Nice place to begin the day. The floral scented tea was a good 3pm drink.

Nothing wrong with drinking at 3pm. Actually, we started drinking at 10, but that's only because we had to wait in a 2 hour ramen line in the morning. That's a story for another site.

Miyazaki's is the best yakitori shop this side of Shinjuku. Cost performance, friendly atmosphere, and it's open until some insane hour. Actually, 500 yen seemed a bit high for a drink and food here.

Expensive cuts of wagyu, that well-marbled Japanese beef that the West tends to just call Kobe. Not part of the regular menu, though I quickly requested the addition. Miyazaki's is a late night place, and eating and drinking when it was still light out was made stranger by a gaggle of local children, ages 4 and under.

Miu Bar is an eclectic spot. My Japanese friends, who had never had limoncello, scoffed at the tiny shot of yellow liquor. But, like any good grain alcohol product, a small amount does the trick.

Food was meat on a stick. Eclectic. Then I realized that at the table next to me sat a fortune teller. Eclectic. If you go, check out the bathroom. It is, yeah, eclectic.

Bar-hopping is a good chance to check out some new spots. Ranpo is a little izakaya, serving up your standard izakaya fare. One of the best values of the day, a plate of sashimi and some Japanese sake.

The one coin event is put on by the Hatagaya Kiwamu League, which sounds like some sort Shriner organization, but translates to the Hatagaya Awesome League. Maybe not. Anyways, nice buttons! I want one! Turns out there is a stamp rally point card, and 10 stamps gets you a button. Don't do the math, that's an expensive button!

C'est l'heure is a tiny wine bar situated in the middle of everything. It's too convenient not to go. A standard evening of drinking in Hatagaya utilizes a top-down approach. If Miyazaki is full, we usually head to Hanawa Baby or Fanka, followed by the wine bar or Noisily. Yeah, those are the names of the places I drink at.

Bistro Remeets is a fresh face on the scene.

The aforementioned point card.

Remeets was baking up oysters in the broiler. Turned out that 2 of the 4 buddies present had allergies. Score! Double kaki.

Sorry, I totally forgot where this one was.

I've walked by Dining Bar Scuba many times. Turns out to be a Korean spot. Makori and some snacks. The winner for date spot of the lot, I guess. They charged us a seating fee, which was lame for a one coin event, but I think they brought us some extra kimchi or something.

Then we went and had ramen.

Sure, you can get good and drunk for cheap in Tokyo, maybe much less than the 7 or 8 coins I spent. But go for the local vibe thing. This is life on the West Side. From Koenji to Shimo . . . throw your ダボルs in the air!