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Delicious shellfish in a stylish interior at an extremely affordable price.

Tokyo’s had a reputation as a great dining destination for some time now, and these days there’s plenty of quantity to go with the quality, as we can attest to after taking advantage of a number of awesome all–you–can–eat deals over the past few months. But after stuffing ourselves on less costly fare, we’ve found an amazing all-you-can-eat offer on something that’s usually far pricier.

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Located two blocks from Iidabashi Station in downtown Tokyo, Kaigaraso bills itself as an “oyster bistro,” It’s got the sort of classy interior you’d expect from the fancy self-categorization, but its lunch sets are very reasonable, with fish, pasta, or meat dishes for just 980 yen (US$9.50).

Even the most expensive lunch option is still pretty cheap, at 1,200 yen. As a matter of fact, we’d say it’s an absolute bargain, since it’s for all-you-can-eat fried oysters!

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Beautifully presented, the oysters are compact enough to be eaten in a single bite. The breading is a bit on the thick side, but not so much as to diminish the flavor of the shellfish, with each morsel expertly cooked to a satisfying crispiness.

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In addition to a salad, the set comes with your choice of rice or bread, with unlimited refills available for your selection. We made do with a single portion of rice, though, since we wanted to save room for more oysters, which were brought out as we requested them.

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▼ The oysters are served with both a tartar and house sauce, each of which is delicious.

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As we dug into our second plate, we realized that we hadn’t been told what the time limit was for our all-you-can-eat meal. Most unlimited food offers in Japan are good for two hours, but a couple of places cut you off at 90 minutes. To make sure we weren’t overstaying our welcome, we asked our waiter, which is when we found out there’s no time limit for Kaigaraso’s all-you-can-eat oyster set, as long as the restaurant is still serving its lunch menu.

On weekdays, the restaurant opens for lunch at 11 a.m., and doesn’t switch to its dinner menu until 3 in the afternoon, with those times changing to 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekends and holidays. That means you could have up to four hours of limitless oysters, which works out to the ridiculously cheap rate of just 300 yen an hour.

Really, the only way Kaigaraso’s oysters could make us happier, or feel any richer, is if they all had pearls in them.

Restaurant information
Kaigaraso (Iidabashi Sakura Terrace branch) / 貝殻荘 飯田橋サクラテラス店
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Fujimi 2-10-2 Iidabashi Gran Bloom Sakura Terrace, 2nd floor
東京都千代田区富士見2-10-2 飯田橋グラン・ブルーム サクラテラス 2F
Open: 11 a.m.-  11 p.m. (weekdays), 11:30 a.m. – 11 p.m. (weekends, holidays)
Website (Tabelog)

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