01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
Chilled grilled shirako with aubergine offers a different way to enjoy shirako and aubergine from a warm dish. One diner who ordered it alongside an assortment of appetisers reported that both were full of flavour and memorable in their presentation. It is an appealing place to start if you want to choose a few small plates and take your time over a glass of wine.
Katarina’s menu includes easy first choices such as marinated sardines with grilled tomatoes, olives marinated with orange, and carrot râpée made with nukazuke (rice-bran-pickled) carrots. For a light bite, there is Milan salami or oysters preserved in oil; for something more substantial, consider stir-fried pork belly with nukazuke cabbage or seafood bouillabaisse. The listed prices are 450 yen for Milan salami, 1 yen for 220 oysters preserved in oil, 800 yen for stir-fried pork belly with nukazuke cabbage, and 1,500 yen for seafood bouillabaisse.
There are plenty of wines to choose from, and one diner enjoyed the owner’s selection of drinks. Taking time to choose a glass to go with the food is part of the appeal. Katarina in Arai, Nakano, is described as a place to linger over the day’s wine and small plates rather than to have a particularly substantial meal, and it also suits solo diners.
