Tio Danjo is not a large place, and it's hard enough at the best of times to reserve a table at short notice. At the end of last month, though, it was nigh on impossible. Owner-chef Keita Danjo had just come back from one of his regular visits to Madrid, and the word was out among regular customers.
Like so many chefs, Danjo is quiet-spoken and undemonstrative, preferring to let his food do the talking for him. But his love of Spain and its food is clear as soon as you enter his modest, second-floor premises in Ebisu. It has won him a loyal following (the Food File included) who share that enthusiasm.
The open kitchen is almost totally obscured by the row of hams, sausages and cured pigs' trotters that dangle down alongside paella pans of various dimensions. The counter is lined with cazuelas, those rectangular brown earthenware dishes that are an essential element of Spanish cooking, displaying an appetizing array of glistening olives, marinated seafood and hearty stews of pork and chickpeas. And, in pride of place, you see a bright-yellow tortilla (Spanish omelet) the size of a small cake.