April in Japan isn't cruel so much as capricious. It brings unexpected chills and sudden rain as readily as it does blossom and sunshine. There's still plenty of need for warming, restorative fare — and nothing fits that description better than oden.
Even at their simplest, there is something intensely comforting about these stew pots of vegetables, tofu, seafood and other morsels that are slowly simmered in rich, soy-based broth until saturated with umami. Done well, they become habit-forming.
That's certainly the case with the fare served at Otafuku. The recipe at this classic oden house has barely changed in a century and, until last autumn, nor had the atmospheric, low-rise wooden building in which the dish had been served for so long.