Tokyo’s Philadelphia-themed restaurant, Philly, serves a great-looking cheesesteak
Philly restaurant and bar is in Nihonbashi, Tokyo but its cheesesteaks look like they’re from South Street.
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Is the cheesesteak Philly’s greatest culinary export?
Recently, we caught wind of Passyunk Ave. in London, but it seems Japan was early to the scene.
In the heart of Tokyo sits Philly, a popular bar opened in 2011 with an intriguing twist — it’s wholly dedicated to the City of Brotherly Love. Philly blog WTTW’s instagram account recently surfaced a tweet by Japan-based journalist and Philly-native Dan Orlowitz, in which he shared photos of the bar’s cheesesteak.
Officially named Nihonbashi Philly, with a focus on rugby (not sure of the Philly connection there), the streetside eatery is known for serving a classic Philly cheesesteak and displaying cans of Yards Brewing’s Philly Standard beer, Phillies history books and Rugby World Cup memorabilia.
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They even celebrated National Cheesesteak Day. From initial reports, its sandwich passes the traditional Philly cheesesteak smell test as the restaurant uses what appears to be cheese whiz, a nicely chopped steak similar to Philly food trucks, and they refer to the roll as a “hoagie.”
According to Philly’s website, restaurant owner Kosuke Chujo opened the restaurant in Tokyo’s bustling commercial quarter Nihonbashi, where Chujo was born, raised and continues to live. Nihonbashi is named after the Nihonbashi Bridge, constructed in 1603, which connected Japan’s early highway system to the region which would later become Tokyo. Since its beginnings as an economic hub in the 17th century, Nihonbashi has continued to be a commercial and cultural landmark, according to the Nihonbashi Information Center.
From the restaurant’s social media pages, the love of Philly shines through with videos and photos of a person who appears to be the owner of Nihonbashi Philly’s recent trips to Philadelphia.
Looking at the online menu, Philly opens on weekdays for dinner, featuring Japanese-American fusion dishes like a 7 oz. hamburger steak drenched in hayashi rice sauce, Philly halal truck-inspired chicken over rice or Philly hoagies with chicken mac and cheese or pork and coleslaw sandwiches.
The inside of the small bar and eatery is decked out with street art and graffiti on the wall with signs that read “JAWN” and “Philly-licious” and framed posters of the Liberty Bell.
After an in-depth online analysis of Philly restaurant and bar’s social media, The Inquirer can conclude that this place has some great-looking food and on Chujo’s next trip to Philadelphia, Yards Brewing Co. might need to give the owner a beer on the house and the Phillies should let Chujo throw the first pitch.