The menu, explained
Ten courses on the water: the Yakatabune menu, drink by drink and dish by dish
Sashimi, tempura fried to order, a seasonal rice course and an open bar — what is actually on the table across a ten-course Funasei dinner, and what to do if you have dietary needs.
See the Yakatabune dinner cruise on GetYourGuide ↗The ten courses, roughly in order
| Course | What it is |
|---|---|
| Shikidashi & kobachi | Small opening appetisers and side dishes |
| Sashimi boat | A boat-shaped platter of sliced raw fish (moriawase) |
| Tempura | Fried fresh in the boat's own kitchen, served hot |
| Seasonal rice (gohan) | A rice dish that changes with the season |
| Konomono, salad, shime no men | Pickled vegetables, a small salad, finishing noodles |
| Dessert | Closes out the meal on the run back to the pier |
A ten-course structure, not a plated main
Rather than choosing a single main course, dinner here is a fixed sequence of ten smaller courses, cooked fresh on the day rather than prepared in advance and reheated. That structure is fairly standard across Tokyo's yakatabune operators, Funasei included, and it suits the format of the evening: with the boat moving for two and a half to three hours, a steady run of smaller courses keeps food arriving throughout the cruise rather than everyone eating quickly at the start and then just watching the view for the rest of the night. Nobody chooses individual dishes — the sequence is set, and the only real decision on the night is how quickly to eat through it. That fixed structure also keeps the kitchen efficient on a moving boat with no space to run an open menu.
The sashimi and tempura are the two courses most people mention
The sashimi course arrives as a moriawase — a shared, boat-shaped platter of the day's fish, sliced and arranged rather than served as individual plates — and tends to land in the earlier part of the meal. Tempura follows later, fried to order in the boat's kitchen rather than plated ahead of time, which is worth knowing if you have had disappointing pre-fried tempura elsewhere: this is meant to arrive hot, straight from the oil. Between the two, they are the closest things to a headline course in a menu built on breadth rather than a single showpiece dish. Reviewers of similar Funasei cruises consistently single these two courses out as the highlights, which is a reasonable expectation to carry onto the boat without treating it as a guarantee of any specific fish or cut.
The open bar runs the length of the evening
Drinks are unlimited for the duration of the cruise: beer, Japanese sake, shochu, umeshu (a sweet plum liqueur), wine and soft drinks are all included, with staff coming round through the meal rather than guests queuing at a bar counter. It is worth pacing yourself the way you would at any all-you-can-drink format — the courses keep arriving for two and a half to three hours, and a slower, steadier approach to the bar suits an evening built around a long meal rather than a short one. Non-drinkers are not short-changed either; soft drinks are poured with the same regularity as everything else on the list.
The later courses close the meal in a traditional order
After the tempura, the meal moves into a seasonal rice dish, konomono pickled vegetables, a small salad and shime no men — finishing noodles that traditionally signal the end of a Japanese set meal, followed by dessert. This closing sequence tends to coincide with the Odaiba leg and the run back to Shinagawa, so there is rarely a long lull between the showier early courses and the meal's actual finish. Guests who pace themselves through the first half generally have the most room left to enjoy this stretch properly, and the noodles in particular are worth arriving hungry for rather than treating as an afterthought. The seasonal rice dish is one of the few courses that changes noticeably through the year, reflecting whatever is in season at the time.
Dietary needs are a booking-time question, not a table-side one
This is a fixed set menu built around fish, so it is not naturally suited to guests avoiding seafood, and it is not an à la carte kitchen able to swap dishes on request once you are on board. If you have allergies, a seafood restriction or another dietary requirement, the GetYourGuide listing is where to flag it before you book — checking in advance gives the operator a chance to confirm what, if anything, can be adjusted, rather than discovering the limits of the menu once the boat has already left the pier. Vegetarian and other significant dietary requests are worth confirming directly through the listing before payment, since availability can vary by sailing and season.