Shout out m046186 who recommended this among a few other Chinese places in a post somewhere I lost a while back, saw it on omakase and had liked 4000 when this dude had apparently worked there so gave it a shot
I ended up really enjoying it, it is extremely reasonably priced for what’s on offer and the chef did a great job with most dishes – keeping them from becoming too much style rather than substance like some of the Chinese restaurants I’d been to in Japan. I needed up liking it as much as shinois even though I think they’re different restaurants
Dishes were
1. Shaoxing marinated raw Botan ebi with a slight amount of garlic and chili, this was really simple but well done. I love this type of prep and this lived up to some of the better ones I’ve had
2. Beef tongue with a lot of scallions and sudachi, this was grilled and salted perfectly – didn’t need the sudachi. I could’ve honestly eaten like a full tongue cooked like this
3. Peking duck w tianmianjiang? I wanna say, Japanese Peking duck is always interesting lol. I thought it was about as good as most of the good ones I’ve had in Japan
4. Foie gras Chawanmushi with shanghai crab roe and fukahire, this was great. I was worried it was just gonna be a smash of a bunch of premium ingredients and it kinda started that way but it really just started working well together in the middle of the dish when it was like mostly fukahire accented with crab roe and some chawan
5. Kuro awabi sakemushi with tori paitan, oyster sauce, Chinese soy sauce and a lot of black truffle in the sauce and on top. This was up there with the tongue and the steamed fish. The truffle really worked nicely with this and the sauce was hella good, the awabi was good perfectly in my opinion
6. Wagyu sirloin with steamed cabbage in a spicy mala broth, cabbage was a nice adding a bit of sweetness but kinda served its role once the sirloin was done. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either
7. Crispy pork in a mix of balsamic and Chinese black vinegar sauce, pretty good honestly. Karashi was fun for a aji hen type thing
8. Pan fried dumpling topped with a mountain of grated daikon and garlic laden mala sauce. Also pretty good, the sauce kinda drowned the crispy part of the dumpling but if I ate it faster it would’ve have been an issue lol – was just talking to the guy next to me and the waitress a lot by then
9. Steamed kinki with Chinese soy sauce and mikan zest, honestly my favorite dish of the night. The first bite where I got the mikan zest with the kinki – it was amazing, wish there was a bit more of that zest throughout
10. Sichuan style mapo tofu, solid but not my favorite iteration of this dish in Japan. Lot of places serving authentic Sichuan mapo tofu or like even showing off two historical types – haven’t really found a great one yet
11. Hamaguri from Chib + noodles, broth was fantastic – super fun with the shaoxing I was just finishing up by then
12. Peanut tofu with coconut mousse and pistachio ice cream, solid but a lot of stuff I don’t personally like so can’t comment fairly
I’ll honestly come again when I’m back in town and would recommend you give it a shot too if you’re interested in Japanese takes on Chinese food
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Shout out m046186 who recommended this among a few other Chinese places in a post somewhere I lost a while back, saw it on omakase and had liked 4000 when this dude had apparently worked there so gave it a shot
I ended up really enjoying it, it is extremely reasonably priced for what’s on offer and the chef did a great job with most dishes – keeping them from becoming too much style rather than substance like some of the Chinese restaurants I’d been to in Japan. I needed up liking it as much as shinois even though I think they’re different restaurants
Dishes were
1. Shaoxing marinated raw Botan ebi with a slight amount of garlic and chili, this was really simple but well done. I love this type of prep and this lived up to some of the better ones I’ve had
2. Beef tongue with a lot of scallions and sudachi, this was grilled and salted perfectly – didn’t need the sudachi. I could’ve honestly eaten like a full tongue cooked like this
3. Peking duck w tianmianjiang? I wanna say, Japanese Peking duck is always interesting lol. I thought it was about as good as most of the good ones I’ve had in Japan
4. Foie gras Chawanmushi with shanghai crab roe and fukahire, this was great. I was worried it was just gonna be a smash of a bunch of premium ingredients and it kinda started that way but it really just started working well together in the middle of the dish when it was like mostly fukahire accented with crab roe and some chawan
5. Kuro awabi sakemushi with tori paitan, oyster sauce, Chinese soy sauce and a lot of black truffle in the sauce and on top. This was up there with the tongue and the steamed fish. The truffle really worked nicely with this and the sauce was hella good, the awabi was good perfectly in my opinion
6. Wagyu sirloin with steamed cabbage in a spicy mala broth, cabbage was a nice adding a bit of sweetness but kinda served its role once the sirloin was done. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either
7. Crispy pork in a mix of balsamic and Chinese black vinegar sauce, pretty good honestly. Karashi was fun for a aji hen type thing
8. Pan fried dumpling topped with a mountain of grated daikon and garlic laden mala sauce. Also pretty good, the sauce kinda drowned the crispy part of the dumpling but if I ate it faster it would’ve have been an issue lol – was just talking to the guy next to me and the waitress a lot by then
9. Steamed kinki with Chinese soy sauce and mikan zest, honestly my favorite dish of the night. The first bite where I got the mikan zest with the kinki – it was amazing, wish there was a bit more of that zest throughout
10. Sichuan style mapo tofu, solid but not my favorite iteration of this dish in Japan. Lot of places serving authentic Sichuan mapo tofu or like even showing off two historical types – haven’t really found a great one yet
11. Hamaguri from Chib + noodles, broth was fantastic – super fun with the shaoxing I was just finishing up by then
12. Peanut tofu with coconut mousse and pistachio ice cream, solid but a lot of stuff I don’t personally like so can’t comment fairly
I’ll honestly come again when I’m back in town and would recommend you give it a shot too if you’re interested in Japanese takes on Chinese food