** Everyday dining – Check Please!

Heritage by Madison: The legacy of a legendary Shanghai restaurateur

I was writing this review when I came across the news of the sudden death of Austin Hu, the Chinese-American chef behind this restaurant and many other culinary enterprises in town. I did not know him. I think I never met him. Still it is a shocking news as I have enjoyed the cuisine of Heritage by Madison for several months. Let this review be an homage to his work

The visit

I began visiting the restaurant back in June 2020 in the post Covid-19 Shanghai.

It is located at the Bund Finance Center, along with the Fosun Foundation building, a designer’s mall (in the basement of the plaza) and more. Recently a Baker and Spice location opened nearby. They usually have weekend markets and the exhibitions at the Fosun Foundation, when not overly commercial, may be interesting.

The interior is slick and modern. On a nice day there is a lot of competition to secure the outdoor seats.

What I immediately liked was a streamlined menu and straightforward dishes mixing Western and Chinese elements. Austin Hu’s hallmark. I have tried almost half of the items on the menu, here’s some of my favorites.

Among the appetizers, the assorted pickles including kimchi are a nice nibble.

Even better, the fried cauliflowers are crispy and tasty.

But my absolute favorite is the crispy pork belly. The crispiness of the skin and the juiciness of the meat are hardly encountered together at this level.

Once I tried, off-the-menu, their famous pastrami sandwich. If you like sour and spicy flavors this is a great sandwich.

Their duck ragout pasta was also very good (I did not entirely liked the shredded vegetables on top).

The check

The dishes described came from two visits, costing 271 and 256 RMB respectively (38-40 USD). That’s what you may expect to pay for a couple of dishes and a drink.

During weekdays they have an economical lunch set for just 10 USD.

At weekends they do not serve the standard menu, rather they have a brunch deal. You can choose three dishes from the brunch menu for 188 RMB.

Where in Shanghai:
1/F, 600 Zhongshan Dong Er Lu, near Longtan Lu.
In Chinese: 中山东二路600号1楼, 近龙潭路.
Easy bookings via Chope.

Lunch at Uoshin izakaya in Nogizaka

Uoshin is a chain of izakayas in Tokyo owned by a seafood distributor. When in Tokyo, I usually patronize their branch in Ginza. These izakayas are open only for dinner, however one makes an exception: their branch in Nogizaka, in the fancy Roppongi district, is open also for lunch catering to the office crowd. I tried their lunch offer back in October 2019.

The visit

The izakaya occupies a peculiar narrow house, in sharp contrast with the modern multi-story buildings all around.

I was hoping to sample their full menu, but actually for lunch they only serve donburi, a rice bowl with seafood. They had two options: one bowl with mixed seafood and one with chopped tuna and grated yam. I chose the former.

The lunch set included a miso soup. It was self-service: I poured the hot soup from the boiler into a bowl with its condiments.

Then I found a spot. This is a very Spartan venue. You seat on beer crates turned into stools and the tables are made out of wooden boxes.

The set looked good.

The bowl sported tuna, salmon eggs, and some white fish. Overall it was a very satisfying dish.

After finishing, I placed my used dishware and food left-overs in the proper containers.

By the time I left it was past noon and a queue had formed.

The check

For the large bowl, I spent 980 yen (around 9 USD), a bargain price for a lunch in Rappongi. It was simple, but the food was enjoyable and good value for money.

Where in Tokyo:
9-chome-6-32 Akasaka Minato City.
In Japanese: 東京都港区赤坂 9-6-32.
Website: http://www.uoshins.com/ (with list of other branches in Tokyo).

An izakaya in Kanda serving smoked foods: Kemuri

Just across Takemura (one of my favorite sweet cafes in Tokyo) I noticed an izakaya. Looking at the menu affixed outside I noticed that they specialized in smoked foods. Very interesting concept! I had to try it.

The visit

It was early on a Saturday evening and I was the first customer. I sat on a bar chair in the ground floor room (a bit uncomfortable). They also have tables upstairs.

I ordered their mixed platter with five items. It has BBQ pork, duck, bacon, rice cake, and olives (two). It was ok, but that one of the five promised items was a pair of olives seemed cheating.

They had smoked mentaiko that was good as usual.

Finally I had their smoked salmon salad that was quite good.

The check

The check for these three snack-size dishes was 4,080 yen (38 USD). For what it was, it was too much.

The concept of a smoked food izakaya was great, but it was poorly implemented. The food was clearly an afterthought, just a side for drinks. It is not an izakaya where you can have a serious meal. What a shame.

Where in Tokyo:
1 Chome-11-5 Kanda Sudacho, Chiyoda City.
In Japanese: 〒101-0041 東京都千代田区神田須田町１丁目１１−5.

Dining at Yabu Soba, one of Tokyo’s soba temples

Kanda is home of two of the oldest and most respected traditional soba restaurants in Tokyo: Matsuya and Yabu Soba. In December 2019 I was able to get in at Yabu Soba (my attempts at Matsuya sadly failed because every time I was in the area the queue was just too long).

The visit

I guess the trick was arriving quite late (past 2pm) on a weekday, but there was no queue.

The restaurant is located in traditional building. The shop dates back to the XIX century and the name literally means “shop in the bush”, a reference to the bamboo plants that used to be found in the area. The original building was destroyed during the Kanto Earthquake of 1923, but the current building was rebuilt just a few years later and it serves as a reminder of the old Tokyo.

I ordered their standard soba noodles and a tempura mix as a side. The noodles in the hot tsuyu sauce (made out of soya sauce, konbu, and fish flakes) were exquisite. They also have udon and cold soba and dishes combining noodles with other ingredients (the soba with duck slices was quite attractive).

Their noodles are of course handmade using a ration between soba flour and normal flour of ten to one and they claim to source the highest quality soba from around Japan.

One of the feature of this restaurant is that you get a pot of soba-yu, which is the water used to cook the noodles. You are recommended to add it to the broth when it runs low. I tried it and I what I got was a tasty soup.

The tempura was probably not the most exciting side dishes (oysters and anago were available!), but it is such a traditional pair for the soba noodles that I obliged. The mix carried broccoli, shunjiku, smelt fish, lotus root (stuffed with minced chicken), sweet potato, and an oyster. Simple, but every piece was carefully fried and made out of quality ingredients. Definetely I like the side dishes in these restaurants.

The check

The check was 2,470 yen (23 USD). The soba was just 825 yen. Traditional, touristy, but still a must-go for soba.

Where in Tokyo:
2-10 Kanda-awaji-cho, Chiyoda-ku.
In Japanese: 〒101-0063 東京都千代田区神田淡路町2-10.

Serving tonkatsu for 80 years and counting: Tonki in Meguro

Tonki, in Meguro, has been running for over 80 years: it was founded in 1939. They specialize in one dish: tonkatsu (the Japanese pork cutlet). Both locals and tourists queue for their cutlet.

The visit

I went on a Saturday evening in late December. It was early, but there was a massive backlog of customers. Luckily I could seat inside.

They have seats for waiting customers behind the guests at the counter. As soon as I stepped inside, still standing, I was shown the menu, basically two options, hire-katsu (fillet, lean meat, 130 grams) and rohsu-katsu (loin, some fatty on meat, 160 grams). It was a flash. I chose the classic loin. The the waiting began. It took almost one hour before I was seated.

Meantime, observing the staff impeccably dressed in white frying and preparing side dishes in a fast and steady manner in the open kitchen helped to kill some time.

Finally I was seated and I got a tea and a wet towel.

The set included pickles, rice, miso soup, finely shredded cabbage, a slice of tomato, and mustard. Of course they also had their own tonkatsu sauce (the recipe is secret). It took another 15 minutes to get the set.

And now let’s get to the cutlet. Apparently they soak the pork meat in three layers of batter before adding the bread crumbs, then they fry for 20 minutes. The result was a thin but firm batter enclosing the meat perfectly cooked. The breaded casing did not adhere to the meat, so it was a bit annoying trying to combine the two elements while eating. I also found the cutlet a bit oily.

The check

The set cost 2,100 yen (around 19.5 USD). This was an old school tonkatsu. It was good but not great. For what it was, 2,100 yen was pricey, but you pay for the history surrounding the place. Honestly, I preferred the tonkatsu from Maisen and Butagumi: they have better meat (even aged) and the batter is crispier (and in the end their entry level set are only marginally more expensive than this). I did not regret going, but I would not particularly recommend it.

Where in Tokyo:
1-1-2 Shimo-Meguro, Meguro-ku.
In Japanese: 東京都目黒区下目黒1-1-2.

Traditional yakitori in Ginza: Takechan

Takechan is a small yakitori joint in Ginza (not far from Mitsukoshi department store) that has been running for over 50 years. Thanks to the internet, the cat is out of the bag and nowadays locals and tourists fight for a spot at its counter.

The visit

I decided to try my luck at Takechan after being turned back from a steakhouse nearby that was full. The store can be easily missed, but it was past 8pm and there was still a queue outside that unmistakably marked my destination. Eventually, we all made it in after 10-15 minutes wait. Not so bad. I was the last person to be seated, just 5 minutes before the last order time (8.30pm). The place does not take reservations as it is normal for traditional yakitori joints.

I sat at the counter next to a Japanese salaryman and two young Chinese-speaking customers. I was handed an English menu. They were perfectly organized to handle foreign customers. I chose the set menu with 8 skewers and I ordered a drink.

A course menu with only 5 skewers was also available.

The service was very fast. I was handed two condiments, grated radish and cabbage. They even gave me the customary wet towel.

The traditional five-spices condiment was also available (I never use it with yakitori).

The skewers arrived pretty quickly, not in the order of the menu, but the staff would tell me what it was in English. The first was the tsukune (chicken meatloaf).

The second skewer was sasame, a classic chicken breast with salt and wasabi.

There was also a cup of chicken soup.

Next was a skewer with duck meat flavored with miso (miso dengaku).

The fourth skewer was chicken liver barbecued with a sesame sauce.

Then there was kawa, a skewer with bits of chicken neck with soy sauce.

Next was butsu, chicken thigh simply barbecued with salt.

Then thee was a tebasaki skewer, chicken wings barbecued just with salt.

The last dish was a skewer with ginkgo seeds.

The action was fast and all the skewers were flavorful and perfectly cooked. I have read that the chef uses a chicken breed called Nagoya Cochin and roasts it over binchōtan charcoal that’s thinner than what’s regularly used at other yakitori places. The guy knows what he is doing.

At the end there was the option to have an ochazuke (additional charge), but I was happy with what I had.

The check

I spent 4,000 yen (37 USD) for the course menu and a drink. The soft drinks were priced at 800 yen, that is over the top, but the overall check was still honest. I found takechan on par with more sophisticated (and expensive) yakitori I have tried, just missing some of the more adventurous parts.

Where in Tokyo:
B1F, 4-8-13 Ginza, Chūō-ku.
東京都中央区銀座 4-8-13 銀座蟹睦会館ビル1Ｆ.

Traditional Japanese desserts at Takemura in Tokyo

Takemura is a traditional dessert cafe in Tokyo, in Kanda-Sudacho, an area full of interesting eateries (two of the best soba restaurants in Tokyo are located nearby). It was founded in 1930. This kind of stores are called kanmi-dokoro (甘味処, “sweets place”) and are rarer and rarer in Tokyo.

The visit

The venue occupies a traditional house and has both normal table seats and a few tatami seats. They do not like pictures inside, so I do not have an image of the interior.

Attention, the place is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

They offer you a bowl of hot water with cherry flowers when you seat down for an order.

They have a menu translated in English. The translation is impeccable, but there are no pictures. They have a lot of traditional desserts. In my first visit I tried their mistumame with boiled apricots (anzu). The main feature of mitsumame is small cubes of agar jelly called kanten, a white translucent jelly made from seaweeds. It came with a green tea and a syrup to pour over. It was an unexpectedly tasty dessert.

On my second visit, I tried their Age–manju that is a deep-fried version of the classic manju, a Japanese pancake filled with red bean paste. This is one of their signature dishes and they sell them also for “take-out”. I found them a bit heavy.

Since it was the end of the year, I also tried their ozoni (or zoni) a Japanese New Year mochi soup. It was a savory soup (probably with dashi stock) with rice cakes (mochi), nori, and some vegetables. I did not like it!

The check

The first dessert cost 750 yen (7 USD). Very honest price considering you also get a cup of tea.

The second visit cost me 1,320 yen (12 USD); the age-manju were 500 yen.

Where in Tokyo:
1 Chome-19 Kanda Sudacho, Chiyoda City.
In Japanese: 〒101-0041 東京都千代田区神田須田町１丁目１9.

Soba breakfast in Ningyocho

This visit was accidental, I was just waking by early in the morning and the place was open (in fact, one of the few places open… it starts business at 6.15am and I was in the area at around 9am on a weekend). It does not have an English name, in Japanese it is called 福そば立ち食い.

The visit

I entered and selected a dish from the vending machine (like in ramen restaurants you pay and get a ticket to hand to the cook). Everything was in Japanese, so it was pretty much random.

It turned out it was pretty much the standard soba dish that entitled me to select a tempura piece from the counter. I selected the pinkish one… I think it was some kind of small shrimps, but I need to admit that am not sure…

This was the result. A bowl of thin soba noodles with a soft-boiled egg and a thick broth. It was delicious. I ate it along with the other customers standing in front of the counter. It was 5 minutes, but a very tasty start of the day.

The check

The dish cost me a mere 490 yen (around 4 USD). I am pretty sure the soba was handmade.

Where in Tokyo:
1 Chome-16-3 Nihonbashiningyocho, Chuo City.
In Japanese: 〒103-0013 東京都中央区日本橋人形町１丁目１６−3 (Google Map link).

Fabulous parfaits at Morinoen Café in Ningyocho

Ningyocho is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Tokyo for the array of traditional businesses that dot its streets. I have already described Amazake street in Ningyocho and this post is about a more in depth visit to the cafe operated by Morinoen, a roasted green tea (hoji-cha) shop on Amazake.

The visit

I visited the cafe twice in late December 2019. It is located upstairs from the shop selling roasted green tea.

It is a simple cafe in terms of decor. Of course they have a wet towel for you upon your arrival.

The menu is all in Japanese, but it is profusely illustrated, so ordering is no problem even if you do not read or speak Japanese. At the time of my visit they had some seasonal sweets with purple potatoes.

I did end up ordering their seasonal parfait that was massive. In addition to purple potatoes, there was also their signature hoji-cha ice cream. All the ingredients were creamy and tasted genuine to me.

On another occasion I had a more conservative hoji-cha ice cream with jellies and other ingredients. It was also great.

In both cases the dessert went with hot green tea.

The menu is quite extensive and they also have other sweets based on green tea and of course hoji-cha.

The check

Both sweets cost me around 1,400 yen (13 USD) that actually is not so bad in Tokyo for this kind of dessert.

I massively enjoyed the experience of great desserts coupled with a quaint authentic establishment.

Where in Tokyo:
2-4-9 Nihonbashi Ningyocho, Chuo-ku.
In Japanese: 東京都中央区日本橋人形町２－４－９　森乃園.
Website: https://morinoen.jp/.

Pairing tea and chocolate at Minimal The Baking in Tokyo

There are quite a few players in the bar-to-chocolate business in Tokyo (see my review of Green Bean to Bar Chocolate). Minimal is one of these with a well-established presence and multiple locations across town. In 2019 they opened a bakery cum chocolate cafe called Minimal The Baking that attracted my attention since they were offering pairings between chocolate and tea (and also sake, which is offered also at Green Bean to Bar Chocolate, however the option of tea was particularly attractive since I do not drink alcohol).

The visit

Their store is located just 50 meters from the South Exit 2 of Yoyogi-Uehara Station.

It is a small place.

With very minimal decor and furniture. Just space for a couple of parties. Luckily when I arrived all the seats were available.

They have a very focused range of chocolate cakes.

For my pairing I had tea and two baked chocolate bars with different types of cacao (normally would be one, I doubled down). One bar was from Ghana beans and some others (they call it “High Cacao”) and another was from Colombia bean and was more fruity.

Overall I was a bit disappointed. The chocolate products were too dry in my opinion (I like more creamy creations) and I am not sure the pairing thing added anything to the experience.

The check

Tje pairing cost 1210 yen, plus other 660 yen for the additional piece of chocolate (around 17 USD in total).

Where in Tokyo:
1-34-5 Uehara, Shibuya-ku.
In Japanese: 〒151-0064 東京都渋谷区上原１丁目３４−5.
Website: https://mini-mal.tokyo/blogs/journal/10055