A note on the words: Yanbian is the Korean autonomous prefecture in northeastern China, and its cooking is Chinese and Korean at once. Kou shui ji, literally mouth-watering chicken, is poached chicken under a chili-and-sesame sauce. Otoshi is the small appetizer you are served and charged for as you sit down, effectively a cover charge. Baijiu is the strong Chinese grain spirit; shaoxing is the amber rice wine. A highball is whisky with soda. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Yan Ji Xiang Okachimachi on AutoReserve (English) — opening hours, the Japanese address and online booking are kept up to date there, not here.
I want something good to eat today too. This is Hangover Meshi. So, I moved on over toward Okachimachi. Word was that around here there is a serious Chinese restaurant, twenty-five years in business, where you can eat genuine Yanbian Korean-Chinese, northeastern and Sichuan cooking. So I came straight over to eat. Third floor of a multi-tenant building, and at the entrance a sign reading highball 290 yen. Far too cheap. Shaoxing wine is 290 yen a measure as well, apparently. That such a thing exists.
You order from a touch panel. There is a lot on it, and the default language is Chinese!
I had braced myself to read my way through on atmosphere and photographs, but you can change the language setting to Japanese and then it reads normally. It is in a place you will not notice unless you notice, so be warned.
That said, since I have no idea which dishes Yanbian Korean-Chinese cooking is famous for, I decided not to worry about it and just order what I felt like.
Right, this is the real mouth-watering chicken!
A bite and, yes, good! And there is a fair volume to it. Well, it does cost a thousand yen, so there is a thousand yen’s worth of it. Very satisfying. The scent of the spices in the sweet soy sauce is good too. Medium heat, I would say.
Drinking the absurdly cheap highball alongside it.
This one you can guess from the Chinese characters alone.
Not particularly small clams, stir-fried hot. And this is good.
What is that faint sweetness? Something like oyster sauce, perhaps. The savor of the shellfish is packed in there. Delicious.
The standard lamb skewers. I had them sauced, and cumin against lamb — oh yes!
They used to feel unusual, I think, but these days come to Ueno or Okachimachi and you are certain to hit a place serving them!
The strongest possible thing to drink beer with. About here I moved on to baijiu. I asked for soda and ice only, and made it a soda highball.
Orthodox, but so good that you end up ordering it every time.
At the end the staff happily took a photograph for us, and when I asked for a glass of ice and soda they brought that out too, so it is a very comfortable place to be. The food is all good, and above all it is seriously cheap. Highball 290 yen! This time it was lunch so we ate quickly and left, but I would like to come in the evening and try the bigger things like the hotpots. Recommended!
Yan Ji Xiang Okachimachi (Chinese / Okachimachi Station, Ueno-okachimachi Station, Ueno-hirokoji Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
