A note on the words: gachi-chuka is a Japanese phrase for a kind of Chinese cooking, and the writer explains below what he takes it to mean. Kousuiji is the Chinese name for the dish Japan calls yodare-dori, poached chicken under a chili-and-sesame dressing — the name says it is good enough to make you drool. Shuizhuyu means “water-boiled fish”: fish poached in broth beneath a thick float of dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, those peppercorns being the citrusy husks that leave your lips buzzing rather than simply burning. Asazuke are quick, lightly salted pickles rather than long-fermented ones, and tamari is a dark soy sauce with a heavier body than the usual kind.
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Suiun on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. I heard there was a gachi-chuka place in Ueno. And what people were talking about was a dish that photographs incredibly well. When I hear gachi-chuka I picture the real, unadulterated Chinese cooking that hasn’t been adjusted for Japanese palates, so I wondered how that squares with being “photogenic” — and when I looked it up there was an interesting dish on the menu, so off I went! It’ll be fine without a reservation, right! I turned up unannounced and got the very last seat, just barely. That was close…
Looking at the menu, there really are a lot of serious dishes. In fact the Chinese is the main text with the Japanese riding above it like furigana, which feels nicely authentic. Having any Japanese at all is a big help, mind you, lol.
Great name, isn’t it, lol. That’s genuinely how it’s written on the menu, so I got curious and ordered these asazuke, lightly salted quick pickles. They shave the cucumber into flat ribbons, more or less the way you’d peel it thinly. Huh, that’s an interesting way to cut it. There’s no heat at all, but the crisp snap, the faint warmth of the spices and the garlic all work beautifully together. Isn’t this just the perfect thing to drink with.
And when it comes to Sichuan drinking food, it has to be yodare-dori, “drool-worthy chicken.” Nothing starts without it!
Although — the kousuiji here comes in a serious quantity. A heap of chicken with plenty of chili oil and spices. First bite and you feel no heat at all, just the spice, and then the burn creeps in afterward. It ends up fairly spicy, but delicious. That spice really does taste like the real thing. It reminded me of the Japan-China Friendship Hall in Iidabashi (in Japanese) that I went to before. Delicious.
This place is apparently known for its shuizhuyu, fish poached in chili oil, so we decided to have one.
There’s a choice of fish: carp, sea bass, or basa, lol. What even is basa, lol.
On top of that, the carp and the sea bass come at 1.2 kg while the basa is 500 g. There’s no physical way to eat 1.2 kg, so by process of elimination we went with the basa.
Having ordered it, I immediately looked it up. Turns out it’s a white-fleshed fish, sort of catfish-like. Huh, right. Apparently the white fish in a standard fried fish is sometimes basa. An ingredient you don’t know feels all the more authentic.
Whew! The soup is spicy! But not so spicy that you can’t eat it, and it’s delicious.
While I was partway through my first bowl, the staff asked, “Shall I take the chilies out?” True enough, I don’t eat the chilies, so I figured I’d had my fill of them and let them scoop them out. They deftly used a mesh skimmer to sweep off the chilies and Sichuan peppercorns floating on top. They got out about 80 percent of them, which made it much easier to eat.
The mild, falling-apart texture of the fish and the crunch of the bean sprouts go so well with that hot, savory soup! This is a flavor you really can’t get very often. There’s no way I could reproduce it at home, lol. Then again, I couldn’t even get hold of the fish in the first place, lol.
Right, and here it is: the flaming fried rice! Looks made for photos, doesn’t it, lol.
It isn’t on fire when it first arrives. It’s fried rice pressed into a mold with what look like air holes in it, lol.
Then they pour strong liquor over it and set it alight, lol. Well, yes, that would certainly burn.
And what a performance this is, lol. It goes up with a whoosh.
Truly flaming fried rice!!! Or rather, “setting fried rice on fire” is the more accurate description. It probably doesn’t do much for the taste, but just watching it is fun! This is absolutely a dish you should order! As for the flavor, by the way, it’s ordinary fried rice. It looks dark, but I think that’s probably tamari soy sauce. The taste is completely normal — or rather, it’s good fried rice. This works.
From a proper hot pot to flaming fried rice. They call it gachi-chuka, but it was a place that Japanese people will simply find delicious too. And quite reasonable, at that. The flavors are authentic, so in that sense calling it real-deal Chinese may well be right. This is an interesting place, and one I’d like to bring someone else to.
Suiun Ueno (Sichuan / Ueno-okachimachi Station, Ueno-hirokoji Station, Okachimachi 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?
