A note on the words: katsuo tataki is bonito lightly seared over fire and served sliced with a fragrant sauce, while drunken shrimp is said to be raw shrimp steeped in liquor. Sawara is Japanese Spanish mackerel, and saikyo-yaki is fish marinated in sweet white Kyoto miso and grilled. Kuushinsai is water spinach, prized for its hollow, crunchy stems, and sansho is an aromatic citrusy Japanese pepper. Otoshi is a small introductory dish served as a table charge at Japanese drinking spots, and annin tofu is an almond-scented Chinese apricot kernel blancmange.
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Yuen on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. The place I visited this time is Yuen, a stylish Chinese restaurant just a short walk from Yotsuya-sanchome. Is this street called “Sharikimon-dori”? It is a street packed with delicious places, like Suzushin with its kake katsudon (pork cutlet bowl in broth), and Sharikimon Chawanbu, the tonkatsu spot I went to recently. The restaurant sits right next door to Suzushin. There were many other tempting spots on the way here too, so Yotsuya looks well worth exploring further.
Heading up to the second floor, you find a cozy space with tables and a counter.
Assorted appetizers — 2,400 yen
Sawara and mushroom spring roll — 850 yen
Stir-fried large shrimp, water spinach and yellow chives — 2,600 yen
There is plenty on the menu.
At this restaurant, apparently the assorted appetizers come in a massive portion, ordered per person at 2,400 yen each, ha.
Still, this is something of a house specialty so it is a must-order. I started off by ordering the appetizers and dim sum right away.
To start, naturally, beeer! …No, actually I went with a highball.
Ichiro’s Malt. It had been a while, and it was delicious.
And then I enjoyed the otoshi (table-charge appetizer) of tofu.
And here is the assorted appetizer platter. That really is a tremendous amount!
In the center is katsuo tataki (lightly seared bonito) in an aromatic sauce.
The slightly spicy sauce goes wonderfully with the bonito.
And on the left is drunken shrimp. Drunken shrimp is that dish where they steep them live in liquor, isn’t it?
The tender, sweet shrimp infused with the scent of alcohol is delicious.
Next is octopus and mozuku (a fine seaweed) tossed with scallions.
Besides those, there is plenty more: mehikari (greeneye fish) with aonori seaweed and sansho pepper, smoked scallop with XO sauce, kinmedai (splendid alfonsino) and shungiku (chrysanthemum greens) in sesame sauce, cream cheese with sujiko (cured salmon roe),
and wagyu ichibo (top sirloin cap) in sansho sauce. Honestly, even just this fills you up quite a bit, ha. A massive spread.
Next up was what I had ordered earlier: the sawara (Spanish mackerel) and mushroom spring roll.
One roll cut in half is plenty big enough.
I had not had fish spring rolls very often, but the crispy wrapper and the flaky sawara are a perfect match.
Sawara is delicious grilled with Saikyo miso too, but who knew there was a way of eating it like this.
From this point on I kept ordering while checking in with my stomach capacity.
The large shrimp really are large shrimp. The plump, snappy texture is wonderfully delicious.
I had thought the next dish would be my last, but the staff recommended something not on the printed menu: “It isn’t on the menu, but one of our famous dishes…”
and brought out this.
This is the famous dish from Aoyama Shanwei that appeared in Kodoku no Gurume (Solitary Gourmet).
I wondered why it was here, but apparently someone at the shop trained there, which made total sense.
There is of course the heat from the spices, but the sweetness of the fried onion bits and the aroma of garlic make it remarkably easy to eat.
The surface of the pork is fried crunchy-hard, yet the inside is tender and juicy, which is delicious.
I was so glad to be able to eat it here!
All told, with the impressive appetizers and generous portions throughout, this was a remarkably satisfying restaurant. After that platter, one main dish is really all you can manage, — next time I go, maybe I would like to try sweet-and-sour pork. Every dish was prepared with great care and was delicious. The atmosphere inside was relaxed as well, making this a spot I would definitely like to visit again.
Yuen (Chinese / Yotsuya-sanchome Station, Akebonobashi Station, Yotsuya Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
