A note on the words: the chef works to ishoku dogen, the idea that food and medicine come from the same source — seasonal vegetables, and seasoning that goes easy on the fat. Ri-men, the signature, is a jade-green noodle with chlorella worked into the dough.
Zenrakubo on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
I was after dinner in Kagurazaka, and while looking for somewhere good I found a healthy Chinese restaurant known for a green noodle dish called ri-men — so I booked and went. It is right by Kagurazaka station, just behind the science university.
Down a Kagurazaka side street, a converted house that looks rather like a cafe from outside.
Looking at the menu there is plenty to go at — and the place has a Michelin Bib Gourmand. What the chef holds to is the idea that food and medicine share a source: seasonal vegetables, and seasoning that goes easy on the fat. Which is the selling point — eat as much as you like and feel no guilt at all. Right, let us drink.
Sat down. And first?
Beer.
Ah — jellyfish, spotted.
Zenrakubo’s jellyfish salad puts crisp, springy jellyfish together with a generous pile of leaves. The jellyfish is the lead, and the bouncing resistance as you chew is the pleasure of it.
What settles the flavour is the house grated-onion dressing. The faint sweetness of the onion and a gentle acidity pull it all together cleanly — the shop’s characteristic lightness, without leaning on oil. What is most interesting is that they use several different parts of the jellyfish. Each has a slightly different texture and shape, and that is very much this shop.
The duck loin, smoked over flower tea (jasmine tea, more or less), carries a drifting smokiness and the moist savour of the lean meat. The fat is not cloying and it is easy to eat. The house char siu, cooked soft, is best with a dab of the house tianmianjiang — sweet bean sauce — whose sweet depth suits it perfectly.
A luxurious dumpling in which the concentrated savour of dried scallop layers over the richness of a Kurobuta pork filling. Wrapped in a thick, chewy skin, and biting in releases both the juices and the scallop dashi. The mildly hot dipping sauce and coriander alongside suit it well.
I read the name and immediately wanted it, so I ordered it.
A dish where you scoop up the broth pouring from small opened clams along with the steaming liquid. The plump clam meat has the scent of the sea and a sweetness, and the gentle fragrance and crisp bite of the white celery sit lightly alongside. The clams are essentially there to make the broth. A healthy flavour that does not lean on oil, very much this shop, with the savour of the clams right through to the centre of the liquid. Very good.
Lamb stir-fried in sacha sauce, the Chinese barbecue sauce packed with seafood savour. What opens up in one mouthful is the depth of dried shrimp and dried seafood, and the fragrance of garlic. The lamb character is there but the gamey edge is held down, and the sweetness and savour of the meat come forward. Crisp spring onion, onion and the prickle of chilli follow behind, and it is remarkable how little the fat weighs on you.
I asked for it hot.
But it is not as heavy as the redness suggests — light on the palate, with the heat pitched about right. The smooth tofu, coated in a glossy sauce, keeps its corners: a light mapo tofu.
The depth of the mince and doubanjiang spreads slowly, and the heat of the chilli oil is there but gentle. The numbing and the fragrance of the Sichuan pepper finished over the top rise up afterwards, and that is what separates it from an ordinary mapo. A well-judged prickle that keeps you going — good in a different way from the oil-heavy kind.
The pork, cooked through and moist, is soft right through the fat and melts in the mouth. The garlicky sweet-hot sauce layers the savour of soy with the heat and fragrance of chilli oil, and it is habit-forming. A generous pile of shredded spring onion, chilli threads and chopped spring onion pull together a pork dish that could easily be heavy.
Yun bai rou means cucumber, and there is cucumber underneath this pork.
And last, the one I had been waiting for: ri-men.
The jade-coloured noodles have chlorella worked into them, and they are dressed with a house soy-and-sesame-oil sauce along with char siu, zha cai and spring onion — the shop’s signature dish.
One slurp brings the fragrance of sesame oil, the savour of the sauce, and a faint note of the chlorella over the top. The smooth noodles go down beautifully — clean, and with a cooling quality to them. The substance of the chopped char siu, the crisp saltiness of the zha cai, and the heat and fragrance of the spring onion cling to each strand, so it never gets dull. Light, without leaning on fat, and it slips down easily at the end of a meal. Clean enough that I imagine wanting it in summer. What a light way to finish. I concede.
Delicious. “No guilt” notwithstanding, I ate a great deal. In the end, per person, a draught beer, two bottles and some highballs, so a fair amount of drinking too. It is enjoyable and clean, so I may have over-ordered. The ri-men was as clean and good as its reputation, and I am curious about the other dishes, so this is a shop to return to.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Chugokusai Zenrakubo (Chinese / Iidabashi Station, Ushigome-Kagurazaka Station, Kagurazaka Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
もう一杯どうぞ！
