A note on the words: annin tofu is the almond-scented jelly served at the end of a Chinese meal; char siu is roast pork; shungiku is chrysanthemum greens; tantanmen is the sesame-and-chilli noodle bowl; and specialite is the French term used on Japanese menus for a chef’s signature dish. Wakiya is the house of chef Yuji Wakiya, known in Japan from the television programme Iron Chef. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Table of Contents hide
Wakiya Ichiemi Charou on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today as well. This is Hangover Meshi. This time to “Wakiya Ichiemi Charou”, the noted Chinese house in Akasaka. I came here for lunch once, long ago — six years ago now. This is my first time in the evening. I could not wait to see what would come out. It is a hidden sort of place, a little way down a back street in Akasaka. You would not know it, but it is in fact three storeys.
This time, the private room at the top.
A stylish show plate.
The dinner courses divide by content into 15,000, 23,000, 30,000 and 48,000 yen.
We chose the 23,000-yen course.
To begin, a sparkling wine to open with.
A specialite right at the head of the course: a showpiece of nine starters, a little of each.
In China, the number nine is auspicious because it sounds like the word for permanence, and symbolises happiness and prosperity, apparently.
A beautiful, charming plate.
Chrysanthemum flowers and shungiku; black-pork char siu; pumpkin with century egg; tomato in sweet vinegar; a cold dish of Iwate scallop; jellyfish, and more. All of it made with good seasonal ingredients, and the balance of sour, sweet, salt, bitter and savoury is well judged, so that one plate gives you a harmony of many tastes. A little of many things is always the greatest pleasure.
Then the dim sum. The prawn dumpling is springy and delicious. The gyoza-ish one had a wrapper of exactly the right softness, crumbling as you bite.
Then a finger bowl. So the next dish is one you eat with your hands. It is tea inside, and they said you could drink it separately if you liked. Although in that shape, mistaking it for tea and drinking it seems entirely possible.
It was brought out first on a large platter. Quite a sight!
Of course — chicken wings have to be picked up by hand. The finger bowl is needed.
Looking at the platter, with all those chillies on it, I was wary that it might be hot. But the scent of fragrantly fried chilli and spice rises off it, and that alone pulls your appetite forward. The springy lobster is deeply sweet, its savour spreading slowly as you chew. The chicken wings, meanwhile, have fragrant skin and moist, tender flesh, the richness of the fat catching the spices beautifully. The heat of the chilli is less sharp than deep, carried on fragrance, and it lifts the savour of both the shellfish and the bird. The sweetness of the seafood, the depth of the meat and the sting of the spice lie over one another to make something simple yet very hard to stop eating. I did bite into a chilli, and that was properly hot. (Naturally.)
This is the dish I had been most looking forward to.
This time the shark fin comes from the salmon shark, apparently. I looked it up: an enormous animal.
That aside — eating it, well, this soup really is superb. A refined savour spreads quietly, deeply nourishing. The thick shark-fin sauce is full of savour, and a gentle richness opens in the mouth. The wontons inside have very smooth wrappers with a slippery feel; bite in and a sweetness like flaked crab meat appears, layering with the savour of the sauce into something rich indeed. The thickness of the sauce wraps the wontons so that the whole thing coheres. The gentle sweetness of the crab and the refined depth of the shark fin harmonise into something that settles into the body. Mm, that is good.
Stir-fried hard and fast over a fierce flame, the wagyu is fragrant on the surface and moist and tender within, the sweetness of its fine fat and the savour of the meat spreading as you chew. The vegetables are whatever is in season, and this time it was mushrooms, tofu and broad beans, I think. The seasoning is not overdone: a refined Chinese stir-fry that uses soy and aromatics to their proper effect. The rich savour of the wagyu at the centre, with the scent and texture of seasonal vegetables layered over it — simple, and very good indeed.
Then came the rice-or-noodles course, chosen from three: soy ramen, tantanmen, or curry rice.
We were told we could have all three if we thought we could manage them, so we had all three.
The soy ramen is delicious! An extremely refined bowl. The clear broth has a deep savour suggesting chicken and seafood stock, and the scent of soy rises gently: a kind flavour. The broth is simply too good. It has exactly the lightness you want to finish a meal, and the portion really is one mouthful. If a ramen shop served this bowl, I would go.
This is the famous tantanmen. When you say Wakiya tantanmen, this is the style. Rich and yet refined, a well-balanced bowl. The scent of chilli oil and a measured heat lie over one another to give it depth. It looks extremely hot, but the heat does not come to the front. There used to be a hotter version of this on the lunch menu at Wakiya’s Garyu-Kyo, also in Akasaka, and I ate it often.
And last the curry rice. Again one mouthful, and it goes down in a moment. It differs a little from the usual European-style Japanese curry: behind the scent of the spices, a savour like chicken or pork stock lies layered, giving it depth. The thick roux has a measured heat and richness and clings well to the rice, so satisfaction builds with each mouthful. And this rice is sweet and good in itself — a proper stickiness and sweetness that suits the spice of the curry.
Quite unrelated, but the rice at CoCo Ichibanya also feels strongly sweet. Perhaps sweeter rice suits curry.
I ate all three, and they went down without difficulty.
If you can manage it, I recommend having all three.
A comforting dessert, and Dong Ding oolong tea.
Ah! Full!
This was my first dinner course at this house (Ichiemi Charou), and every dish was genuinely good Chinese cooking. The characteristic thing is how gentle so much of it is. Rather than the sort of Chinese food that comes at you with oil and spice, the impression is of “gentle Chinese”, drawing the savour out of the ingredients with care. And because the direction of the flavour changes properly from plate to plate, from starters to finish, you never tire of it across the whole course — which is interesting in itself. Dishes carrying the sweetness of seafood, dishes scented with spice, dishes where you eat meat properly: they unfold at a good tempo. A deeply satisfying dinner. I want to go again!
Wakiya Ichiemi Charou (Chinese / Akasaka Station, Roppongi-itchome Station, Tameike-sanno Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
