A note on the words: baijiu is the clear, high-strength Chinese spirit distilled from sorghum or other grains, with a fragrance people either love or cannot go near. Mala is the numbing-and-hot double sensation of Sichuan pepper plus chili, the signature of Sichuan cooking. Youbaji, written with the characters for “drooling chicken,” is chicken served under a chili-oil sauce. Anman is a steamed bun filled with sweet red bean paste. Otoshi is the small appetizer you are charged for on sitting down.
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JUMPING PANDA on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Right, this is Hangover Meshi. So this time, off to Jumping Panda in Otemachi! This place was entirely off my radar, but it turns out to be part of the same group as “Lao Sichuan Pyaoshan,” the Sichuan restaurant I love — or rather, a new form of the thing that fuses that with French cooking. Well now! I had no idea! A place where you can enjoy Sichuan food casually. And if it is in the Pyaoshan group the flavors cannot go wrong, so there was nothing for it but to go! I booked and off I went.
Otemachi is a big station, so how near it is will depend entirely on which way you come in, ha.
From exit B1b it is practically connected — it is right there as you come out.
There are a great many things I want to eat, so I decided to order what I fancied a la carte!
Right, I dithered over what to drink first, and this is what I ordered
I did hesitate a little, because the spirit in this is baijiu, ha. It is not especially hot, but baijiu is dangerous stuff, ha.
One sip and, sure enough, the baijiu character is strong! Anyone who dislikes that flavor would find this completely impossible, ha.
The otoshi is mala nuts ^^
Youbaji — you order it first, do you not. We start with the standard “youbaji.”
Thickly sliced, moist chicken coated in a mala sauce blended from more than ten spices. A well-judged heat and numbing tingle, and the complex fragrance of the other spices drifting up through the nose. The balance of heat and savor is exquisite, and the chopsticks keep moving despite you.
I got curious and ended up ordering the drunken shrimp.
Red shrimp steeped in Shaoxing wine, dense and soft and sweet. This is delicious.
The flavor of the Shaoxing wine and the Sichuan pepper is distinctive, and it may be irresistible to anyone who likes a drink.
Argentine red shrimp are easy enough to find in supermarkets, so I should like to buy a great pile and prepare these at home, ha.
And this is the mapo tofu!!!
Plenty of fat! Steeped in bright red chili oil.
One mouthful and, sure enough, it is delicious! It differs slightly from Pyaoshan’s, but the richness of the flavor and the character of the meat make you feel the connection, the shared lineage! A mapo tofu with real savor and body inside all that heat is irresistible! Incidentally, it said the heat could be adjusted, so I asked whether it could be (ordering by QR code, and then telling a member of staff directly, ha), and got the reaction — ah, you mean hotter! ha. I had it made hotter, and in practice it was just about right! Cracking.
Around here I take on something called a mala highball
There is chili in it, so you get a little heat and a little numbing tingle ^^
Except that where I had assumed whisky, this too is baijiu, ha ha ha ha.
Everything is baijiu today — it was baijiu plus chili plus Sichuan pepper plus soda ^^
“Jumping Panda Cream Cheese,” ha. And on top of that it was written up as JPCC, which made me curious enough to order it: creamy cheese with a Sichuan chili accent. The strawberry makes it clean and fresh, and it may well be extremely good, ha.
There is chili over it but it hardly registers.
There is room for plenty more! And so, the house spare ribs.
Next, the “house spare ribs.” Pork simmered long and then fried, I imagine. Soft enough to fall apart.
The chili-looking powder over the top is not all that hot, and it is a perfect match with beer! In fact I had asked for an IPA to go with this dish. Crisp outside, falling apart inside, full of savor — the spare ribs are recommended!
Lettuce fried rice with crisp minced meat and Sichuan pickles, apparently.
The heat here is faint as well. Crunchy Sichuan pickles, chili, and the crisp texture of the lettuce, all together.
Rather than a hot dish, it was a straightforwardly delicious fried rice.
Two of them might have been cuter! — I thought as I opened it ^^
Inside is anman. That dense, sweet red bean paste in an anman really is delicious.
So, this time I came to Jumping Panda in Otemachi, and every dish is properly delicious! There is no question that it is pitched more casually than Pyaoshan, but that is exactly why it works so well as a place to use with the drinking front and center! The interior is stylish too, and using it as a bar is perfectly viable. And since the food is very good for a bar, I suspect people would be delighted ^^ The mapo tofu had a real touch of Pyaoshan drifting through it and was delicious, so I recommend it!
JUMPING PANDA (Sichuan / Otemachi Station, Tokyo Station, Nijubashimae Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
