A note on the words: iL-CHIANTI is a long-running group of Italian restaurants in Tokyo, and this Sasazuka branch is its main shop; Chianti, in the Iikura part of Azabu, is the older original the article refers to. A sour is shochu lengthened with soda and citrus, a standard order in a Japanese bar. Nduja is the soft, spreadable chili sausage of Calabria, and gnocco fritto is the pillow of fried dough it is served on. Kaldi, mentioned in passing, is a chain of imported-food shops in Japan. Shime is the closing dish of a night of drinking, the plate you finish on. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. This time someone wanted to buy a bottle of the iL-CHIANTI dressing, so we went hunting for an iL-CHIANTI to visit. There seem to be a good many of them, and the main shop turns out to be in Sasazuka. Though it is called the main shop, the true original is apparently a place called Chianti over in Azabu — or Iikura, rather — right in front of Azabudai Hills. Something seems to have happened along the way, however, because the shop name and the dressing differ a little between Chianti and iL-CHIANTI, packaging and all.
Anyway, iL-CHIANTI dressing was what had been asked for, so off to Sasazuka where the main shop is!
Out of the station, a steady plod through what looks like a shopping street, and here we are! Oh… this has the feel of a long-established place with real character about it. Even the front door, which no longer quite shuts properly, is somehow part of the charm. You can feel the history in it^^
When you say Chianti, the thing I have a feeling is famous is the midnight pasta — and this iL-CHIANTI has it too!
There are a great many good-looking things on the menu, so we set about picking out whatever we felt like eating.
The first drink we ordered was the Capri salted lemon sour! A salted lemon sour sounds good, does it not?
And as expected, it is excellent. Almost no sweetness, with the salt and the sourness both coming through — a fresh, crisp drink perfectly suited to summer!
I did actually want wine. But the previous night’s heavy drinking was still exacting its price, so the salted lemon sour was a mercy^^
Having come all this way, we had to taste the dressing. It was my first time, in fact.
So we ordered the Carib Salad, the seafood one. And the bottle of dressing that came out with it was enormous lol
Their way of saying: pour on plenty!
Well now, this might really be something. A rich flavor with the sweetness of onion and the scent of garlic standing out. The acidity is restrained, and a mellow depth lifts a salad up into a main event. What marks it out is a bold savor you keep going back to. The salt is not heavy, so even poured on generously it never cloys. I see — no wonder so many people take a bottle home with them lol
Oh, nduja! The spicy sausage crushed down into a paste!
About the only place I ever see nduja paste is the occasional jar at Kaldi and the like^^ It is a rare thing.
You eat this fiery paste on gnocco fritto, a sort of fried bread. The heat is properly there, and it is genuinely hot! Even sitting on the fritto you still feel the chili clearly, which is very good^^ For anyone who loves spice it is irresistible.
Next, the squid stewed in its ink. The aroma of the ink is lovely. Take a little taste of the ink sauce and it is deep and full of savor. Very good. The squid are small ones, gone in whole. This is a superb thing to drink wine with! You could keep going glass after glass. And the sauce spread on bread works perfectly too.
And here is the main event of the visit — the Midnight Spaghetti!
There is a fiercely hot version as well, and I wavered over it, but as I had never had the dish before^^
we decided to see what the standard one was like first, and went with standard.
It is a pasta made up as a garlic and tomato soup. Like a soup pasta — very nearly all soup^^. One mouthful, and…
Delicious!
Even the standard has a real kick to it! Properly hot, with the sweetness and acidity of the tomato and a good strong note of garlic behind it — superb! I would like to fill a flask with this soup and carry it around with me! There is a lot in it, and even the M size is a fair quantity. Eat this on your own and it would fill you up by itself lol I have a vague memory of hearing somewhere that it was originally devised as a shime, the closing dish after a night of drinking — and for that purpose a hearty soup like this must be about perfect! Delicious!
The Midnight Spaghetti at the end was a decent amount, so going easy on the appetizers turned out to be the right call, but everything was very good Italian food indeed. The prices are thoroughly reasonable, too. As an Italian place you can use casually, I thought this was excellent! There seem to be plenty of iL-CHIANTIs besides the Sasazuka one, so perhaps I will try another next time. The Midnight Spaghetti was so good that I now want to get to the Chianti in Iikura one of these days as well.
iL-CHIANTI Honten (Sasazuka) (Italian / Sasazuka Station, Hatagaya Station, Daitabashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
