Showing posts with label shibuya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shibuya. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Fu Unji Ramen (風雲児らーめん) @ Shinjuku, Tokyo

Cuisine: Ramen
Map: Fu Unji Ramen (風雲児らーめん) @ Shinjuku, Tokyo
Charged Price: JPY1,000 per person without alcohol
Visited: 12 November 2015
Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 5/10
Value for money: 7/10
Services: 5/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Ramen can be found anywhere in Japan. They all look alike from outside. But surely you will need some info to discover a great one. Here is one for you in my humble opinion. Fu Unji Ramen is located in the well-known commercial district, Shinjuku and tucked on ground floor of a building called Hokuto Daiichi (北斗第一ビル). It is within walking distant from Shinjuku Station. This ramen store is typically small as for usual place in Japan. Perhaps around 15 seats for capacity.

Being one of those who do not fancy queueing much. So we decided to have early dinner by arriving before opening time of Fu Unji. As expected, the queue was already there but we were lucky enough to be placed in the first batch.

15 seats store of Fu Unji Ramen

Fu Unji Ramen (風雲児らーめん) @ Shinjuku, Tokyo

chef owner in action

At Fu Unji, there are only 2 choices of ramen: standard ramen or tsukemen. Tsukemen has the same type of noodle of ramen but it comes separately between noodle and soup. The other choices for you would be those minor touches e.g. ordinary or special size, added egg, extra char siu, and etc. You will also be paying at the machine first.

pre-payment machine - main menu

pre-payment machine - side dishes

We believe the ramen soup at Fu Unji is kind of different from others. Usually you would see pork broth being used but it is fish and seafood here. The aroma of both ramen and tsukemen is unique. I personally like it here but some may say the soup is perhaps too salty.

At the time of placing order, you can choose how much the amount of noodle you would like. A big boy may say large. But going for small if you would just like to taste. The noodle was excellent, I think. They were chewy but still soft on the touch. For Special Ramen (8/10), I like the fact that chopped spring onion played the balancing role well. It added freshness to the rich ramen. Egg was definitely boiled to perfection: not hard nor runny. Special Dipping Noodle - つけめん (Tsukemen) (8/10) also yielded similar kind of taste. However, the texture was more concentrated and showed more distinct flavour of dried-squid. The other point would be the form of char siu. Ramen came with big piece of char siu while tsukemen came in diced char siu. I personally prefer ramen due to spring onion and softer taste. Anyway, both were excellent.

If you do not mind queueing which can be longer than eating time. Fu Unji Ramen is sure a place worth exploring. The chef owner and staffs were polite and friendly too.

Special Ramen (JPY950)

Special Dipping Noodle (JPY1,000)

dipping noodle

Fu Unji Ramen (風雲児らーめん) @ Shinjuku, Tokyo
Floor 1, Hokuto Daiichi Building (北斗第一ビル)
2-14-3 Yoyogi
Shibuya-Ku
Tokyo 〒151-0053
Japan

Open Hours: Mon-Sat from 11:00am - 03:00pm for lunch and 05:00pm - 09:00pm for dinner
Tel: +81 (0) 3 6413 8480
Webhttp://www.fu-unji.com/

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Aoyama Esaki @ Hills Aoyama, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo - 青山えさき @ ヒルズ青山, 東京都渋谷区

Cuisine: Japanese (Kaiseki in modern/innovation style)
Price: JPY6,500 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)
Visited: 11 July 2014
Food: 9/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Services: 9/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

This is probably the cheapest 3-Michelin Stars restaurant you can find. Aoyama Esaki by Shintaro Esaki (江﨑新太郎), located at the basement level of Hills Aoyama, has priced his menu very moderately with lunch set at the price of JPY5,500 (plus 5% service charge) for 6 courses and 2 dinner sets at JPY11,000 and JPY14,000 (plus 10% service charge) for 7 courses and 8 courses respectively. Of course, range of menu does get changed from time to time.

The style of Esaki is traditional Japanese as the base but with some twist of inspiration and creativity. Deadly Bunny was lucky enough to have booking for lunch. Hence, the meal would comprise of 6 courses of delicacy. The place is simply decorated in Japanese style with mainly cherry wood based furnitures. For travelling here, it is rather straight forward: with only approx. 500 meters walking from Gaienmae station (Ginza line).

Aoyama Esaki @ Hills Aoyama, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

entrance to the floor B! of Esaki

simple cherry wood furniture in Japanese style

6-courses lunch menu

The first course to arrive was octopus, uni, tomato soup, and asparagus (7/10). The feeling of this dish was about the balance of lightness and thickness. The tomato soup and asparagus played the role of lightness and freshness of the nature. While the creamy uni and structured octopus were the heavier part. This was a good dish to start but still lacked the wow-factor. The second was the hirame sashimi (8/10). Simply fresh and nice. Thinly sliced. A good preparation for next heavier dish. Perhaps, it does not have to be top sushi restaurant to serve good sashimi.

1. octopus, uni, tomato soup, and asparagus

the creamy uni

mini tomato soup

2. hirame sashimi

This was then followed by ayu fish soup (10/10). This may be the star of the meal. The soup was thick and creamy. It was packed with explosion of flavour. Would not mind at all to have more of this soup. At this point, a heavier dish arrived: snapper in Japanese plum sauce with radish and sushi rice (8/10). It was a more fulfilling dish but at milder taste to break from thick flavour of ayu fish. The snapper, which was enhanced with plum sauce, was so fresh and soft. Sushi rice with addition of edamame was as well savoury.

3. ayu fish soup


4. snapper in Japanese plum sauce with radish and sushi rice

Last but not least, before dessert, corn fried rice and miso soup (9/10) appeared. Ok, this may look really simple and nothing but just rice and corn. But it was a wow and really pleasant. The corn was so sweet and of high quality. When combined with starchy texture of fried rice, it was such a perfect compliment. There was also herbal tea served before the arrival of dessert for cleansing palate. The dessert of the meal was watermelon fused vanilla ice-cream with red bean paste (8/10). The texture was like milkshake with watermelon and vanilla flavour. Red bean paste then gave the third dimension to the overall picture. This was such a delightful dessert with cool and refreshing touch as if Esaki was preparing customers for summer heat outside the restaurant.

Well, apart from the superb apprentice of Chef Shintaro Esaki, the overall service of Aoyama Esaki was as well exceptional. If you are thinking of visiting Aoyama Esaki, please be reminded that the place is pretty small with around 20+ seats. So, do book in advance if you do not want to be disappointed.

5. corn fried rice and miso soup


herbal tea

6. watermelon fused vanilla ice-cream with red bean paste

red bean paste filling

Aoyama Esaki @ Hills Aoyama, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo - 青山えさき @ ヒルズ青山, 東京都渋谷区
Floor B1, Hills Aoyama
3-39-3 Jingumae
Shibuya 150-0001
Tokyo
Japan

Open Hours: for dinner from 06:00pm - 11:00pm (last order at 09:30pm) daily and for lunch on Saturday from 12:00pm - 02:00pm (last order at 01:30pm)
Tel: +81 3 3408 5056
Webhttp://www.aoyamaesaki.net/
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