Since it was Yonghui's grad trip to Japan I wanted to go for some Japanese-y food. But I didn't know where to eat in Shinjuku so as usual I consulted google sensei and found this place called 出汁茶漬け えん(Dashichadzuke En) that serves 茶漬け(chadzuke), recommended by people who work in Shinjuku. Must be good! So we decided to check it out.
You can probably guess from the name that it's got something to do with tea :D ピンポン！Ochadzuke is basically a rice that served with a pot of tea or 出汁(dashi；soup stock) that you pour over the rice. It usually also served with some fish or chicken.
En was in B2F of Lumine 1 which is located at the south exit of Shinjuku station. Pretty easy to find.
We bought meal tickets from the vending machine and sat at the counter. Felt like a fast-food kind of setting again (reminds me of the gyudon places like sukiya lol)
There were many things on the menu! Prices ranged from about 800-1000jpy. Even though usually I take forever to choose what to eat, this time I decided really quickly, because there was mentaiko on the menu! I love mentaiko *0* There should be mentaiko-something on every menu then I won't have to be indecisive anymore lol.
We handed our tickets to the waiter and found out that we could upsize our rice for free and have as many servings of soup you want ! Yonghui got a small sized one that is 1.5 times an onigiri, and I got the normal sized portion. Junjie, on the other hand, got a large sized chadzuke that made him so full he didn't want dessert D:
Anyway, I got the Mentaiko Yuba chadzuke (mentaiko with tofu skin)
Yum :9 The set came with tea, pickles, rice/mentaiko, soup and stewed bamboo shoots. The soup was really really good and full of umami. And the mentaiko gave a nice punch to the whole subtle tasting bowl of goodness. Yumyum. I felt so healthy eating this.
Yonghui got a Tai sashimi chadzuke (forgot to take picture >_<) and Junjie got 大盛り鶏飯! (Oomori Keihan =big serving of chicken chadzuke)
Look at all that chicken and mushroom and eggs! So healthy lah omg.
And while we were happily slurping sipping up the soup, there was a small accident... be careful when you pour your soup into the rice. Or you will end up like this hahahahaha.
ahahahaha junjie failz.
When we first got there before lunch time the place was pretty empty, but as we started eating the whole place filled up and there was a pretty long queue outside!
10 minutes later....
Anyway, ochadzuke is a very simple dish but it is soooo delicious and hearty. There aren't many shops that serve chadzuke because it is too simple a dish to serve in a restaurant I guess. But like what many people in Japan like to say シンプルイズベスト simple is best!
Polished everything off cleanly nomnom
Fun fact: according to wiki (I looked it up! so hardworking right), in the past, people including warriors and royalties ate ochadzuke. Especially in winter, because rice turned cold and dry after being left out for a while, pouring hot soup/tea over it was a quick and easy way to have a yummy warm meal again. They had different reasons for eating it though. Poor people ate it because it was cheap and warmed their bellies, but for the rich it was more like a kind of diet food after eating too much. :'D
For anyone who wants to find out more here's the website of this chain. It's Japanese only though ;(
Dashichadzuke En
http://dashichazuke-en.com/about/
Addresss
| 1-1-5 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023 Lumine 1 B2F |
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