【Chine Restaurant】 This is real Sichuan cuisine.
最近は、四川料理風と名の付く料理屋店が増えているが、「これ四川料理？」と首を傾げる店舗も多い。四川料理といえば「麻辣」（マーラー、痺れ辛い）だが、ここ最近食べた四川系料理のほとんどは湖南料理風になっている。というのも、四川料理では花椒がたくさん使われているが、湖南料理ではあまり見ない。先日食べた松屋の水煮牛肉も申し訳無さそうに花椒が入っているだけで、それ以外は圧倒的に辛さを強調しすぎるくらい唐辛子を煮込んだスープで、やたらと辛い印象しかなかった。
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of restaurants with the name ‘Sichuan style’, but there are many establishments where the customers are left wondering, “Is this Sichuan food?” Sichuan cuisine is often referred to as ‘hot and spicy’ (ma-la). Sichuan cuisine is known for its hot and numbing taste, but most of the Sichuan-style dishes I have eaten recently have been in the style of Hunan cuisine. This is because, while Sichuan cuisine uses a lot of hua zhang (花椒), you don’t see it much in Hunan cuisine. The boiled beef I had at Matsuya the other day also had only a hint of pepper in it, but the rest of the soup was overwhelmingly spicy, with too much emphasis on the hotness of the chili peppers.
「違う、俺が求めるのはこんな狂った辛さじゃない！」
‘No, it’s not this crazy spiciness I’m after!’
ということで、四川料理店を見かけてもすんなり信用できなくなったワイ。そんななか、期待しないで行ったお店の印象がすごく良かった。
This is why Wai can no longer easily trust Sichuan restaurants when he sees them. In the midst of all this, I had a very good impression of a restaurant I went to without any expectations.
池袋西口北にある繁華街は、もはやチャイナタウン化しているほど、中国系の店が多い。
店は吉野家の脇道を入ってすぐに見つかった。地下に降りると、広州市の越秀区や荔湾区にある昔から続いている個人店舗のような雰囲気があり、すごく懐かしい。紅木でできた四角テーブルや丸テーブル。太鼓のような紅木製鼓型丸椅子。なんか、広州の下町に迷い込んだかのようであった。
料理は、四川料理らしいメニューばかり。
今回は、そのうち3品＋麺類1品をチョイス。
The shopping area north of Ikebukuro’s west exit has so many Chinese-owned shops that it has become a Chinatown.
The shop was found immediately after entering the side street of Yoshinoya. When you go down to the basement, it has the atmosphere of an old private shop in the Yuexiu and Lizhuwan districts of Guangzhou, which is very nostalgic. Square and round tables made of red wood. Red wooden drum-shaped round chairs like drums. It was as if we had wandered into the downtown of Guangzhou.
The dishes on the menu were all typical Sichuan cuisine.
This time, we chose three of them plus one noodle dish.
「歌楽山辣子鶏」（2880円）は、カリカリに炒めた花椒と唐辛子の山盛りに鶏肉をどっさり載せた同店の看板料理。最初は「ちょっとしょっぱいかな？」と思ったが、食べていくにつれて辣より麻が強くなり、汗こそかかなかったものの、ビールが欲しくなる味に仕上がっている。価格も価格だが量もそれなりで、他の料理が食べられなるくらいの満足感だった。
The Utagalasan Hot Chicken (JPY 2,880) is the restaurant’s signature dish, with a heap of chicken meat on a pile of crispy fried pepper and chilli. At first I thought it was a little salty. But as you eat it, the hemp becomes stronger than the hot pepper, and although you don’t sweat, it’s a taste that makes you want a beer. The price was right, but so was the quantity, and I was so satisfied that I couldn’t eat any other dishes.
「食いしん坊」という名の付く豚肉のスペアリブの「饞嘴排骨（1980円）」は、ザーサイとひき肉とジャガイモとピーナツを炒めたもののなかに、でっかいスペアリブが埋まっている。肉自体は辛くないが、周りのザーサイの炒め系はやっぱり美味い。肉がなくなったのでスタッフが「お皿を下げましょうか？」という申し出を断って最後までつまんでいた。
The pork spare ribs, named ‘eats’, are called 饞嘴排骨 (饞嘴排骨) and consist of a large spare rib buried in a mixture of stir-fried Chinese pickles, minced meat, potatoes and peanuts. The meat itself is not spicy, but the stir-fried Chinese pickles around it are still delicious. When the meat ran out, the staff asked if they could take the plate away. I refused the offer and picked it up to the end.
サヤインゲンを塩と花椒と唐辛子と挽肉で炒めた「干煸四季豆」（1080円）もお酒のアテになる。
Dried Soy Beans (干煸四季豆) (JPY 1,080), which is made by stir-frying pod beans with salt, pepper, chilli and minced meat, is also a good accompaniment to alcoholic drinks.
そして締めの開洋葱油拌面（980円）は上海で食べた葱油拌面そのもの。麺の上にかかったタレをかき混ぜて食べた味は上海で食べていた味です。これに、紹興酒が美味しく、普段飲まないのに瓶半分空けてしまった。
久しぶりに食べた本格四川料理店。今度は大勢の友人とリピートしたいというお店だった。
And the closing dish, Kaiyang Onion Oil Stirred Noodle Noodle Mien (980 yen), is the very same onion oil stirred noodles I had in Shanghai. The taste of the sauce on top of the noodles, stirred in, is the taste I had in Shanghai. This and the Shaoxing wine was so good that I emptied half the bottle, even though I don’t usually drink.
This was the first authentic Sichuan restaurant I had eaten at in a long time. This was a restaurant I would like to repeat with a large group of friends next time.
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