11Capsules-E JOY INN East Nipoori Branch

Asakusa is a second hometown for the chef, who has lived here since his apprenticeship. He inherited both spirit and skill, along with tools and serving ware, from his mentor. He reveres the old teachings of the sushi world but does add a few twists of his own. He adds sweet potato shochu to rich soy syrup; to rolled omelette, he adds soy milk. The character for the chef’s surname of ‘Oku’ developed from a combination of the characters for ‘house’, ‘rice’ and ‘palm of hand’; a sign, he contends, that he was destined to run a place where he would fashion rice meals with his hands.

The chef’s starting point is the ramen his grandmother cooked for him when he was a child. He added ‘Toy Box’ to the name because he wanted to create ramen that holds the same excitement for his guests as a box of toys does for a child. Soy sauce ramen, the shop’s flagship offering, is constantly tinkered with to improve it. In search of a depth of gustatory experience, over 10 types of soy sauce are combined in the broth. Yet the ramen is a dish of simple happiness; noodles from the good old days.

The chef studied the art of kaiseki multi-course meals. In addition to omakase set meals, he serves prix fixe meals to which à la carte items can be added, so diners can enjoy Japanese cuisine as they please. Sashimi is accompanied by a dipping sauce of malted rice and fish sauce; mixed platters of drinking snacks include grilled and fried items prepared with care. The shop name is inspired by grammatical particles used to form sentences in Japanese. Cuisine, people, drinks and interior blend agreeably together, so relax and let time flow by.

Black, white and orange are the tricolore of ‘Watanabe-ism.’ Black represents faith that cannot be tainted; white, the freedom to become any colour; and orange, the flame manipulated by the chef. On offer here is a fusion of French and Edo food cultures. Sobagaki is emulsified using French techniques; local Japanese elements include kaminari-okoshi, a roasted and flavoured mochi cracker; and monaka, a sweet of azuki bean paste sandwiched between crisp wafers. Watanabe-ism has deep roots in Asakusa-Komagata.

This family has been serving onigiri in Asakusa for three generations. Ingredients are arrayed inside a glass case, as at a sushi shop, to be formed into onigiri on the spot. Offerings range from salmon and dried plum to rarer items such as herring roe pickled in sake lees and opossum shrimp preserved and simmered in sweetened soy sauce. Offering a wide range of ingredients allows customers to choose based on their physical condition; the area was once home to numerous bars and pubs, so customers would drop in for morsels to soothe constitutions punished by a night on the town.

The name means ‘behind’, as in ‘behind the MICHELIN two-star restaurant out front’. In contrast to HOMMAGE, the purveyor of creative cuisine, noura is a homelike bistro that sticks to the basics. French onion soup, fish quenelle and duck confit are some of the French regional dishes on offer. Steak frîtes, a French comfort food, are a crowd-pleaser. This is French food culture for everyday life.

‘Tonkatsu is food for the masses’, explains the second-generation chef, as he aims to serve up fare that is familiar and comforting. Copper pots polished till gleaming and plain wooden counters display a craftsman’s spirit. Two pots are used: one containing hot oil and the other cooler oil. Pork loin is shorn of extra fat and thinly battered. Tonkatsu is the star attraction, so no meat is added to the pork miso soup. As the chef works, a photo of his father in chef’s whites watches over him.