9/03/2012

Sue Gen in Shimbashi / 新橋「末げん」

Sue Gen in Shimbashi, Tokyo provides Japanese kappo cuisine.
It's an old firm established back in the 42nd year of Meiji period (equals to in the year 1909 AD) and has been in business for more than 100 years.
It's famous for chicken and the place where an author Yukio Mishima had the last dinner at.
He had Tori Nabe, which is a Japanese style of chicken hot pot.
*Tori means chicken and nabe means pot.

Unfortunately for the lunch time they don't have Tori Nabe, but they have several Teishoku (set meals / 定食 in Japanese) and a Kaiseki (course / 会席).

Set meal comes with rice, miso soup, and tsukemono, which is Japanese pickles.

Set meals are;
Kama Teishoku, which is Oyako-don (a bowl of rice topped with boiled chicken and eggs),
Karaage Teishoku, which is fried chicken, and
Tatsuta age Teishoku, which is fried minced chicken with starchy batter instead of flour batter.
Kaiseki has two Chinese letters to write, but this Kaiseki uses 会席 and this is meant to enjoy sake (alcohol) with.

Grass roots is 一汁三菜 (Ichiju-Sansai).  一汁 means one soup and 三菜 means three dishes. (菜 literally means leaf, by the way.)
Traditional way of serving is the following, however, it changes subject to places and styles.
1. Appetizer (先付 / Sakizuke = 前菜)
2. Soup (椀物 / Wan'mono = 吸い物)
3. Sashimi (向付 / Mukouzuke = 刺身)
4. Grilled dish (鉢魚 / Hachizakana = 焼き物)
5. Cooked dish (強肴 / Shiizakana = 煮物)
6. Vinegared or marinated food (止め肴 / Tomezakana = 酢の物、和え物)
7. Rice and miso soup with Japanese pickles (食事 / Shokuji = ご飯、味噌汁、漬物)
8. Fruits (水菓子 / Mizugashi = 果物)



As we booked the lunch course, we're guided into a small tatami room, which was quiet and nice with two bronze statues of hen and cock staring at us.
Before we entered, the table was already set perfectly.
1. Marinated dish of bean sprout with roasted breast meat topped with nori (seaweed).
Only the surface was roasted so the inside was still raw. It's like chicken sashimi.
The dressing was soy sauce with vinegar and had a hint of wasabi.
2. Marinated dish of Ayu (sweetfish) and seasoned cod roe.
Sweet and salty cooked ayu with edamame (green soybean), raw chicken with cod roe, and a cube of rolled egg, which was dolce/sweet.

3. Sashimi with Myoga (Japanese ginger) and petals of chrysanth.
Faces were both boiled lightly and inside was kept raw.
The yellow object at the right bottom side is edible chrysanth petals.
The red little leaves right next to the petals are red perilla and this is also edible and adds flavors to plain food.
The big green leave is green perilla, which is almost always served with sashimi for the purpose of antisepsis.

4. Grilled duck with Matsutake (bell-end mushroom) with Sudachi (Japanese citrus) and sweet potatoes.
Duck was between Matsutake as if it's a sandwich. Served with sudachi for fresh flavor.
Sweet cooked potatoes was amazing, too.

5. Two tatsuta age with shredded cabbage and a slice of tomato and parsley.
It came with sauce but this tatsuta age itself was already seasoned with black pepper and tasted great without any additional sauce.
Minced chicken with naganegi onion with black pepper.

6. Soup in an earthen pot.
Thigh meat chunks and naganegi onion with nameko mushrooms.
Wish it was white meat but I still enjoyed the clear soup with nameko mushrooms and floating fine strips of naganegi onion.

7. Rice and Japanese pickles.
Here comes a bowl of rice and pickles.
This was the last plate before dessert.
As I was more than satisfied with other plates, I left some rice and soup.
8. Dessert was kiwi and seedless grapes.
These were served cold and nice refreshment.

Most of the dishes provided was chicken and they're white meat.
All the plates were small, it was a long course and we got really full in the end.
However, to be able to try various foods at once was really neat.

Waitresses were welcoming and talkative.
When I asked about Yukio Mishima, they told us where he was sitting with his colleagues to have last supper.
However, they had renovated and the table is no longer here and the layout has been changed according to them. 


Sue Gen in Shimbashi / 新橋「末げん」

1F, S Plaza bldg.
2-15-7, Shimbashi, 
Minato-ku, Tokyo

東京都港区新橋2-15-7 エスプラザビル1F

Open: 11:30AM - 1:30PM, 5:00PM - 10:00PM

Closed on Sundays and holidays (Saturdays; please ask)

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