日本人の創造する、日本人による、日本人のための味を追求して : Kamakura Yamashita Hanten

I will be revisiting in late January 2024. On this day, I walked around Kamakura. I came to this Chinese restaurant. It is located along Wakamiya-oji, about a 2-minute walk from the east exit of JR Kamakura Station. It is located on the B1F of the Hotel Kamakura Mori, which is also managed by the same company. It was founded in January 1988, so as of January 2024, it will be celebrating its 36th anniversary. However, each media outlet states "25 years since establishment," "30 years since establishment," "35 years since establishment," etc., and they never include the year, so it is unclear how many years it has been since establishment... It is still better for media outlets to state the interview date. You can figure it out by doing the math. The Chinese cuisine here is not color-coded as Sichuan or Cantonese, but is not oily, has low salt, and is refreshing in the Kamakura style, and they pursue the Japanese taste with care. As a result of evolving the cuisine with an emphasis on the taste of local Kamakura customers, they have arrived at a completely new Kamakura-style Chinese cuisine. They pursue a taste created by Japanese people, by Japanese people, and for Japanese people. So, although it is a Chinese Cuisine does not attract much attention from tourists, for locals it is a rare and delicious Chinese restaurant in Kamakura. On this day, the restaurant I was looking for was opening late due to delayed preparations, so I came here in a hurry to enjoy safe and secure Chinese food (〃^▽^〃) As soon as you enter the 1st floor of the Hotel Kamakura Mori Building, there is a staircase on the left that leads down to the basement 1st floor. There is a display of all the menus, so you can take your time to choose the items here. Then, I noticed a special lunch that you can choose for Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. First, I looked at it and decided on something, then went down the stairs and entered the restaurant. I was immediately greeted by a female staff member, and when I told her that I was alone, I was guided to a room on the left at the back. There were tables for four people lined up there, and I was guided to a seat near the center. This floor was mainly managed by two female staff members. Sometimes a male chef would bring the food, though. The interior of the restaurant is based on white walls and tablecloths, with dark flooring and sofa seats. It is not flashy, but rather chic in a monotone style, which is not typical of a Chinese restaurant. The background music is calm classical music. It is a selection that is typical of Kamakura. I look at the menu on the table for a while. I decided that I would like to have a special lunch that I can choose from, so I decided to order based on that. Here is what I had on this day. ・Hot oolong tea Served in a pot. I am grateful that this is free. I drank about three cups. ・Medium-sized bottle of Kirin beer 803 yen A medium-sized bottle of Kirin Ichiban Shibori. Served in a stem-shaped beer glass. This glass had a beautiful foam. ・Special lunch selection 2530 yen Salad, homemade spring rolls, shrimp stewed in chili sauce, rice (half size), dessert I decided to order the above as my main dish. For meals (half size), you can choose from: Fried rice with crab meat Fried rice with mixed ingredients Rice with mixed ingredients Soba Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) with mixed ingredients Fried noodles with mixed ingredients, fried noodles with Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles), and soba noodles with shrimp After much deliberation, I chose rice with mixed ingredients. I usually choose fried rice, but after looking at the photos and the main menu, the mixed ingredients looked more expensive and delicious (〃^▽^〃) For dessert, you can choose from: Almond jelly Seasonal pudding, but the seasonal pudding was chocolate pudding, so I decided to choose almond jelly. I decided to go with classic here. I also ordered Kamakura Gyoza / Dumpling (660 yen) a la carte. The contents of these are as follows. Salad If I had to name it, I'd call it pork shabu-shabu salad with garlic flavored sauce. This is pork shabu-shabu with cherry tomatoes, radicchio, cucumber, purple onion, and lettuce, drizzled with a garlicky savory sauce. It's more of a full-fledged dish than a salad. Spring rolls The skin is crispy from deep frying. The filling is mainly vegetables and is soft and creamy. The seasoning is mild, and this dish is truly Kamakura-style. You can eat it as is, or change the flavor with the mustard, vinegar, and soy sauce on the table. Shrimp stewed in chili sauce Five large rolled shrimps are served on top, and they are garnished with colorful bok choy. The shrimp are plump and manly in size. The chili sauce is quite spicy. The other day, I had the spiny lobster in chili sauce that is served as part of a high-priced course at [a:14002761,Kaseirou Kamakura branch], but this is better in taste, texture, and color. Even though the price is in a different league.・Kamakura Gyoza / Dumpling This is an a la carte order, not a special lunch option. I was worried that I would end up overeating, but it looked delicious so I ordered it. Five large fried Gyoza / Dumpling are lined up. It is served with grated daikon ponzu sauce and chili oil. I made Gyoza / Dumpling sauce by combining the chili oil with the vinegar and soy sauce on the table. Kamakura Gyoza / Dumpling is a healthy Gyoza / Dumpling made with pork and Kamakura-grown komatsuna, without garlic. The skin is delicious with a chewy texture that seems to be handmade, and the filling inside is crunchy with a lot of komatsuna, making it healthy and delicious. The filling is mainly komatsuna, so it goes well with the grated ponzu sauce (〃^▽^〃) Damn. I might have been better off adding chili oil to it. ・Gomoku kake gohan (half the usual size) The Kamakura Gyoza / Dumpling was served as soon as it was ready, but the meal was served at the right time. I was a little surprised when it came out. It doesn't look like half size (T▽T)ノ＿彡☆Bang bang! In a way, it's a happy cry (^^;) The rice was a hearty 200g or so, topped with shrimp, scallops, squid, roasted pork, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, carrots, bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms. It also came with a seaweed and spring onion soup. Noodles don't come with soup, but the rice does (*￣∇￣*)b The soup had a star anise scent. It was quite unique. My wife doesn't like star anise that much, so she might have complained. The gomoku kake rice was a mix of various ingredients and a soy sauce-based sauce, which went perfectly with the rice. I imagine it was probably more luxurious and filling than the gomoku fried rice. I also liked that it was roasted pork instead of pork. You could probably just eat this as a snack. - Almond tofu A soft agar-type almond tofu. It's milky and delicious, as always (〃^▽^〃) The total came to 3,993 yen. I paid with touchless PayPay. I'm very satisfied. Both the taste and the volume. I ordered Kamakura Gyoza / Dumpling as an additional order, so I was worried that I would eat too much, but as I feared, I ate too much and my stomach was full (T▽T)ノ＿彡☆bang bang! What didn't go as planned was that the meal (the regular half-size) was not half. If that was half, the regular menu would be quite large. I'm not complaining, but in a good way, the volume of the special lunch that you can choose was amazing (*￣∇￣*)b Also, the female staff's service is polite and pleasant. Even when ordering the special lunch that you can choose, they tell you in detail when the food will be served and ask you if it's okay. Despite being a long-established and popular Chinese restaurant, they provide excellent service that suits the Kamakura customer base. They pursue flavors created by Japanese people, by Japanese people, and for Japanese people, and I felt that their service was also of Japanese quality (〃^▽^〃) All dishes on the main menu are available for takeaway, except for soups, broths, and appetizers, so I thought it would be nice to take takeaway some for a little extravagance and a drink in the evening. Thank you for the meal! (As of January 2024, 3.43 points)

This is the last day of summer vacation. I have a lot of hard work waiting for me from the next day. So I wonder where I should enjoy my last day. By the way, I've been turned down a lot recently, so I called [a:http://tabelog.com/kanagawa/A1404/A140402/14006828/,Udon Zammai Tokuhiko] to eat udon. For some reason, after a while, the owner finally answers the phone. Owner: "Hello. This is Udon Zammai Tokuhiko." Me: "I'd like to make a reservation for today's lunch, is that okay?" Owner: "Oh, we're closed today." Me: "What? I thought we were closed on Mondays?" Owner: "Not only on Mondays, but we're also closed on the third Tuesday of every month." Me: "Oh, so we're closed on the third Tuesday of every month too. Okay, I understand. Excuse me." Oh no! Tabelog information says they're closed only on Mondays, but I'll correct that! When I looked at the restaurant's website, it was indeed closed on the third Tuesday of every month! I've been dumped again, [a:http://tabelog.com/kanagawa/A1404/A140402/14006828/,Udon Samadhi Tokuhiko]! 。 English: There are restaurants like this that are just destined to be yours (^^; I'm now absolutely determined to go there someday soon (lol). That's a long introduction, but anyway, my wife and I went here! This is a restaurant that should be visited with at least two people (^^). It's in an excellent location, just a one-minute walk from the east exit of Kamakura Station. However, perhaps because it is a Chinese restaurant in Kamakura and it's on the first basement floor, it has never really been talked about much. However, their ladies' lunch is amazing, so that's why I went there. We arrived just before opening time, at 11:00, and of course we were the first customers. We were shown to a table seat at the back of the restaurant. I would say this restaurant falls into the category of so-called high-end Chinese Cuisine. Judging from the atmosphere inside the restaurant, the service of the staff, the prices of the food, and the classical background music, etc. We sat down at a table for four and immediately ordered: - Ladies' lunch 1,575 yen x 2 For the ladies' lunch, you can choose from two types of main dish, meal, and dessert, but if you come as a group of two, you can enjoy all of them. Ordering makes it even more enjoyable. The timing of the food was just right, and we had it in the following order. ・Appetizer It was a 6-kind assortment. It's not a 1,575 yen appetizer! ◆Young corn and okra in Japanese-style garlic sauce with micro tomatoes The addition of micro tomatoes is unique to a high-end restaurant! ◆Winter melon and tuna in collagen XO sauce with shiso It seems that collagen extract extracted from tuna was solidified and wrapped in it. It's elaborate. I'm not sure if it's XO sauce, but it tasted like Seafood, mainly shrimp, so I think it's probably so. ◆Chinese-style boiled eggplant with shiso ◆Jellyfish vinegar ◆Guinea fowl in black vinegar sauce with kinome ◆Shrimp and asparagus in avocado sauce with lemon ・Soup Chinese soup with enoki mushrooms, brown enoki mushrooms, aosa, tofu, carrots, and eggs. It's a gentle-tasting soup that doesn't disappoint. It's not thick at all.・Sweet and sour pork with Yamayuri pork (my main dish) The ingredients were Yamayuri pork, onion, shiitake mushroom, yam, and green pepper. The seasoning was classic sweet and sour pork flavor. The vegetables were crunchy, the pork was properly coated, and the sweet and sour sauce was well mixed in and it was delicious! ・Simmered shrimp in chili sauce (my wife's main dish) The chili sauce contained green onions and eggs. I think the eggs were to make the flavor mellow. So it was a mellow chili sauce. The shrimp was well prepared, so it was plump and delicious. ・ Dim sum char siu bun. The main dish was diced char siu, with onions and shiitake mushrooms mixed in a sweet sauce. The seasoning and color were like ketchup. ・Fried rice with Shonan whitebait (my meal) The ingredients were dried whitebait, eggs, char siu, and green onions. It was light and fluffy, with just the right amount of saltiness, and it was delicious. I think shirasu tastes better when it's boiled or dried! ・Shonan Kamakura Vegetable Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) (my wife's meal) The ingredients are red radish, a pumpkin called korinkee that can be eaten raw, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, carrots, bamboo shoots, and wood ear mushrooms. It's full of vegetables. The noodles are medium-thick and curly, with a hand-kneaded texture. They are mixed with a mildly salty base sauce. ・Almond jelly (my dessert) A milky almond jelly with fresh mango on top. This almond jelly is different from the ones you can find in Chinese Cuisine in town. ・Mango pudding (my wife's dessert) I thought the color didn't have much of a mango flavor, but when I scooped it up, I found fresh mango fruit in it. This mango pudding was also delicious. I'm sorry for thinking that I licked it! In addition to the above, we ordered the following drinks.・2 glasses of beer at 280 yen each ・Black oolong tea at 480 yen Total: 4190 yen Very cheap, right? However, the only cheap items here are the ladies' lunch and the weekly lunch special. The other menu items are quite pricey, for example 5 Gyoza / Dumpling for 735 yen. After all, this restaurant is in the category of high-end Chinese Cuisine! Although it is called the ladies' lunch, men can also order it, so why not try this first? Thank you for the meal! (As of 9/8/2013, 3.18 points)