Michelin Ramen Restaurant Owner’s Thoughts on “Sauce Flavored Fried Rice

The reason why both fried rice and siumai are served with sauce at Ramen Nanasai Restaurant

Suddenly, what do you put on your siumai? Soy sauce, mustard, and vinegar if you feel like it. That’s about it.

However, at Ramen Nanasai Hanten in Yaesu Underground Mall, when you order shumai (the name of the menu is “siomai”), what comes out with it is…

It’s sauce!

When I asked the waiter for soy sauce, he reluctantly (just kidding) offered me soy sauce, but he said, “We want you to eat it with sauce. Oh, so it’s soy sauce….

But it’s a huge shumai, about the size of a Yukimi Daifuku, each weighing 60 grams. Each one weighs 60 grams and is not fully wrapped in the skin.

There was no reason to argue with the waiter, so I tried it with the sauce as he said. Hmm? Maybe it goes better than I thought. It’s not Worcestershire sauce, but sweet Chuno sauce, so it combines with the coarse chunks of pork and chopped onions in my mouth, giving it a slightly Western flavor. I thought it tasted like something, but it was a hamburger!

So this is what it is. I was convinced that it was a hamburger steak, but then I looked at the ticket vending machine, thinking that since it was called “hanten,” they must be selling fried rice and rice bowls.

I looked at the ticket machine and saw that the only fried rice available was the sauce flavor.

There’s only “Tokyo Sauce Fried Rice. The only other thing available was a bowl of fried pork for the set. Do you have regular fried rice? I asked, “No! was the graceful reply. What’s going on in this restaurant? The shao mai is served with sauce, and the fried rice is only served with sauce. It’s a public (?) location in the Yaesu underground mall. Just because it was produced by a Michelin ramen restaurant, does that mean anything is allowed?

I order the Tokyo Sauce Fried Rice just to see what I’m afraid of. After hearing the sound of light frying in the kitchen, what appeared in front of me was rice of the expected color!

This is “Tokyo Sauce Fried Rice”!

Reluctantly, I was enchanted by the softly rising aroma of the sauce. I wonder if the smell of oil and sauce mixed together takes away the fighting power of human beings. I wonder if that’s why Kansai people are always laughing.

However, when I tried it with half a doubt, I was surprised to find that the lard-heated rice was coated with the spicy Chuno sauce, giving it a soft, fluffy, and chewy taste that was new to me. The soy sauce flavor seeped out from the chashu pork, and the crispy onions had just the right texture. It has the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and spicy.

If you were to ask someone from the Kansai region, they would probably say, “Soba-meshi no soba-nuki! But Nekota doesn’t have a soba-meshi custom, so this was a new taste for me. And yet, there’s something nostalgic about it!

A direct interview with the representative, Mr. Sakata!

When I was impressed, he appeared and said, “Right? And then, Mr. Hiroaki Sakata, the representative of Menya Nanasai, appeared on the stage. Oh my, Mr. Sakata, what is it with you and this restaurant, you’re pushing sauces too much. I decided to ask him about it.

Neko: “Mr. Sakata, why do you use sauce for both fried rice and siumai in this restaurant?

Han: “My old man liked sauce.

Cat “Huh?　Is that all?

Han: “No, to tell you more, my parents live in Saitama, and we used to use sauces frequently. Even outside of my home, Saitama and the Kanto area has a food culture that uses a lot of sauces.

Worcester sauce was first introduced to Japan in the Meiji era. Later, in 1923, a company called Tokiha Sauce, founded in Kita-ku, Tokyo, developed its own unique sauce using lots of vegetables and spices. Bulldog was founded in 1926, but during this period, there were many “local sauce” manufacturers in the Tokyo area.

At the same time, I believe that the Chuno sauce boom started in Tokyo, as people started to use the sauce in their restaurants.

Cat: “Oh, this is turning into an academic conversation, isn’t it? I’m getting sleepy.”

Han: “Well, I’ll make this short. Yajiman” is located in Toyosu. established in 1948. It was established in 1948, and its siumai is also a sauce. It was in Okachimachi. 1954 The “Raijuken” in Okachimachi, established in 1954, served fried rice with sauce.

The period of growth of Machinaka can be roughly divided into the Meiji era and the post-war period, but many of the stores that serve siumai were established before the war, and the gyoza are thought to have been brought back by people who went to Manchuria after the war. Before Yajimann and Raijuken, there were many Machi Chuka restaurants in Tokyo, and they probably served sauce siu-mai and sauce fried rice. Some of them still have this kind of menu, but the culture is disappearing due to the closure of some restaurants.

Neko: “Oh, so you’re trying to revive that food culture?

Sakan: “The responsibility, or rather the policy, of Nanasai is to “ Carrying on the food culture “ That’s what I think. Rather than introducing completely new food, we dig up the food culture that once existed and pass it on to the next generation. The sauce fried rice is a revival of the flavor of “Raijuken” since it was closed. The same goes for Kitakata ramen.

Neko: “Oh, by the way, there is a “Kitakata Ramen type-SA” at “Menya Nanasai” What is SA?

Han “Sayuri Shokudo, the SA It’s the SA of Sayuri Restaurant.

Cat “？？？？”

Han “Kitakata ramen has the image of light soy sauce, right? But when I went to Kitakata a long time ago, I learned that the nuance of the taste was completely different depending on the store. Among them, I was shocked to find that Sayuri Shokudo had a very strong taste of dried fish. In fact, niboshi ramen seems to have been rooted in the local area for a long time.

That’s why Kitakata Ramen is not just “this taste” but “Kitakata Ramen because it’s eaten in Kitakata”. Such a “Sayuri Shokudo” was run by an elderly person, so I turned on the menu at “Nanasai” to inherit and connect the taste before the store disappeared. “SA”. is Sayuri’s “ Sa ” of Sayuri. It is.”

Cat: “You’re taking this more seriously than I thought! (Excuse me.)”

Han: “It’s what we call ‘learning from the past. No one knows what it used to taste like, so when the current generation eats it, it becomes a ‘new food experience. But it is also a nostalgic taste because it is a food culture that has taken root in Japan.

To be honest, I think fried rice with sauce is more of a “maybe” than a “really good! To be honest, fried rice with sauce is more of a “maybe. But for some reason, I miss it and want to eat it again. It’s an everyday menu item.

Neko: “Indeed! I also thought, “Hmmm. I also thought, “Hmm…maybe…”. To be honest, I think I can make it at home!

Han “I can make it. I can make it. Rather, I’d like other restaurants to copy it. An original menu will end when the restaurant ceases to exist, but if other restaurants continue to serve fried rice with sauce that anyone can make, it will become part of the culture and remain.

In fact, I believe that the Chuno Sauce culture can be introduced to the rest of the world as the food culture of Tokyo, and by extension, Japan. This is a Japanese brown sauce that can only be found in Japan!

As I listened to Mr. Sakata speak passionately, I began to think, “Chuno sauce may indeed be a traditional seasoning that Japan can be proud of overseas! I started to think, “Maybe Chuno sauce is a traditional seasoning that Japan can be proud of overseas! Nekota is easy to get emotionally involved with. However, while listening to all this talk about sauces, I decided to try a completely unrelated ramen. Because it’s Nanasai’s signature dish….

The “Meat Soba” with meat petals in full bloom!

I should have just ordered the niboshi ramen, but I decided to go for the nikusoba. Oh, the 14 pieces of chashu (pork chashu) blossomed like a big wheel!

The noodles are thick, flat, and shrunken, made from these high water content noodles. I was told that before using the thick noodles made at the noodle factory, they beat them by hand and randomize them to make it easier to get the soup mixed in and also to make them glutinous.

But that’s not the main point of this ramen story, so we’ll talk about it another time.

But it’s strange. When I ate the fried rice with sauce, I thought, “Honestly… I’d rather have regular fried rice,” but as the days went by, I somehow missed that taste! (This is not a discovery.)

If that’s the case, I could have made it at home, but I knew that I would have to fry it with Nanasai’s homemade lard and chashu pork to get that taste. I’m sure I’ll make excuses and go back for more.

The fried rice with sauce is also available at “Metropolitan Kasei Shokudo Nanasai”, while the siumai with sauce is only available at the Yaesu underground shopping mall. However, putting Chuno sauce on siumai is really addictive. Please give it a try!

For more information about Ramen Nanasai Restaurant, click here.