The next step after “Mara Tang”! The latest 3 hot pot restaurants in Tokyo with medicinal soups that are too delicious to drink!

Hot pot with medicinal soup” is booming!

If you walk down the streets of Tokyo, you will find “ma la tan” restaurants everywhere, with young women lining up to try them. The taste of this dish, in which you choose your favorite ingredients and simmer them in a numbing broth, is certainly addictive, but this is not the only way to experience the depths of the authentic Chinese cuisine. Recently, due to the intensifying competition in the “Gachi-Chukonese” area in Tokyo, new and unknown excellent nabe dishes that could not be tasted before are appearing one after another.

In this issue, we introduce the newest hotpot spot, next to “ma la tan,” where you can enjoy a delicious hotpot with drinkable medicinal soup. We hope you will enjoy these dangerous delicacies that many Japanese people have yet to discover.

The first of its kind in Japan!　The exquisite “fig chicken hot pot

First of all, we would like to introduce a new restaurant , “Charcoal Chicken Hot Pot, ” which opened in Takadanobaba in January 2014. The chicken hot pot served at this restaurant is a chicken hot pot that makes the most of the flavors of the ingredients, which is eaten mainly in the Guangdong Province.

Hot pot tends to bring to mind the bright red hot pot with lots of chili peppers and hot pepper, but even in China, where the hot pot is made, competition for hot pot is fierce. Chicken hot pot in Guangdong Province is another style that is spreading, especially in large cities, in response to this increased competition, and a similar trend is developing in Japan’s gachi Chinese community to avoid competition from hot pot with hot sauce.

One of the distinctive features of the hot pot is the soup, with a choice of two types of chicken soup, one of which uses dried figs to create a medicinal soup with a hint of fig sweetness (the other is a hot pot using Chinese herbs called “Sekkoku”). According to the owner, Mr. Lee, “The elegant sweetness and refreshing aroma of figs bring out the flavor of the chicken.

Once the soup is thoroughly boiled, thinly sliced chicken is quickly shabu-shabu’d and eaten. The tender sweetness of the figs in the plump chicken is exquisite and delicious. The chicken shabu-shabu style is light and easy to eat, so it is recommended for those who do not like the oiliness and richness that is often found in Chinese cuisine. Japanese people will be happy to know that they can add white rice and an egg at the end of the hot pot and enjoy zosui (rice porridge) with chicken broth condensed in the soup.

As far as the author knows, this chicken hot pot is only available in Japan as of March 2014. When I visited the restaurant in February, it was still bustling with young Chinese customers who had heard about the opening of the restaurant. Takadanobaba, where there are many cram schools for Chinese students, is a spot where one can truly experience the local Chinese trend.

Amazing!　Excellent “lamb hot pot” cooked on ice!

Next, we will introduce “SAINUUU BINGNI YAMORO,” a restaurant specializing in Inner Mongolia-style lamb hot pot in the Ueno/Yushima area. This is also a new restaurant that just opened in November 2013.

The Ueno/Okachimachi area has made a name for itself in recent years as an area with a high concentration of Chinese food, with hot pots such as the aforementioned mushroom hot pot from Yunnan and fermented tomato hot pot from Guizhou already having made their way into the area, not to mention hot pot in the spicy hot pot and ma la tan.

The most distinctive feature of this hot pot is that, as the name “冰煮羊鍋,” or “ice-broiled lamb hot pot,” suggests, it boils a large amount of lamb meat with ice. According to the owner, Mr. Nahi Su, a native of Inner Mongolia, the name comes from the time when Genghis Khan was active in Mongolia and lamb was boiled with ice (various theories exist). He says that the meat is cooked gradually from a low temperature, which has the advantage of making the meat more tender.

The key to the flavor comes from a few simple ingredients: lamb, scallions, dates, and salt and pepper. Slowly simmering these ingredients for 15 to 20 minutes produces a delicious broth that is infused with the flavor of the lamb.

Slow simmering brings out the natural flavor of the lamb to the fullest extent, and the smell is almost completely eliminated,” says Nahi Suh. The chunks of lamb are surprisingly tender, thanks to the effect of the ice, and easily fit into the stomach.

For 6,980 yen, a complete set of nabe set and an all-you-can-drink package are highly satisfying, and highly recommended.

Condensed flavor!　Golden Chicken Hot Pot” with the aroma of beautiful wine

Lastly, I would like to introduce “Wei Huang WEI HUANG,” also located in the Ueno/Yushima area. Since its opening in December 2012, it has gained popularity among Chinese residents in Japan.

Like the first restaurant, this restaurant serves Cantonese chicken hot pot, but this one features a soup made with “Hua Diao wine,” a type of Shaoxing wine. The aroma of Hua Diao wine and the medicinal broth with wolfberries and jujube dates are superb. Although it is Cantonese cuisine, it is the overseas branch of a popular chain with 10 branches mainly in Shanghai, and has become a popular restaurant in Tokyo as well due to the high quality of its soup.

The recommended way to enjoy the soup is to first savor the slow-cooked, flavorful broth alone, then enjoy the plump chicken meat, followed by the addition of vegetables, yuba (bean curd), and other ingredients.

The soup, which is infused with the richness of Hua Diao wine and the flavor of chicken, is so delicious that you could drink it all by itself, warming your body. The soup can be added for free, so you can savor it until you are satisfied.

At the end of the meal, you will be forced to choose between two ultimate options: to finish with rice in an earthenware pot (煲仔飯) like Cantonese cuisine, or to add instant noodles to the soup in which the flavor of ingredients is condensed.

The popularity is so great that the second store in Japan was opened in Roppongi in November 2013, and the momentum continues to expand.

Evolution of “Gachi-Chukkai” never stops.

When we think of Chinese hot pot, we tend to think only of hot pot with hot sauce, but the variety of hot pot is steadily diversifying with the increase in the number of restaurants. However, with the increase in the number of restaurants, the variety of hot pots is steadily diversifying, and this trend is being followed in Japan in real time.

At present, the three restaurants introduced here have a large number of Chinese customers, and when you enter the restaurant, you will feel as if you are on a trip abroad. If you are interested in Chinese medicinal soups because of Ma Lertang, why don’t you try the local hot pots that are eaten in various parts of China?