【January 17】 As someone who had been going to Seiun-tei in Shirokane-Takanawa for about 20 years, I thought only those two unapologetic old guys could produce that flavor. As expected, the reviews here are full of complaints that it's too salty, too strong, or not to people's taste (haha). I hesitated over whether to go, but stopped by wanting to see what had become of the Seiun-tei I'd known for 20 years, and ordered my usual chashumen and half fried rice set. The chashumen that arrived had the traditional Seiun-tei soup: clear, yet brown. The 5 slices of meltingly tender pork-belly chashu were still there. The bean sprouts, nori, and green onions had been carried over unchanged, too. The fried rice might be a little short on Hi-Me… slightly different, but still a fairly faithful recreation. Peeking into the kitchen, I saw a chubby foreign man cooking, but wasn't he the one who had been making fried rice back in Shirokane-Takanawa? He looked vaguely familiar. But speaking as someone who knew Seiun-tei back then, even this soup is much gentler now (haha). It's lighter and more refined. For people who knew the old Seiun-tei, it may feel nostalgic, yet refined and a little ticklish. People who liked the old Seiun-tei will probably accept it. The restaurant and restroom are unrecognizably clean. The air conditioners are built into the ceilings near the entrance and above the seats at the back. Water seems to be self-service, but there's not even a sign saying so. When they come to take your order, couldn't they at least bring a glass instead of arriving empty-handed? 【January 27】 I ordered ginger pork with extra meat. This is extra meat? There was so little that I worried what a regular portion would look like. I even wondered whether they'd understood my Japanese, but I was definitely charged for extra meat, so I suppose they had. Back in Minami-Azabu it was more fragrant, but this ginger pork came in a thick sauce with an intense sweetness and saltiness like a ready-made sauce. So perhaps it really is a ginger pork that only resembles the Minami-Azabu version. I went out of my way on a day off, but it was disappointing. Lowering my rating. 【February 26】 Visited again at 19:00 on a weekday. There were no customers inside. Chashumen set, 1,400 yen. I've been visiting about every 2 weeks since the reopening, but does it feel like they're losing motivation by the day? I don't know whether they're unsure of themselves, whether it's minor variation, or whether they're inconsistent. That day's chashumen soup was watery and thin, with a weak aroma. The noodles were overboiled and limp, not absorbing the soup and feeling disconnected from it. The fried rice lacked salt, and the rice was soggy. Have they settled in and started resting on the name? If they cut corners like this, I think customers will disappear fast. In fact, at 19:00 that day, I was the only one. They're adding new Chinese-style dishes, but I want to tell them to get the basics right first. I've been coming for 20 years, but it was too bad to dismiss as normal variation. I don't want to pay 1,400 yen for this. Unfortunately, I'm lowering the star rating again, and I'll try returning in a year if they're still around. I don't know how much they paid for the name of the closed restaurant, but don't underestimate doing business in Japan.

+3

Seiun-tei, which used to be near Shirokane-Takanawa, closed and reopened in Hiroo! Its sign is quite noticeable along Meiji-dori near the Tengenji intersection. The menu lineup is the same. My favorite ginger pork set meal is still available. A true neighborhood Chinese restaurant, with good tanmen and gyoza, too. The fried rice is also a conventional style that's reliably tasty. It's cleaner than the previous location. I hope the operations improve from here.

+3

【2024.5】This is a long-established shop founded in 1983. I had a large ramen (890＋100 yen). The shoyu-flavored soup has a clean pork-and-chicken-based taste. The chashu is fragrant, adding something like scorched soy sauce to the broth. Apparently, the chashu is fried before being simmered, making it an exquisite combination of fragrance and tenderness. The noodles are medium-thin and slightly curly. A nostalgic flavor with a pleasant hint of flouriness remaining. It originally opened as a Kagoshima-style tonkotsu ramen shop, then evolved into its current flavor.

2024/2/27 The long-established neighborhood Chinese restaurant 「盛運亭」 in Minami-Azabu, which closed on 10/25 last year, relocated to Hiroo and reopened on 1/6, so I visited for the first time since May 2020. It operates continuously from 11:00～L.O.20:45 except on Sundays, its regular closing day, with no special lunch menu. Both the kitchen and dining area are operated entirely by foreign staff, and you order verbally from handwritten menus displayed inside. The basic menu remains unchanged from before the move. 「Tanmen」950 yen I also had 「Tanmen」 last time, so I ordered it to see how the flavor had carried over after the move. The stir-fried pork belly, cabbage, garlic chives, onions, and bean sprouts, along with the springy, slightly soft medium-thin curly noodles, remain unchanged. The slightly emulsified salt-based soup used to be intensely rich, with noticeable seasoning additives and a memorable flavor for better or worse. This time it was considerably milder, and I finished all the soup. It's fine in its own way, but those visiting in search of the old taste may feel let down. It has many famous celebrity fans, and the shop uses that as a selling point, but the food quality itself isn't worth making a special trip from far away, nor should it be overpraised because of some odd bias. There were queues immediately after the reopening, but customer traffic has now settled down. Payment is cash only.

+3

2024/01/12 Taste 2 Affordability 2.5 Ordered the ramen and fried rice set ¥1200. First, the half portion of fried rice. It seemed a little small? Well, it's a half portion, so I suppose that's fine. Trying it, it was indeed salty, as other reviews said. You get used to it as you eat, though lol. Next, the ramen had a strong shoyu flavor, which seems likely to divide tastes. It seems to have just opened, so I think I'll go again after a while. Thank you for the meal.

+3