Very local kind of place with authentic Chinese hospitality. The Xiaolongbao were tasty.

Chinese izakaya. Good lunch specials. Soups arent particulary flavourful. Food is average but cheap.

Good cheap Chinese food

A Chinese restaurant along the street just a short distance from 牛込神楽坂駅. The staff from China looked busy preparing takeaway bento, but I was shown to a spacious seat in the dimly lit interior, which has rows of tables and booths and a small counter. The menu featured daily specials and several noodle and fried rice set meals, and I ordered 【高菜入りラーメン】850円 which arrived in about ５ minutes. The set includes a noodle dish, mini fried rice, zha cai, almond pudding, and milk coffee. The ramen has medium-thick curly noodles submerged in a chicken-bone-based soy sauce broth, topped with a very thick sauce of stir-fried pork, takana, bean sprouts, carrots, and leafy greens. It was a very substantial portion, with an almost solid lump of sauce clinging heavily to the noodles, making them filling. I wanted to taste takana's distinctive character, but the result felt like sanmamen or bean sprout ramen with takana added, which was a little disappointing. Even so, the sweetness of the thoroughly stir-fried vegetables and pork came through clearly, and the noodles offered a delicious assortment of toppings. The fried rice had char siu, egg, green onion, carrot, and green peas stir-fried together, but was cooked more like griddled rice, with a pilaf-like texture. I enjoyed it with the fairly spicy zha cai and ended up quite full. Finally, milk coffee was served in a water glass; it wasn't too sweet and was delicious. With this much food for under 1,000円, it remains as popular as ever, quickly filling up with nearby office workers. I'll keep coming here for lunch when I'm in the mood for Chinese food.

+1

2024/03/21 around 11:25, first visit ■麻婆豆腐 800円 ▼Cash payment, order at your seat It was cold that day, so I wanted sundubu. When I went to the Korean restaurant I'd picked, I was told, “We open at 11:30.” I wandered around in the cold looking for somewhere open from 11:00 that seemed likely to serve tofu dishes and ended up here. There were quite a few customers inside, so I thought I'd have to wait, but I was shown to the back and seated immediately. The interior is a little dark but extends quite far back, with both counter and table seating, so it seems to have a large capacity. My policy when visiting a Chinese restaurant for the first time is to order mapo tofu. This place apparently lets you choose the spice level, but I wanted to know the default flavor, so I'll leave the spice options for next time. It arrived about 2 minutes after ordering. Lightning-fast. The mapo tofu tasted a little sweet, so perhaps they use more tianmianjiang. As a result, it was only mildly spicy, so I think even children could eat it. The Chinese soup was hot, which was very good. It seems you can get one free rice refill. There's plenty of mapo tofu, so a rice refill might be just right. They also served free iced coffee. Other customers weren't getting it, so perhaps it only comes with mapo tofu? It looked weak, so I didn't touch it. The price felt low for the taste and quantity. Next time I'll come for something like lettuce fried rice. Thank you for the meal.

+3