Initially read some mixed reviews on Sazenka so wasn’t as confident going into this meal as I grew up eating Chinese food. Much of the criticism I have read was related to the restraint of flavours and how it melded with Chinese cuisine.
But I am so glad I bit the bullet and went anyway. It was the best meal of my trip imo – I didn’t really feel like the lighter flavour dishes took away from the meals but instead showed the versatility of Chinese cuisine.
I have eaten heaps of your typical intense flavour Chinese restaurants but also lighter home style cooking and can say I thoroughly enjoy both. The meal got stronger and stronger as it progressed for me until the 白云肉 （eggplant with pork belly). The addons after were not as good as the main course but I thought the Buddha jump soup and eggplant pork were insane.
Full course included:
Main Course
1. Zucchini flower soup dumpling
2. Botan ebi from Aomori (raw) with Shaoxing wine
3. Corn spring roll
4. Char siu
5. Sweet and sour pork
6. Sudachi citrus with jellyfish
7. Dried simmered abalone
8. Buddha jump soup (this was amazing and had heaps of exotic ingredients which combined well – deer tendon, bear meat, soft shell turtle, crocodile meat, sea cucumber, cordyceps etc – 25 ingredients)
9. XO sauce steamed surf clam with vermicelli
10. Sichuan style chicken wing (the fragrance of this was amazing when it came out – we tried the greens that were with the chillies and the peppercorns which had a really strong numbing effect which I enjoyed heaps)
11. Shark fin soup (nice but got a bit rich at the end$
12. Okra with shaved Chinese ham
13. Eggplant with pork belly
14. Shark fin noodles – addon (at this point felt like it was a little too much shark fin)
15. Cold Dan Dan noodles – addon (this was probably the weakest dish of the course for me – I tried some as my partner ordered this add-on but I could just taste sesame and not much else)
16. Mapo tofu with rice – the rice was very good – I generally like harder rice which was what we got on the day. The rice was also glistening which was beautiful to see
17. Clear chicken soup noodles (qing tang) – liked the texture of the egg noodles and thought it was a nice dish to end on before desserts
Desserts
1. Coconut ice cream with mango (this felt almost a bit more south East Asian influenced rather than Chinese but I’m not complaining as I love mango)
2. Almond tofu (cold and hot) – anyone who ate tofu pudding (douhua) growing up will know the delicate texture and light flavours of this dish – it was almost nostalgic of my childhood and the almond was a nice flavour.
3. Karaki tea and dumpling – nice cinnamony notes
The server was very attentive and the food was all served quite hot (which I think is necessary for a lot of these dishes). Another interesting thing to note is that the 52.8k menu excludes the abalone, Buddha soup and addons. The 88k is the same as the 52.8k yen course but has the abalone. While I did enjoy the abalone, I’m not sure a 35k yen price tag fully justifies the price jump. However the buddha soup in the 110k price was just too good for me.
The server told me that they change the menu approx every two months and that even if a customer has a repeat visit within the same menu season, they will change it up for them (although the staples like the charsiu, buddha soup, eggplant pork will remain).
I absolutely loved this meal and despite the high price of 110k yen for food (125k yen pp including drinks), I would love to come back. Would definitely recommend people interested in fine dining to try this at least once if in Tokyo.
by anonymous93753828