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▼ Eating out / Kagurazaka Sweet Parlor Serves Richly Flavored Zoni Soup
- Category:Gourmet
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Zoni soup containing mochi is the perfect dish to convey the history of Kinozen, a cafe in Tokyo’s Kagurazaka district that is famous for its anmitsu and matcha-flavored Bavarian cream.
Kinozen’s zoni features clear dashi broth and two squares of grilled, lightly browned mochi. With just a sip of the soup, the savory umami taste spreads in the mouth with a delicate touch of yuzu. The soup is prepared with the first stock made from kombu from Rishirito island off the coast of northern Hokkaido and high-grade dried white bonito flakes.
“This dashi has an Edo-style clear taste,” Kinozen proprietress Keiko Tomita said.
Tomita, the third-generation operator, makes sure the flavor of the soup is in the same class as that served by Kinozen before World War II.
Kinozen is said to date back to the closing days of the Edo period (1603-1867), when a man named Zenbei moved to Edo from Kishu (now Wakayama Prefecture) and started an employment agency business.
The business transformed into a restaurant of the same name after the 1868 Meiji Restoration, and soon became popular with gourmands, particularly with its sushi and boiled clam dish. The restaurant’s building was destroyed in an air raid during World War II, and Tomita’s grandmother Kane, looking for a business opportunity, started the current cafe in 1948.
“My grandmother decided the flavors of all the dishes,” Keiko Tomita said.
“I think she developed a discerning palate during the days [when Kinozen operated] as a restaurant,” she said.
Kinozen has maintained the flavors from the old days even though Tomita is running a cafe.
In recent years, Kinozen has been a kind of pilgrimage site among fans of the pop group Nogizaka46, as it’s mentioned in one of its songs.
Kinozen has changed from its days as a restaurant, but the flavor of the shop’s past still survives in a small bowl of zoni.
*Kinozen
Open : 11 a.m.-8 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday and national holidays
Closed: Monday (Open if Monday falls on a national holiday, and closed the following Tuesday)
Address: 1-12 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo
Tel: (03) 3269-2920
Credit cards not accepted
English menu available
To find out more about Japan’s attractions, visit http://the-japan-news.com/news/d&d
Zoni soup containing mochi is the perfect dish to convey the history of Kinozen, a cafe in Tokyo’s Kagurazaka district that is famous for its anmitsu and matcha-flavored Bavarian cream.
Kinozen’s zoni features clear dashi broth and two squares of grilled, lightly browned mochi. With just a sip of the soup, the savory umami taste spreads in the mouth with a delicate touch of yuzu. The soup is prepared with the first stock made from kombu from Rishirito island off the coast of northern Hokkaido and high-grade dried white bonito flakes.
“This dashi has an Edo-style clear taste,” Kinozen proprietress Keiko Tomita said.
Tomita, the third-generation operator, makes sure the flavor of the soup is in the same class as that served by Kinozen before World War II.
Kinozen is said to date back to the closing days of the Edo period (1603-1867), when a man named Zenbei moved to Edo from Kishu (now Wakayama Prefecture) and started an employment agency business.
The business transformed into a restaurant of the same name after the 1868 Meiji Restoration, and soon became popular with gourmands, particularly with its sushi and boiled clam dish. The restaurant’s building was destroyed in an air raid during World War II, and Tomita’s grandmother Kane, looking for a business opportunity, started the current cafe in 1948.
“My grandmother decided the flavors of all the dishes,” Keiko Tomita said.
“I think she developed a discerning palate during the days [when Kinozen operated] as a restaurant,” she said.
Kinozen has maintained the flavors from the old days even though Tomita is running a cafe.
In recent years, Kinozen has been a kind of pilgrimage site among fans of the pop group Nogizaka46, as it’s mentioned in one of its songs.
Kinozen has changed from its days as a restaurant, but the flavor of the shop’s past still survives in a small bowl of zoni.
*Kinozen
Open : 11 a.m.-8 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday and national holidays
Closed: Monday (Open if Monday falls on a national holiday, and closed the following Tuesday)
Address: 1-12 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo
Tel: (03) 3269-2920
Credit cards not accepted
English menu available
To find out more about Japan’s attractions, visit http://the-japan-news.com/news/d&d
- February 13, 2016
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