Friday, January 21, 2005

13. Bang a gong we are on







Bang a gong we are on. One of, if not, my main goal in Tokyo was to get to the restaurants of Iron Chef's Chen Kenichi and Hiroyuki Sakai. With the help of the internet and Tricia we got in to Chen Kenichi's newish restaurant
Szechwan restuarant CHEN. As a huge fan of the show and with a love of spicy Chinese, I was really looking to this restaurant. The lunch was great value, about $60 AUD per head plus drinks to have a 7 course lunch. There was an appetiser, hot and sour soup, chilli prawns, creamy prawns, Peking duck, Chen's trademark hot Tofu and a red bean soup with ice cream dessert. The food and presentation were superb except for one thing, the Peking duck. Maybe it was my mistake for selecting a peking style dish in a Szechwan restuarant or perhaps my expectations were set impossibly high from the sublime Peking duck at the Flower Drum in Melbourne. Either way it did take the shine off what was a great meal. Next time I will venture to Akasa Shisen Hanten which is Chen's home restaurant and make sure that he is in the kitchen.