Iruchi, Roppongi (Nishi Azabu)

Recently alerted to the entry of this place to the lunch scene, I fooled a friend into trekking down to Nishi Azabu for some Korean luvvin’. No, it’s not a barber shop, but it IS a tasteful and modern basement space serving chige and bibimbap that meets or exceeds expectations. The menu is a little simple; basically for your ~Y1000 you get a chige concoction with your choice of beef, chicken, pork, seafood or tofu, in your choice of hotness. Or you get a bibinbap, for which you can choose between the traditional stone-bowl-of-hellfire or normal varieties. This is what we had, and it turned out well – the hellfire was truly hellacious, leading to quite ample crisping of the rice even after we had maze-maze-tized it. That’s how I like it!!Another thing I like is the atmosphere. One big table down the middle, a few others on one side, and then round hori-kotatsu on the other side. Overall it’s a bit spare and empty, like it was when this place was called Coriander and served Thai made my Japanese guys who went to international high schools. It may not meet several of your needs for dinner, in that it doesn’t have any particularly Korean ambiance, like smoke grills or…eh, I don’t really know what would make it more authentic! But it’s definitely a modern-styled restaurant serving a basic Korean menu, which seems like an odd combo.Muy caliente!
03-3868-0304