Shodoten, Otemachi (小洞天)

These small chains are funny. There’s one around the Monzen Nakacho Metro area called ‘Fuu’ (虎) that I saw so many times I convinced myself it was a big chain, but it’s just that the four shops are all concentrated within a couple blocks. There are some more around Otemachi, evidently including this Shodoten place, which has 4 shops in Otemachi (ish). It’s popular too – recommended by our Otemachi colleagues, and feature a line from early on. We arrived at 11:50 and had to wait a little while they sorted out a split table for us. There was a line when we left.

What you get for this waiting (or 11:30 arrival) is pretty good Chinese (as if I’d know) (parenthetically). I didn’t check out too much of the menu, but it seems to be basically teishoku. My Master Eater Teishoku (parenthetically, I just made that up because it was so big) included a strange shrimp-and-scrambled-egg-with-ankake (looked like ebi chili, but wasn’t spicy and had eggs), two shu mai, a mini tan-tan men, rice, pickles, tea. A lot of food for Y1500, and probably too much, I’m not forced to admit. The Y1200 sets (only one of those mains, or else a vegetable-heavy fried rice) looked like sensible amounts.

Authentic service too.
03-3217-0821