KEN21
On this day, I had lunch in Oimori. The place I visited was this delicatessen. It is located in a corner of a shopping street in the Yamao area of Ota-ku. It opened on November 23, 2018, and is a small delicatessen. They also hold cooking classes irregularly. I discovered this shop when I used Cafe Amo the other day. It is a deli and bento shop, but they also offer eat-in options, so I decided to visit for lunch that day. The lunch menu consisted of one item priced at 800 yen. When I asked about the lunch contents at the takeout counter, I was told that the main dish that day was Yannyeom Chicken, and they mentioned that it was spicy. I decided to go for it and entered the store. I informed them that I would be having lunch in and sat at the 6-seat counter. So, I ordered the Lunch (Yannyeom Chicken) for 800 yen with a drink. The shop is run by a female owner alone. Guitar instrumental music was playing at a moderate volume in the background. On the counter, there were six types of side dishes lined up on large plates. In between, customers ordering takeout or bento came in. The owner continued to prepare lunch while handling those orders. While waiting and drinking water, it was served in about 7 minutes. The Lunch (Yannyeom Chicken) was served on one plate. It consisted of around 200g of rice, Yannyeom Chicken, enoki and chrysanthemum salad, macaroni salad, and colorful vegetable marinade. The rice was cooked just right and quite delicious. The Yannyeom Chicken was made milder by adding honey because it was too spicy when made originally. When I tasted it, the flavor of the sauce, the sweetness of the honey, and the spiciness of the chili pepper were all present. Even as a fan of spicy food, I could feel the heat, so it might be very spicy for others. But it was delicious with the flavor and spiciness that made you want to eat more. The enoki and chrysanthemum salad was lightly dressed with mayonnaise, and the scent of chrysanthemum was a nice touch. The macaroni salad was based on herb salt to avoid relying too much on mayonnaise, with the spiciness of red onions as an accent. The colorful vegetable marinade is a popular item since the founding of the shop, and it is always served. Depending on the season, the ingredients change, and on this day, it was stir-fried zucchini, paprika, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms, mixed with Ehime Prefecture salted orange dressing. The colorful vegetables were beautiful, well-balanced, and the dressing was not too sour, not too assertive, which was good. It didn't overshadow the taste of the ingredients but rather helped enhance them. For the drink, you could choose between coffee or tea, so I chose hot coffee. It had a taste that was not too acidic or bitter, easy to drink and refreshing. For 800 yen, including tax, with handmade side dishes and a drink, it was a good value. While I was in the shop, the female owner and I had a lively conversation about food. She mentioned that this was her first time in the food and beverage industry, and before that, she used to host home parties as a hobby. As a cooking enthusiast, she had always thought, "Someday I want to be in the food and beverage industry!" When this shop became available, she decided to start a shared business with different shops during the day and night. So, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am, it changes to a bar called "choco't." It's always nice to have a shop run by someone who loves cooking because they serve delicious food. They cook something delicious that they would enjoy themselves and keep evolving by watching the reactions of customers and experimenting. That's something you don't see in many food and beverage establishments, I've realized as I've been active on Tabelog (a restaurant review site). Thank you for the meal! (As of October 2019, no points)