REDOX
I happened to find this restaurant while researching about zoni (rice cake soup) online and decided to go there. I felt a little guilty because in the past, I got scolded by my father for making zoni in the spring and eating it, as he said zoni is meant to be eaten during New Year's. However, zoni is a devilishly tempting food that I occasionally crave. When that happens, I usually resist the temptation by chanting "not zoni, not zoni" and enduring it at Misuzu-an's "Kachin." Following the directions on my iPhone, I went against traffic on a one-way street and safely arrived without using a crosswalk. The outdoor sign said "Nutritional Information Display 1st Store." Inside, there was no nutritional information on the menu or walls, but it may have been displayed at the back of the store. I ordered the "Hakata Zoni" which came with rice for 1,200 yen. The dish arrived in 13 minutes after ordering (confirmed by the timestamp on the photo). As it was Hakata zoni, it was expected to have round mochi with anago dashi, and the Hakata trio of buri, katsuo-ni, and kashiwa (chicken) would naturally be included. However, it seemed to have various other types of ingredients as well. So, I discreetly took notes while eating, which may have been impolite. Along with the aforementioned buri (back meat), katsuo-ni (mild flavor), and chicken (breast meat), there were also hakusai (thinly sliced), mizuna, gobou and carrot (julienned), renkon (sliced), koya tofu (cut into short strips), kamaboko (a small red-colored fish cake that seemed to be for commercial use), mochi *2 (round rice cakes), lightly cooked tamago (firmly thin omelet), shiitake mushrooms (variety was koushin, correctly spelled as koshin) and more. I counted 13 ingredients, which may be considered unlucky for Christians. The dish arrived in 13 minutes! The anago dashi flavor was not very strong, in fact, it was rather mild. The salt content was also moderate. However, the abundance of ingredients made up for it. Perhaps the use of koshin shiitake mushrooms instead of donko mushrooms contributed to this? I added rice towards the end of the meal and felt that it would have been better to add it at the beginning. It seemed like adding it while the dish was hot would have made it easier to eat and allowed the rice to blend with the broth. They also offer zoni, zosui (rice porridge), and yamaimo tororo (grated mountain yam) for takeout or online purchase. I bought the zoni with leftover ingredients, which I did not eat. When I returned to work and mentioned that I had been to Sekitei, I was surprised when someone asked, "During the day?" Why? To be continued...