Ichiriki

In early November 2021, the fourth wave of COVID 19 was rapidly subsiding. I visited Nagasaki to attend a Buddhist ritual in memory of a relative. People were cautiously resuming a more normal way of life, including postponed funeral rituals. After the ritual, we gathered at this restaurant as is cu...stomary after Buddhist rituals. The restaurant is close to Teramachi, where many Buddhist temples are located. A famous Nagasaki cuisine is Shippoku cuisine. This is a hybrid of Japanese, Chinese and Western banquet cuisine, where guests are seated around a round table (the table is called "shippoku"), food is served in large plates for the guests to share, It is no surprise that this cuisine emerged in Nagasaki, the port open to only China and Holland in the Edo era. This restaurant specializing in Shippoku cuisine has a history spanning two centuries. We were shown to a large room on the second floor (the stairs are relatively steep), where we were seated keeping a reasonable distance from each other. As another Covid 19 measure, the head waitress informed us that they are not serving Shippoku as that would require the guests to help themselves from the food plates which is not recommended. The menu would be composed of Shippoku dishes, she added. We had ordered the Hime-Jyu Shippoku Zanmai, which is served one by one to each guest, in kaiseki style. The dishes were beautifully prepared and included Shippoku essentials such as soy sauce based braised pork (which is a Chinese dish) and Nagasaki style tempura originating from fritters introduced by the European missionaries. The miso soup was whiter and sweeter than that served in eastern parts of Japan. It was a delightful as well as light and healthy menu. Perhaps even more enjoyable after the pandemic.

Visited November 2021