A small shop called Hele Japanese Cuisine that I want to write today has been opened on Changle Road for 22 years, opened in 2000 by the Japanese at the beginning of the opening, and a year later transferred to the current chef and boss, a Chinese couple took care of the izakaya and was beautiful and happy, one is more than 20 years, due to urban relocation, house expropriation, and Hele announced that it closed on the 22nd of this month.
No matter when you step into the store, you can feel the tacit cooperation between the loving husband and wife, the chef Xiao Wang is a Suzhou native, when he was young in the Nanjing Cooking School to learn Huaiyang cuisine, he met his current wife, and later Master Wang turned to Japanese food, and his wife also followed him all the way.
Nowadays, Mrs. Wang looks at the front field, greeting the business is always smiling, and Xiao Wang manages the kitchen in the back field, showing her head from time to time to greet the old guests.
Over the years, countless raw guests have become regular customers in Hele, and familiar customers have eaten into old guests, and it is the oldest batch of guests who brought us here, deliberately booking several "kung fu dishes" of Xiao Wang in advance, but not because of difficulty, but special trouble...
Humble eggplant, it is very troublesome to deal with, to be burned soft one day in advance, the next day to eat enough to taste, I see that the surface of the eggplant also opened a fine tooth comb like a flower knife, there are some early Huaiyang cuisine skills.
Ci mushroom slices are Suzhou people's potato chips! I saw the original version at the Fengmen vegetable market, which is more delicately made here, the mushrooms are cut into hexagons, fried first and then air-dried - there are rumors that it is still blown by the electric hair dryer, and the wind and temperature are just right, similar to the effect of shaking the head fan blowing the sea cold noodles...
In short, the mushrooms in hand are thin and moderate, the slices are crisp and not oily, with a light pretzel taste, and you can drink several sips with wine.
Taro roast chicken, using the Japanese countryside "farmhouse roast", chicken is not important, heavy on taro, burned long enough, soft glutinous.
On that day, there were many squid skirts, so I mixed it with shallot oil and sprinkled with golden garlic, and the scraps tasted delicious.
What needs to be solemnly introduced is the fried sesame seeds in the store - sesame seeds are planted by Xiao Wang's relatives in their hometown in Suzhou, soaked in soy sauce and juice, let the taste penetrate into the sesame core, and then patiently fried dry with a small fire, and held in the palm of the hand when eating, like eating caviar.
Sesame seeds were originally white and pure, and after eating through the sauce, they showed a light brown color, and when they were sent to the mouth, each small particle burst out of salty and crispy, becoming the famous thing of Harmony.
In the winter, the large intestine pot, with the white miso in the store, fat toot on the table, I see that there are circles with oil, there are also clean intestines, ask the boss lady how much intestine? "Three! Large and small intestines have ha! ”
The intestines of different parts are boiled soft and sticky, emitting the smell of the same pig water, and then fishing the tofu cabbage underneath, and sprinkling some seven flavor powder, where is the reason why it is not delicious?
Tonkatsu is the restaurant's signature dish, using plum meat, fat and lean, a layer of crisp shell is a traditional pie, eating we invariably think of Tokyo Ginza Merlin...
That night, everyone brought three bottles of wine each, where to stand ah, called the old guest's storage wine, burned into the ice cup, and added another round of dishes...
Why not try the fish with the tonkatsu? The same frying method, the kitchen handled carefully, the fish bones are removed, eat crispy, click and eat, even cabbage did not let go.
Miso quail eggs, made into skewers, squeezed with lemon juice, and served a little cute wine.
We obviously already have a large intestine pot, and seeing a steaming pot of sturgeon on the next table, it is so envious, lady, another pot! Mrs. Wang revealed her signature sympathetic smile... The season's sturgeon, cod liver is particularly fat, with artemisia, crab mushrooms, white onions, soup soup underwater belly, comfortable, you can also dry another cup!
Eating and drinking until late at night, Hele finally used the final magic weapon - char siu fried rice, the rice is fragrant and soft, soothing after drinking, the soul is this char siu, it is marinated with the 20-year-old brine used in the store, the rich meat aroma and the brine flavor are pervasive, intoxicating...
Rare and happy has a taste that has been precipitated over the years, and even more rare is the kind of affection that seems to be more and more rare at the moment, I would like to call it: long love, customers always miss the small shop, the store also takes care of the guests.
Although Hele will have to say goodbye to the guests for three more days, I think that as long as there is this love, the closure will not be the end, and those who love food will definitely see each other again.