| 南青山エッセンス（港区） Minami Aoyama Essence(Minato-ku) Omotesando / Chinese food, medicinal cuisine  You can enjoy Chinese cuisine made with natural ingredients that is good for both the body and the mind. lunch:¥1,000～¥1,999 dinner:¥6,000～¥7,999 Minami Aoyama Essence Official Website |
This is a famous Chinese restaurant that serves medicinal cuisine, located in an alley off Aoyama-dori.
Recently, I’ve been going to Gaienmae for work a lot, but there are still lots of good restaurants in the area between Gaienmae and Omotesando that I don’t know about.
The restaurant I visited this time was also a first for me, but it was a wonderful place.
The restaurant I’m introducing this time is called “Minami Aoyama Essence” and serves Chinese cuisine.
The popular Chinese medicine cuisine uses no chemical seasonings!
There was a menu posted at the entrance of the restaurant, and it said “No chemical seasonings or flavor enhancers used at all”.
In general Chinese cuisine, chemical seasonings and flavor enhancers are often used a lot, but at Essence in Minami Aoyama, they are completely free of chemical seasonings in all their dishes.
Their Chinese cuisine, which makes the most of the natural flavors of the ingredients and has a gentle, natural taste, is extremely popular with people who want to avoid additives and those who want to eat natural food.
You can choose from 6 different lunch menus
There were 6 lunch options on this day, and I ordered the 1,700 yen Lunch Set A (a set meal with a choice of main dish, and I chose stir-fried prawns and vegetables).
As it was described as “Chinese medicine-flavored”, I thought it might be a little medicinal, but it was nothing like that at all, and you wouldn’t notice it unless you were told.
It was a Chinese dish that wasn’t too heavy, but still had a strong flavor, and the prawns in particular were prepared very well, and were delicious.
About Minami Aoyama Essence
The owner chef, Tomohiro Yabuzaki, is a leading expert in Chinese herbal cuisine, and while his cooking is based on traditional Chinese cooking techniques, he has developed his own unique style that combines “no chemical seasonings” with “the concept of Chinese herbal cuisine”.
Rather than just being health-conscious, his cooking emphasizes the concept of “using food to improve your health and become beautiful from the inside”, and he has a strong following among women who are conscious of beauty and health, as well as people who value their diet.
On this day, too, most of the customers were women, and the popularity of the restaurant is increasing even more as these women post positive reviews on social networking sites.
The lunch menu is casual, but for dinner they offer a full-fledged Chinese course, and you can enjoy delicious food and wine recommended by the sommelier in the relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant.
Why not try the delicious Chinese herbal medicine cuisine at this famous restaurant, which is also listed in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2016?
Access, reviews
You can check the access, opening hours, holidays, reviews, etc. for “Minami Aoyama Essence” on the Google Map (click to enlarge) below.
