Nakano Chuka! Sai

The pun on Nakano Chuka! Sai’s name in Japanese is a threefold pun: in kanji, “sai” can be written in a number of different ways, but Chef Miyata Shunsuke takes it to mean “dish”, “color” and “uniqueness”. If the exclamation mark in the restaurant’s name wasn’t enough of a clue, Chef Miyata is very enthusiastic about Cantonese cuisine. His seafood is sourced from both Miyazaki Prefecture and the Goto Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, both regions in western Japan highly renowned for the quality of their seafood. With the same mischievousness with which he engages in wordplay, Chef Miyata also offers a playfully modern spin on Cantonese food. Of course, homemade dim sum staples like roast pork, xiao long bao (soup-filled dumplings) and steamed white fish are to be expected, but immediately after come startlingly Western-inspired menu items like beef cheek braised in his special sauce, made from red wine and oyster sauce. Even the drinks menu is equally eclectic: there are 20 different varieties of Chinese liquor — including several types of baijiu and huangjiu — adorning Sai’s shelves, but the sangria remains one of the restaurant’s most enduringly popular drink orders. Chef Miyata chooses to leave out the sugar, so as to let the natural flavors of the fruit come to the forefront. Bright, clean and cheerful, the enthusiasm in this Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded restaurant is infectious, and embodies the inherently celebratory spirit of Cantonese food. Michelin Guide: 2017 - Bib Gourmand