The Late Night Chronicles: Nosh: Ichiriki

I've been told over and over again how awesome Ichiriki is yet I've never gone out and actually tried it. Tonight my mama and I were in the mood for comfort food and for her, comfort means soupy Japanese food. She suggested Ichiriki and off we went.

Ichiriki is a nabemono, or hot pot, restaurant. Here, you cook your own dish in hot dashi, or soup, on a gas stove at your table. I was nervous at first because looking at the menu, I don't eat half the things on it. I don't like red meat, I'm not the biggest fan of some vegetables like mushrooms, and I'm not big on shrimp and scallops, all of which are a prominent part of the menu items. Luckily Ichiriki catered to my odd taste and happily substituted ingredients I didn't want with ones I did.

I got the signature nabe, Ichiriki dashi which is a shoyu base with chicken and ramen. Mama got the paitan nabe which is a pork dashi, all the ingredients, and udon. Later we decided to turn our leftover dashi into zosui, or rice porridge with egg and nori. The zosui was the best decision we made all night.