Delicious curries and set menus. Various books lined up in the shop. Did you know that there is a restaurant called Uchino Shokudo (Uchino Restaurant) on the four corners, a short walk from Uchino Station?
In this article, we spoke to the owner, Mr Noro, about Uchino Shokudo, a restaurant in Uchino where you can enjoy set menus and a café, as well as selling books, zines and many other things.
Nolu Ch iao
While studying at university, she travelled from South-East Asia to Spain and other places. After returning to his hometown of Niigata, he set up a guesthouse before opening Uchino Shokudo in 2017.
Uchino Restaurant with a variety of faces, from classic to ethnic.
______ What kind of restaurant is Uchino Diner, which looks like a café or bookshop?
Customers also ask what kind of restaurant this is, and Uchino Shokudo, as the name suggests, is a diner. We opened Uchino Shokudo three years ago after renovating a vacant shop that had originally been a fish shop for nearly 200 years and had been a 'fresh fish and catering restaurant, Fujikura'. The menu includes a weekly set meal called Itsumo no Teishoku and spiced curry with malt.
The ▲Koji chicken curry is spicy but has a somewhat gentle taste that is easy to savour thanks to the koji.
The Itumo set menus can be enjoyed depending on the week, with seasonal and even exotic flavours.
______ Itumo's set menus? What kind of menu is it?
We also serve fried chicken and other dishes like a typical set meal, and sometimes we incorporate flavours into our set meals that remind us of the tastes we had when we travelled abroad. For example, this week (date of interview: 13 March 2020), we are serving chicken marinated in ginger, grilled and seasoned with five spice powder* and seasonal vegetables.
*Chinese typical mixed spice. A blend of five spices, including star anise, cloves and pepper.
______ You serve a variety of dishes. How do you decide on your menu?
Firstly, we try to use ingredients from Uchino. For example, miso soup is made with miso from the Marukaku Brewery in Uchino, and tofu is made with tofu from Yamagai Tofu.
Apart from using ingredients from Uchino, I also place importance on 'mood and season' when deciding on the menu. I believe that people's body cravings change depending on the season and their mood, so I decide on the menu based on what is available at that time of year and what I want to eat this week.
______ I look forward to the menu the next time I come back.
You don't know what's on the Itsu Mono Set Meal menu until you come to the restaurant, so some customers call it Gacha because it reminds them of the Gacha Gacha they used to play as children. (Laughter)
______ Is it a mess? It is certainly exciting to hear you say that.
▲As well as set menus and curries, the restaurant also offers coffee, chai and cheesecake, so it can be used as a café.
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A bookshop inside a cafeteria! APARTMENT BOOKS inside the Uchino Diner
______ There is a space that looks like a bookshop, but this one?
It's a bookshop called 'APARTMENT BOOKS'. The selection of books for each bookshelf is handled by a person who has become the owner of the bookshop, so the line-up varies. Currently, five people are in charge of selecting books. New and second-hand books and zines are available.
______ It's a flat bookshop with a different owner on each shelf. By the way, what is a zine?
It is an independently produced publication that is issued in small numbers. To put it roughly, it is a book made by an individual. For example, this zine is a concept of an imaginary café in the form of a book, created by a woman who wants to open a café.
The blue zine in the front right is based on the concept of an 'imaginary café'. Various other zines are also lined up.
Interesting circle spreading from Uchino Restaurant to the infield.
______ There is a space like an exhibition, but this one?
This is a pop-up store run inside the Uchino Restaurant under the name Uchino Shoten 100. Specifically, we exhibit the works of people we want to do something with or support. This exhibition is currently showing rice cultivation in Fukui, Nishigama-ku, Niigata City.
______ Not only is there a cafeteria, but there is also a bookshop, exhibitions and much more.
It's a small space, but it's fun to see how things spread from there as a result of the exhibition. One of the shops that opened a shop at Uchino Shoten is a second-hand bookshop called 'YUYONDO', and it was through the opening of Uchino Shoten that they were given the opportunity to open a shop in the corner of APARTMENT BOOKS, and now they have gone from being a second-hand bookshop without a shop to actually having a shop in Uchino called 'YUYONDO'.
______ Great story. I will try to visit Yuyondo.
______ Finally, there is a feeling that Uchino Shokudo supports a variety of people, such as Itsumo's set meals using ingredients from Uchino, APARTMENT BOOKS and Uchino Shoten.
I think it is important to create an environment that is easy for the people around me to live in when I run my shop. For example, in my case, I can relate to my customers by cooking. It depends on the person, and it can be through making things or making alcohol. I myself enjoy it when people laugh when I cook, and it is because of these ideas and experiences that I want to support the attempts of the people around me.
With its various faces of Itsumo's set menus, APARTMENT BOOKS with a selection of books by several shop owners, and the new and expanding Uchino Shoten, Uchino Shokudo was a place where various cultures intersected beyond the confines of the term 'diner', despite being a diner.
Recently, takeaway lunches of Itsumo's set meals have also started. It's wonderful to be able to taste Uchino Shokudo at home. You can also apply for a takeaway lunchbox via DM on the Uchino Shokudo social networking site.
Uchino Shokudo
1053-1 Uchino-cho, Nishi-ku, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture
Opening hours: 12:00-18:00
Closed: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
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