Szechwan Restaurant CHEN

In a bit of foodie serendipity, our hotel happened to house the Iron Chef's famed Szechwan Restaurant CHEN. Of course we had to try it!

We stopped in for lunch, and the place was so packed that we had to sit in the smoking section. There was a sushi-bar like area where patrons could watch the culinary pyrotechnics behind a glass window... although we would've chosen to sit over there, we were just happy to get a table.

I ordered the Lunch Course, which included an appetizer of the day, soup, Chinese bread, two main dishes and a dessert. My companion was more conservative and simply ordered a vegetable dish, which also included soup. We were also served fragrant jasmine tea.

My first dish was a cold appetizer: three thumb-sized pieces of tender squid over a cilantro-spiked tumble of julienned tree ears, glass noodles, chives and bean sprouts in a mild chili sauce. We were to find that the food was prepared with more of a Japanese aesthetic: portions, presentation and spicings were delicate. (After the meal, the waitress asked me if the food had been too spicy!)

Next was my plate of fried Chinese bread. The four thick round slices were so sweet that I wondered if they were made of rice flour, but the waitress checked and they were wheat-flour-based. (I was starting to feel bad for my companion's lack of courses and offered to share my food.)

We were then served two kinds of soup: my companion's was a chicken broth in which floated tiny tofu cubes and glass noodles, and mine was a sweetish Chinese onion soup.

No sooner had we drained our bowls than the entrees appeared! Three shiny white plates showcased: the Iron Chef's famed Szechwan shrimp - three huge prawns smothered in a red sriracha sauce with a mixed green salad; braised sea bream anointed with hot chili; and a soupy bowl of stir-fried julienned carrots, snow peas, bean sprouts and tree ears with a bowl of rice. My companion marveled at the consistency of the rice, calling it "al dente."

Dessert was a small salad of diced apples and kiwis suspended in a glass of sweet green jasmine jello! We left our meal satisfied but not stuffed.

Szechwan Restaurant CHEN: Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, 26-1 Sakuragaoka-Cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8512, +81 (03) 3476-3000.