Tokyo Station Kitchen Street: Chojomen (Shark Fin Cuisine)

Today I went to Chojomen, the Tsukushiro shark-fin noodle specialty restaurant, in Kitchen Street on the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station. It is a shark-fin restaurant whose flagship dish is braised whole shark fin. It also offers shark-fin sashimi and other dishes. The photo shows the restaurant’s namesake “Chojomen” (¥1,300). The savory aroma of soy sauce and the gelatinous texture of the shark fin came together so well that I drank every last drop of the thick, rich soup. I would have preferred a slightly lighter flavor, though. Am I overly fond of delicate seasoning? When fish is fresh, I sometimes eat sashimi with only wasabi, or at most salt. The shark-fin-and-crab-meat braised noodle soup (¥1,500) is apparently salt-flavored, so I might have preferred that one. Since the shark fin itself is almost impossible to detect in Chojomen, I recommend the braised whole shark fin (¥2,600) for anyone who wants plenty of shark fin.

The interior is modern, with stainless steel as its main motif, and feels clean. It also has a counter, which makes it pleasant and easy to enter even alone.