Last Updated on June 3, 2023
A Japanese sharing plates restaurant in Paris
When you have had your fill of Paris bistros and brasseries, it is time to explore other interesting culinary options in the city. Ethnic food is often the most exciting choice in any multicultural hub and Paris is brimming with options including Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and African restaurants. I was invited to review a small Japanese restaurant, Jinchan Shokudo, in the 12th arrondissement which introduced me to some new eating experiences. Jinchan (or money toad) is a feng shui charm for prosperity while shokudo means dining room.
Jinchan Shokudo is situated on rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, one of the oldest streets in Paris, densely populated in the 18th century and with a fascinating history relating to its role in the French revolution when it provided the highest proportion of workers that stormed the Bastille in 1789. The area has lost its revolutionary zeal since then and has slowly gentrified, but still retains a certain grittiness. The street is packed with restaurants but you won’t get lost looking for this tiny eatery if you look out for the queue. Those in the know flock for its tasty food at very reasonable prices. On a Sunday evening, it was buzzing. Lots of young people with many a man bun, but also multi-generational families tucking into bowls of goodness. The small space is wood panelled and decorated with Japanese advertising posters and paper lanterns. While the brown tables and red chairs are simple, the food is served on beautiful handmade pottery plates which are imported from Okinawa. Sadly, they are not for sale although I was told that many customers have requested to buy them.
The restaurant was established by two friends who spent three years touring Japan and acquainting themselves with the cuisine. They returned to Paris to establish Jinchan Shokudo, and import essential items like rice from Niigata (two tons every two months), beans, tea and sake. Jinchan Shokudo is based on the Japanese izakaya, a casual bar where, after work, people gather to enjoy small plates of food along with a drink. The seasonal menu is divided into five sections and everything is homemade from the sauces to the desserts.
With so much to choose from, we decided to play it safe and put ourselves in the very capable hands of the restaurant manager. This young Frenchman not only speaks Japanese, but his knowledge of the cuisine and of sake – he suggested a sake pairing – was exemplary. In fact, his patient explanation and educational input increased our enjoyment of the evening significantly as we understood exactly what we were eating and drinking, as well as the provenance of the ingredients. With five courses paired with sake, we were grateful for the guidance.
We began with two salads – sunomono from the otsumami (snacks) section and daikon Goma salada from the izakaya section of the menu. Sunomono was a small bowl of refreshing lightly pickled, crunchy cucumber slices served with the punchy hit of pickled garlic and the gentle flavour and texture of wakame (edible kelp). The daikon salad was attractively presented on a bright blue ceramic dish, the Japanese radish, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and nori all dressed with an intriguing sesame dressing. I know this is a homemade sauce, but I wished it was bottled so that I could have taken home a bottle. This course – perfect for a hot summer’s evening – was paired with Masumi White, a modern sake from Nagano in the central Chῡbu region of Japan, fruity and ideal with vegetable dishes.
The second course was a real treat and came from the Umi no Sachi section (food treasures of the sea). Toro Magura tataki is the finest part of the tuna, known as fatty tuna. It was lightly seared so that it remained rare inside, and was served on a bed of lettuce with a ponzu dressing and strewn with a generous quantity of finely sliced spring onions. The fish was as fresh and delicious as one might expect and is a dish to be eaten mindfully, with all one’s senses. At 22 euros, it is the most expensive dish on the menu, most dishes are far less than that.
The sake pairing was Uroko, a traditional sake which hails from Tochigi, north of Tokyo. It has a nose of salted caramel, tastes of mushrooms and has a finish of white chocolate. That is a lot going on in a drink and this sake, aged in a stone cellar for two years, is very good with fatty tuna.
The third course, salmon nanbanzuke, was a revelation. On the plate was an attractive pile of thin slices of Norwegian salmon that had been lightly fried and draped over finely grated daikon radish and carrot with a light vinegar dressing. There were also navet beans, sesame, lemon and beautiful shiso leaves. Although I eat a lot of salmon, I have never encountered a dish like this. What was so unusual was how brilliantly the vinegar dressing enhanced the flavour of the fish. Thinking about it now, I was taken back to the fish and chip shop dousing vinegar onto battered fish, but really this was on a different level entirely.
The sake pairing was Akitora – tora means tiger in Japanese – which hails from Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four major islands. It is a newer style of food-centric sakes. This was a stronger tasting and drier sake than the others and paired successfully with the vinegary dressing and rich fish.
The fourth course was mabo nasu don from the donburi (rice bowl) section of the menu. This was a Japanese-style aubergine stir fry in a slightly spicy white miso sauce with garlic, sesame and spring onions on a generous bed of Niigata white rice and served with a soft boiled egg marinated for 24 hours in soy sauce. The silky aubergine, the umami flavours of the miso sauce and the excellent quality of the rice made for the happiest of eating experiences. By this stage of the meal, I really understood the queue outside. This dish costs 13 euros and is a meal in itself.
The sake pairing, Le Vent, was particularly interesting as it is made in France. I did not know that sake was brewed locally with rice imported from Japan. This 2018 traditional sake was, we were informed the most sophisticated of the sakes we had tried and had the nose of candied peach with flavours of white peach and elderberry.
The manager enquired whether we had room for dessert. With a meal this good, we simply had to try a couple of the desserts as they looked so tempting. We chose two of the three options on the menu which were paired with AFS from Chiba, east of Tokyo. This sake is unpasteurised which enables certain tastes to be preserved. It has the aroma of cocoa and a fruity flavour and is served as a dessert sake.
A yuzu cheesecake had a fine texture and I loved the citrus flavour. I happen to think that my cheesecake is the best I have tasted, but I am planning to return home to add yuzu to my recipe. it adds such a subtle yet clear citrus note to the creamy cheese, a great combination. The matcha ice cream was certainly the best of its kind I have eaten. This had the real flavour of matcha, not just the colour which was a glorious green.
This tasting menu was well-paced and thoughtfully constructed. It began with refreshing salads that whet the appetite, followed by two rich yet light fish dishes continued onto a warming rice bowl and finished on a high with two lovely desserts that were full of flavour yet not too sweet. Every dish was simple yet attractively presented and the details of each pottery plate and the lovely wooden spoons for dessert added to the joy of eating the food.
While the sake menu is long and impressive – do ask for guidance if you are unfamiliar as we were – there is also a range of Japanese beers on the menu as well as cocktails and Japanese teas. The food is varied and very reasonably priced, and the service is efficient and cheerful.
On meeting the chef, I was asked which dish had been my favourite. I always fear that question because I wonder whether it is like being asked which of the chef’s children one prefers. I replied that the salmon dish had taken me most by surprise and was a dish I had not encountered previously and would happily return to eat. Before the meal began neither my husband nor I were big fans of sake, borne mainly out of ignorance. A two-hour dinner at Jinchan Shokudo has changed all that and has firmed up our hopes of travelling to Japan ourselves to learn more. I think that should satisfy the two friends who set up the restaurant with the mission to export Japanese culture to the world. Job well done, I’d say.
Jinchan Shokudo is open daily for lunch and dinner.
154 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine 75012
Looking for a London Japanese restaurant? We recommend The Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental
