Kaze Eda

Chicken karaage set meals are a recurring favourite at Kaze Eda at lunchtime. One regular diner describes crisp, deep-fried chicken served with fried and fresh vegetables, a soup filled with ingredients and pickles, and notes the care given to the tableware. The menu lists a set of karaage, fried vegetables, salad with house-made spring onion dressing, soup and rice. It is a satisfying combination for a substantial midday meal, and another diner also enjoyed a lunch served with colourful fried vegetables.

For noodles, the prawn wonton soup noodles come in salt or soy sauce broth. One diner who chose the salt version remembered its thin noodles and gentle flavour. The yuzu salt ramen includes chicken meatballs, white wood ear mushrooms and bok choy. Another speciality, the chilled collagen ramen, is served with a cold, jelly-like soup that coats the noodles. Made with collagen-rich chicken soup, it is not oily; some diners have liked it enough to return for it, while another found the seasoning restrained. It is a good choice when you want a cool, softly textured soup and a mild flavour rather than something strongly seasoned.

In the evening, order a few dim sum and appetisers to share alongside drinks. The four-piece dim sum assortment brings together xiaolongbao, small-scallop dumplings, crab shumai and meatballs wrapped in glutinous rice, making it a handy starting point if you are unsure what to choose. At one dinner, a diner enjoyed karaage, spring rolls and house-made char siu with beer, then finished with ochazuke in chicken broth. The karaage is served with a suggestion to toss it in spring onion sauce; the spring rolls contain bean sprouts, Chinese chives, shiitake mushrooms and pork. One diner added the house-made chilli oil with crunchy ingredients to a spring roll, offering another way to enjoy the dim sum and small plates with drinks.

Drinks include beer and Shaoxing wine, as well as gui hua chen jiu and apricot liqueur. Diners who paired the drinks with food seemed particularly taken with the osmanthus and apricot liqueurs. Hot jasmine and pu’er teas are also on the menu, offering options for a meal without alcohol.