Nikenme Hanten: Katsuragi's Signature Garlic-Chive Stir-Fry Lunch

Overview

Nikenme Hanten (二軒目飯店) is a machi-chuka — a neighbourhood Chinese diner — that has fed Katsuragi since 1965, from a roadside plot on Route 24, in the same town as the World Heritage shrine Niutsuhime-jinja. The name means the second house: the founder wanted guests to settle in as they would at home. Almost everyone comes for one dish, and a queue forms outside the door before noon, though the tables turn over quickly.

That dish is nira itame, garlic chives stir-fried with thick-cut pork belly in a soy-based sauce that finishes on the scent of sesame oil. The pork is simmered until it yields; the chives leave the wok while still crisp, and the contrast between the two is the whole point. Regulars order in shorthand — nira and chu — meaning the stir-fry with a medium rice, 840 yen including tax at the time of writing, or 660 yen for the stir-fry alone. Prices move, so check the board on the day. Rice comes large, medium or small, and even the small is substantial; a Chinese soup arrives with it at no charge. Nothing is printed on the tables either: the dishes hang on wooden tags above the counter.

The room has been refurbished but keeps its worn noren curtain and old posters, with unhurried spacing between tables, a counter, and a tatami room that suits families. Hours are 11:00 to 14:30, lunch only, sometimes ending early if the kitchen sells out, and the shop closes on Sundays. Parking is free, and it is about five minutes by car from the Katsuragi-nishi interchange on the Keinawa Expressway.