Kokyuunippori

胡弓 日暮里店 is a Chinese Japanese restaurant near Nippori Station. On a rainy fall day, after a long day of taking various trains, and lots of walking, we decided to take a break and eat lunch here. The outside of the restaurant says, «Ko Kyu,» and was a welcoming beacon of swinging red lanterns down a winding iconic-​looking Tokyo street. We were the only diners inside– the menu was simple, casual, inexpensive, there are photos of every dish, and prices are clearly listed. Perfect.
It took me about two hours to locate the listing for this restaurant and the name in conji online… ugh.
Old school, no push button ordering, and no wonky payment system. Just walk up and pay at a register.
There is even table seating, versus the awkward bar seating that is at most fast casual places in Japan. The tables are dirty, atmosphere dingy and old. It makes the food taste better.
The house specialty is Dan Dan Mein; a ramenified Japanese version of what I can only assume to be the amazingly flavorful Chinese dish with a similar name. Sometimes I feel rude pointing fingers at my menu, but sometimes it is just the easiest way of quickly communicating to someone that neither wants to talk to me, but they are also in a rush. Simple and painless. The waiter/​cook smiled with ease and approval that we ordered the best item and ran off to make it. This dish is said to be spicy, with a dollop of chili paste in the middle of the bowl, but this was by no means spicy. The flavor is predominantly fatty from the sesame paste used. Being somewhat peanut buttery in flavor, I can see why some people have been known to eat peanut butter in their ramen, it would taste similar to this. The second flavor behind fatty would be salty, and then the third is numb. Not numb like you ate Szechuan Peppercorn numb, but numb like your tongue was just raked over a cheese grater made of sharpened MSG. Totally not stereotyping, it is a fact that this soup contains a large amount of it *.
Gyoza is the second item to order, along with the soup, of course. The gyoza here are damn good, no joke.
So, if you happen to be in Nippori and want to try this version of Chinese cuisine, then check this place out. I did, and felt like I was in a scene from an old sci-​fi movie the entire time.
After dining here, it is clear that most of their business comes from local delivery. The scooters out front should have given it away, but I’m a little slow.
*Do some research on this.