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Japanese ‘beauty hot pot’ Bijin Nabe now in Manila
The first thing that comes to my mind when someone mentions hot pot is a soup dish that you cook at the center of the dining table. I’ve eaten my share of this popular Asian comfort food, but I just recently realized that not all hot pots are created equal.
My latest restaurant discovery was this Japanese establishment that offers its signature beauty collagen hot pot. Yes, there is such a thing, and Bijin Nabe by Tsukada Nojo has finally brought this farm-to-table concept to Philippine shores.
It was my first time to encounter this unique dish that was already famous in both Japan and Singapore. Apparently, it all begins with the broth that features the Golden Collagen Stock, which uses Jidori chicken from Miyazaki Prefecture. This type of poultry is considered “the Kobe beef of chicken.” The restaurant directly imports the broth and I was extremely intrigued by it, but I patiently waited for my moment to taste this renowned dish.
Tasting golden collagen chicken stock for the first time
Come with an appetite but exercise patience, as it takes a while to prepare the hot pot—after all, good things take time. The restaurant event I attended allowed me to sample some of its appetizers while my palate waited for the star of the show.
A healthy and tasty teaser was the Romaine Lettuce Caesar Salad with bits of salted seaweed that added another layer of flavor to this familiar plate of greens. There was also a starter called Maximum Eggplant, fried chunks of seasoned eggplant with sweet and spicy sauce. One of the notable appetizers was Chicken Nanban, a traditional dish in Miyazaki. It’s basically boneless fried chicken that is served with homemade tartar sauce and a side of greens.
There is also Nikumaki Onigiri, popular rice ball in Japan. The original variant has a sweet, smoky and savory flavor, there’s also a variant topped with cheese, another one with yuzu-mayo, and a spicy one with homemade chili oil. All contain pork and are best eaten with your hands, as you wrap each in a lettuce leaf.
I made sure to leave space for Bijin Nabe, the highlight of the meal. Instead of a clear broth, I saw one of the restaurant servers place a bowl of what looked like white jiggly pudding in our table’s cooking area. It’s not the usual broth you would get at other hot pot places. This one looks milky, silky, and concentrated, probably because it’s from the special breed of chicken that is more sinewy and meatier, which makes it richer in collagen. Ladies would know that collagen (a protein) is beneficial for the hair, skin, and health in general.
After only a few minutes the pudding-like substance started to simmer and the servers gave us a shot of the stock. It had a rich, full-on chicken flavor, and you would know that this is not an instant dish. In fact, the stock is stewed for over eight hours, until the bones dissolve, and then it turns into a smooth collagen pudding. The restaurant actually regularly gets the stock from the free-range farm in Japan.
There’s a certain process when eating the Bijin Nabe. After sampling the stock with some chicken meat, the server adds the tsukene (chicken meatball) and fresh vegetables to the pot. Some organic produce that were added to the mix were lettuce, radish, zucchini, okra, young corn, and mushrooms, among others. Once cooked, these were equally portioned to the table’s diners and we ate it along with the basic spices set—soy sauce, yuzu pepper, leek oil, and homemade chili.
The yuzu pepper added a little kick to the chicken, while the leek oil boosted the taste of the cooked vegetables. I only used the soy sauce and homemade chili sparingly and according to taste. The broth was actually flavorful on its own, and I was surprised that its flavor profile changed as the server added the different ingredients. After the vegetables have been portioned out, the server added the shrimp to the remaining broth and it created a sort of seafood flavor to it.
I was impressed at how one single dish can change its taste throughout the course of the meal. At first, the pure golden collagen soup exuded that rich chicken essence, and it tasted lighter and fresher when the vegetables were added to it, and then it had a more seafood flavor because of the shrimps. I thought the meal would end there. Apparently, the last step that the server would do was to prepare a zosui (rice soup), which is like a congee. Our server heated more stock, added Japanese rice to it, and mixed in an organic egg. Although it created a tasty porridge, I could only eat a spoonful or two of it because I was so full from the hot pot.
Having Bijin Nabe was such an enjoyable eating experience for me that I hardly noticed the simple dessert that is sweet potato with vanilla ice cream. I usually always leave room for dessert, but the hot pot was more than enough for me that day.
I wish that the golden collagen stock would work its wonders on me soon…— BM, GMA News
Bijin Nabe by Tsukada Nojo is located at the 2nd floor, S Maison, Conrad Hotel, Ocean Drive, Pasay City.
