[Food Review] Ennju

For lunch, I like to take walks during work so that I'm not cooped up in the same place. One of the places my co-workers suggested to me was Ennju, a small Japanese eatery run by Japanese owners. I had nearly missed the place because the scaffolding made it difficult to locate the name. I still can't find the name of the store and identified it by their menu instead. So what was going to be in store for me?

After my first visit which was just to buy a drink and a seaweed salad, I found myself visiting it again and again. My more memorable visit was actually during a week when I got sick. My voice had changed completely and it scared the utter crap out of my friend. I needed food that wouldn't ruin my throat and was more on the healthy side. Ennju came to mind and I ordered their kitsune udon ($9). I really should have refrained from getting fried foods and immediately regret upon seeing my udon. I had forgotten that kitsune udon contained fried tofu skin. What an idiot I had been. It was too late to change my order so I had to eat it.

Upon drinking the soup, I knew that they didn't not use MSG. If they had used any MSG or other artificial flavorings, my already sore throat would have gotten progressively worse throughout the day. I was glad my broth was simply flavored with soy sauce. the only fault I found was that it may taste a bit tart which results from boiling soy sauce for too long. The tofu skin is has been fried and then braised in a sweetened sauce. Kitsune udon came very plainly with a small pinch of spinach and two mere slices of kamaboko. For $9, it was ok. It was filling for that day.

I went again to Ennju with my two co-workers on another day. I went for their gyudon ($11). It comes with a soup which normally costs an extra $3. You have a choice between miso, spicy and sour, vegetable, and another flavor which I forgot. It is self serve on a separate counter and you can add seaweed and/or scallions as an extra topping. Which I did. Miso soup is miso base with tofu. Gyudon is very simple, just beef over rice with a  bit of pickled ginger as garnish.

My more recent visit allowed me to splurge a bit more. I don't know if paying $12 more counts as splurging to you, but to me it is. My stomach was demanding more that day so I went with a shrimp tempura udon ($9.75) and a dragon roll ($12). For the record, I did finish all of it. It was very satisfying. Having tempura soaked in broth is not a good idea so I do recommend eating those first. It was three shrimp tempura and three string bean tempura. The rest was like any udon at Ennju. Small pinch of spinach and thin slices of kamaboko. I got lucky and got three slices this time. Goddamit, how the hell is that considered lucky. It's just kamaboko after all. Ingredients for dragon roll was fresh. I was craving eel after all and every time I go, I always miss out on their unadon.

What can I say? To call it authentic Japanese fare is a bit of an overstatement. It's definitely a modified Japanese cuisine adapted to be really quick and simple for hungry people like me that need lunch for work. Don't expect it to be extra special because it's there as a self serve restaurant to feed you. Props for being able to keep up the standards and having different selections.