Several years ago I saw a feature on Manshuri Saikan on an imported Japanese program called "Dotchi No Cooking". The sight of a fat little gyoza bursting with a whole clove of roasted garlic got me translating the show's commentary and searching for this place. It had to be a destination on my next trip to Tokyo.

(photo by howard kveck)

A friend and I made it there in 2005 and were very taken by the delicious little morsels. And this past week, four years later, I stopped by to see if the restaurant and their garlic gyoza were still there.

Everything about Manshuri Saikan was exactly as I remember it. The understated entrance and the spartan but friendly interior. The menu was still packed with lots of Chinese dishes, soups, and dumplings. But it was the gyoza that were the target of the day.

The niniku gyoza are a bargain at 5 for ¥550. Two orders of those and some rice makes a nice light lunch for two (or a regular lunch for one). Each gyoza has a large roasted clove of garlic inside of it that dwarfs a minimal amount of the usual minced meat and vegetable gyoza filling.

The garlic is soft, sweet, fragrant and almost potato-like in texture that plays against the crispy underside of the gyoza. A bit of a dip into some soy, vinegar and chili oil mixture adds a bit of astringency. If it sounds like each gyoza is a real mouthful of delicious, you'd be right.

It would take several weeks for one person to eat their way through Manshuri Saikan's menu but coming for the gyoza is all I need. If tradition holds true, I should be able to return here in four years and still rave about their roasted garlic gyoza. I'm hoping that I won't be waiting that long.