About 8 years ago, I became obsessed with mapo tofu and was eating my way through famous restaurants across the country.
That year, there were 2 mapo tofus that left a strong impression on my memory.
One was S. Sawada in Osaka, and the other was Ajihoussai in Tokyo.
Looking back at my blog from that time, I wrote that S. Sawada's mapo tofu was "five stars, beyond three stars".
It was a dish where deep umami spread across my mouth, and I felt it was clearly on a different dimension from any mapo tofu I had eaten before.
The spiciness was mild at first, and then you add homemade chili oil to finish it to your liking.
I remember this chili oil was also excellent, and it had such a high level of perfection that I wanted to take it home.
In contrast, Ajihoussai was finished as a dish with charm in a completely opposite direction.
If S. Sawada is a refined "Michelin-starred mapo tofu",
then Ajihoussai is the "king of B-class mapo tofu" at the opposite extreme.
Spicy, rough, but strangely addictive. It was a dish with outstanding junky appeal in the best sense.
At that time, I was working near the restaurant, so I visited occasionally after that.
So I saw the name of Ajihoussai after a long time.
It was a Threads post about "Oikka," a restaurant that had opened in Okinawa about a month ago.
"Ajihoussai style" mapo tofu, it said.
Drawn by nostalgia, I went to try it right away.
Yushi mapo tofu is the mapo tofu I came for, and the pepper and liver stir-fry below it, I think, is the other famous dish from Ajihoussai, the pepper and liver stir-fry. I'm certain the chef trained at Ajihoussai.
When I ordered Orion beer, spicy seasoned bamboo shoots came out as a snack.
The moment I ate this, I was confident this restaurant was delicious.
I ordered yushi mapo tofu as a set meal (with rice and soup).
The way the tofu is broken down is certainly the same as Ajihoussai. However, the appearance is less red than the original, and you can see the spiciness is toned down.
When I actually ate it, it was as I imagined—a balance that even people who don't like spicy food can enjoy. It doesn't have the ferocity of Ajihoussai.
I was somewhat expecting an exact recreation, but as the restaurant says "Ajihoussai style," I think this is something different.
Rather, it's a more refined taste, with the junky appeal stripped away and the overall balance refined.
Rather than recreating Ajihoussai exactly, it felt like a dish that was skillfully elevated for Okinawa.
I think it's delicious enough to be called one of Okinawa's representative mapo tofus.
Since I visited on a Sunday, there was no lunch menu that day.
However, on weekdays, it appears you can also order mini yushi mapo tofu from the lunch menu.
Next time I visit on a weekday, I plan to order the pepper and liver stir-fry as a set meal, with a large serving of rice, and add a mini yushi mapo tofu to it.
