Higuma restaurant

Higuma, located 500 meters from the Relais Saint Honoré, is one of the most popular Japanese canteens in Paris. Its storefront doesn't look like much but it's simple, good, fast and cheap.
This restaurant is located rue Sainte-Anne, in a district well known for its concentration of Japanese restaurants.


 

First advice, come at the beginning of the service at 12:30 or 19:30, to avoid the queue. The service is extremely fast. Count less than 3 minutes between your order and its delivery. Budget? Count between 10€50 and 12€ for a starter and a dish.
There are three specialties in this restaurant: ramen, gyozas and Chukado
Ramens or Lamen: This soup, now well known by Westerners, arrived in Japan in the 19th century. It is a broth garnished with chopped spring onion, roasted pork, soft egg, and bamboo shoots. It is pronounced Ramen or Lamen because the Japanese do not make a difference between the L and the R.


Ramens

Gyozas: These are grilled ravioli. Gyoza is a descendant of jiaozi, which is a Pekinese ravioli. Gyozas consist of a wheat-based dough shell sealed around a pork and vegetable filling. The ravioli is fried on one side, then sprinkled with water and cornstarch and covered for a few minutes. The gyozas are served with the toasted side up, but since we didn't know that at the time of tasting, we naively turned the ravioli upside down for the photo.


It's fresh and crispy. We enjoyed them with a hot sauce.

Finally, the last specialty, Chukadon. It is a popular dish in Japan, a stir-fry dish made from pasta, bean sprouts, onions, mushrooms and thin slices of pork. This dish is also inspired by Chinese cuisine. The dish is well done although a little bit heavy/fat, as it is sometimes the case in Chinese cuisine. We accompanied it with a glass of hot sake which is very good in winter, to warm up.



The dining room is simple but what is appreciable as in many Japanese restaurants, is to eat at the bar, in front of the cooks.