12-16 Higashi-Tokiwa-machi, Mizushima, Kurashiki-city
TEL.086-444-3355
"Toraya" a Chinese restaurant in Mizushima, was introduced in volume 2. There lies a great mystery in this popular restaurant, crowded with customers both day and night. For some reason this place, with the appearance and menu of a genuine Chinese restaurant, also offers a complete line up of Western-style Japanese dishes. This includes "Omurice" (seasoned rice covered with an omelette), a dish that ranks alongside Set Meal A (combination of Chinese dishes, shown close up on p.38 of vol.2) in popularity.
We interviewed Mr. A, a regular who often orders this Omurice. "There's nothing unconventional, but it tastes out of the ordinary. The omelette is done just right. Its rice also has character, and I can assure you they use their fried rice as its base. It always has finely cut roasted pork fillet inside. I've even witnessed the rice being fried in a Chinese frying pan once."
Why Western style Japanese food at a Chinese restaurant? Instead of pondering this question ourselves, we asked the restaurant directly. "We started out as a Western style Japanese food restaurant" explained Etsuko Omori. "The store was called ‘Grill Toraya' when my father began business in 1960."
The mystery is solved, quite simply. By the way, one of the cooks hired at the opening of the restaurant had experience in Chinese cooking. Chinese dishes that were introduced to the menu as an experiment became popular, and the restaurant switched to Chinese. An extraordinary Omurice, uniting Chinese and Western-style Japanese cuisine. Its deliciousness may also be called a mystery...