Chef Takashi Yagihashi opened Slurping Turtle in November 2011. Yagihashi’s name should ring a bell. He is a James Beard Award winner and has made appearances on Iron Chef and Top Chef. He has opened many fine dining restaurants, and Slurping Turtle is his first casual restaurant that serves Japanese comfort food.
Inside Slurping Turtle is a long communal table in the center of the restaurant, booths both upstairs and down, and seats by the bar. Dishes are priced between $8 and $14. The place has been buzzing since opening day, and there usually is wait to get a table. On our first night in Chicago, we made sure we arrived early, since this spot accepts no reservations.
For starters, we recommend the Pork Belly Snack, $8, and the Duck Fat Fried Chicken, $7. Served on steamed bao buns, the perfectly seasoned pork belly just melts in your mouth with every bite. The duck fat fried chicken is a tasty teat. Chunks of lightly batter chicken fried in duck fat sounds like a guilty indulgence. Each bite is packed with flavor, and surprisingly, it’s not greasy at all. I could probably have a couple orders of this with a pitcher of beer. But we had a to save room for the ramen.
Pork Belly Snack
On the noodle menu are 8 different bowls from udon to ramen to rice noodles. We selected our usual, the Tan Tan Men, $14, which features whole-wheat egg noodles in a spicy miso broth with ground pork and spicy homemade pork sausage, topped with scallions, snow peas, bean sprouts, and bok choy. The bowl was enough to share between two people. I made a mess on my side of the communal table with the constant slurping of the chewy noodles and savory broth.
Duck Fat Fried Chicken
Wash your food down with sake or beer. The manager, Patrick, highly recommended Three Floyds Brewing Co. Samurai Gazebo, a Japanese rice lager that’s 4.8% ABV. It’s light beer with hints of citrus that won’t fill you up. On the non-alcoholic beverage list, try the iced green tea.
Save room for dessert. Slurping Turtle offers a variety of treats including ice cream, macarons, cream puffs, and custard. Of the macarons, we could only try three of the 6 available flavors: Raspberry Wasabi, Chocolate Sesame, and Caramel Soy. All were equally delicious. The Green Tea Cream Puff is excellent.
Macarons
Green Tea Cream Puff
We highly recommend Slurping Turtle, so if you’re in town, stop by. The atmosphere is great, and the staff are very friendly. Your tummy will thank you.
Slurping Turtle
116 W Hubbard St Map.1850b43
Chicago, IL 60654
Tel: (312) 464-0466
slurpingturtle.com
Facebook: facebook.com/SlurpingTurtle
Twitter: @SlurpingTurtle
