Hello everyone.

As part of our efforts to spread hospitality, ARCUS Japan is promoting a project to spread unique Japanese products and services around the world.

The target items are "Japanese cuisine," "shochu," and "Japanese wood ear mushrooms."

I believe that "washoku" and "shochu" are uniquely Japanese culture and can be said to be its symbols.
Unlike the Chinese wood ear mushrooms available on the market, Japanese wood ear mushrooms are a type of black wood ear mushroom native to Japan that is far more nutritious and is an essential superfood for modern people.

Among them, "Japanese cuisine" has a variety of cooking methods and dishes, so it is difficult to define what exactly Japanese cuisine is.
However, I felt that in order to spread Japanese cuisine around the world, it was absolutely necessary to have a representative dish that symbolizes Japanese cuisine.
That's when I came up with the idea of "Zōni," a traditional home-cooked dish that Japan is proud of!

Zoni is a Japanese dish that combines dashi stock, mochi (rice cakes), local vegetables, stewed dishes, and a gorgeous appearance with traditional Japanese cooking techniques, all in one bowl.

So last year, Arcus Japan opened a restaurant that serves Japanese food, primarily zoni, and Japanese alcohol, primarily shochu.

that is"Healthy home cooking and Zoni bar "Zen""is! !

Zen is the only Zoni bar in Japan (a registered trademark of Arcus Japan), with its main store in Minami, Osaka.
Here you can always eat 10 types of zoni, including zoni from eight regions of Japan (changing monthly), Kansai Saikyo white miso zoni, and anmochi zoni.

Each type of zoni is filled with history and tradition, so you can experience that while in Osaka.

Zen is not only particular about the broth, but also about using no additives in ingredients or seasonings, and most of the dishes are homemade, as it serves healthy Japanese cuisine supervised by a registered dietitian from Arcus Japan.
The mochi is freshly pounded in-house, so it's delicious when eaten with sweet bean paste, kinako (roasted soybean flour), zunda bean paste, mitarashi bean paste, etc.

The ingredients and tableware are comparable to those used in high-end restaurants, but by serving home-cooked meals, we hope you can relax and enjoy your meal, just as if you were at home.
In fact, additive-free seasonings are quite expensive, so if everything were additive-free, it would be difficult to create a set meal for under 3,000 yen, but at Zen, we have deliberately lowered the price to a level that people can just afford to eat every day, even if it means incurring a loss.

Since Zen is a dining bar, we naturally offer over 100 types of alcohol, mainly Japanese sake, and we have tailored our drinks to go well with shochu.
Healthy Japanese food often has an image of being lightly seasoned, but at Zen we use strong seasonings (not strong seasonings that can be unhealthy, but rather deep, three-dimensional flavors) to go well with alcohol.
Therefore, when enjoying Zen's proud chicken dishes (teriyaki chicken, fried chicken, chicken nanban), hamburger steak, or simmered fish with your drink, we recommend enjoying them with sake, which will make the flavor even more pronounced.

Zen offers a lineup of Iki barley shochu (aged shochu is generally not available in restaurants) that is obtained through unique channels and is not often found in other stores, as well as a variety of other rare shochu, Zen whiskey, and ZEN wine that go well with Japanese cuisine.
While food seasoned to go with rice may not go well with alcohol, the theory is that if you pair it with alcohol, it will also go well with rice. Set meals where the main dish is eaten with rice, miso soup, and a half portion of zoni are popular, but it would be a waste not to pair it with alcohol!!
Please come and enjoy some healthy Japanese food with some alcohol!!

In addition, Zen's dishes use a generous amount of Japanese wood ear mushrooms.

Japanese wood ear mushrooms contain many nutrients necessary for human activity, such as iron, dietary fiber, collagen, and minerals, but among these, they contain the highest amount of vitamin D of any food, a vitamin that over 7% of people around the world suffer from as a modern disease. (Chinese wood ear mushrooms, domestic wood ear mushrooms, and other mushrooms also contain trace amounts, but it is difficult to eat the necessary amount.)

A lack of vitamin D can weaken the immune system, making you more susceptible to hay fever and allergies, and making you more susceptible to illness.
The most recent data suggests that vitamin D deficiency can lead to severe COVID-19.

"Japanese wood ear mushrooms" are the top brand among domestically produced wood ear mushrooms, and are carefully managed, including their nutritional value.
Naturally, it is expensive, so you would normally only find it at high-end Japanese or Chinese restaurants, but Arcus Japan is also the owner of "Japanese Wood Mushroom," and as its base of operations, Zen uses it lavishly in miso soup, stir-fried vegetables, wood mushroom dishes (wood mushroom namul, grated wood mushroom mix, etc.) without regard for profitability, supporting the health of everyone.

As mentioned above, ARCUS Japan is promoting Japanese cuisine, shochu, and Japanese wood ear mushrooms, which are unique to Japan and have the potential to save the health of the world.Healthy home cooking and Zoni bar "Zen""We operate the website.
We hope you will experience the essence of Japanese cuisine at Zen.

[Supervised by a registered dietitian]
Healthy home cooking and Zoni bar "Zen"
2-6, Shinsaibashi-suji, Chuo-ku, Osaka
06-6121-2949

【business hours】
Lunch (dining room time) 11:00-15:00 (LO) 14:00
"Dinner (Bar Time)" 17:00 - 5:00 (Last Order) 4:00
Closed: None (irregular holidays)