I went to a Chinese restaurant that is located in the modern Roppongi Hills. The hills is one of the largest private urban development projects in Tokyo and is geared towards an upscale clientele. Since I was there for lunch they had a set menu which included four different kinds of Dim Sum along with rice and your choice of meat, I decided on roast duck. The four dumplings that were included were included were a deep fried mochi with meat filling, a Shanghai style soup dumpling, and two kinds of shrimp dumpling.

The deep fried dumpling was one of my favorites of the meal. I have only just tried this kind of dumpling a few months ago in San Francisco, and this version is levels ahead of that one. The filling was slightly sweet, and contained a mixture of ground pork, chopped shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms. The outside was crispy and not oily at all while the mochi was soft and slightly chewy.

Second was the Shanghai soup dumpling. I had some high expectations of this one. In San Francisco, Yank Sing, the dim sum place I frequent has this type of dumpling as one of its specialities, so I was hoping for something better out of this one. I'm saddened to say that one was not that good. For one it lacked a soup component, or more specifically there wasn't enough soup. When I think of a soup dumpling I think of it like a hot meat slurpy. The soup is mixed in with the meat filling to give it a chunky, yet drinkable texture. The filling itself was bland as well. There was a slight hint of pork, but completely lacked seasoning. It ended up being a bland slightly juicy dumpling that was forgettable.

Next up were the two shrimp dumplings. The first was a typical one with a rice flower skin, the second had a rice flower skin as well, but it was also mixed with either maccha or green onions to give a green appearance. The regular one was not interesting. The filling was completely made into a paste so there was no chunks of shrimp in it. The flavor as well lacked something that would make me feel like it's a real shrimp dumpling. The green one however, was quite tasty. It was not as good as deep fried one but it was better than the other two. The filling was also different from the first shrimp dumpling. There were larger shrimp chunks and this one also included some green onions that punched up the flavor.

The main dish was the rice and roasted duck. Roast duck is one of my favorite chinese dishes and the one they do here is done right. It reminds me of the kind of duck that is used of Peking Duck, but better. There were no bones and the meat with incredibly rich. There was layers of fat that made that flavor of the duck spread throughout ones mouth and melting away. The sauce that came with it was also good and mixed well with the rice that was sitting underneath. The only complaint that I could make for this dish was there wasn't enough duck.

Final Rating:
Fried Dumpling: 10/10
Good flavor, these were the best dumplings out of the bunch.

Soup Dumpling: 4/10
Thoroughly disappointed, lacking soup, and flavor.

Green Shrimp Dumpling 8/10
Didn't get a a taste of what was they put in the green skin, but the filling was good.

White Shrimp Dumpling 5/10
A mediocre effort no big pieces of shrimp, lacked a flavor that usually makes these dumplings taste so good.

Roasted Duck: 10/10
The that duck was great no complaints.

Overall: 8.5/10
There were some highs, but there were also some lows. I am mixed giving it this rating on one hand The dishes that I liked, I loved. The dishes that I disliked weren't too bad, but I would never eat them again given a choice.

Today was a lot better then yesterday as far as selection. There was a good supply of almost everything on the shelves. So I picked up a couple of onigiri, a bag of chips, sushi set, and a drink.

The drink I picked up was called Paradise Tropical Tea, it described itself as "A choice blend of natural premium teas and tropical fruit taste". I'll believe the first part, but I didn't taste the fruit described in the second. Instead I got some floral taste to it, which is something I associate with a more herbal tea, so getting that flavor profile with a black tea is something that was strange. It tasted good, though it was unsweetened which is another thing that surprised me. Usually when I see fruit in a tea I expect it to be slightly to really sweet, this was neither.

Next up the two onigiri. I picked up a salmon, and a tuna mayo one. These were really great. A big step up from yesterday. The rice was nicely cooked and the fillings were great. The nori had lost its crispness since there packaging was not the kind that that separates the nori from the rice. I tried the tuna mayo first, the filling looked brown so that was my first sign that it wasn't only tuna and mayonnaise. It turned out to be soy sauce. The combination was really good the saltiness of the soy sauce and the richness of the mayo combined well with the tuna. The only complain I had was that I wish there was more tuna in it. The salmon onigiri was also good. Its' consistency was different the usually flakiness that I've come to expect from a salmon onigiri. This one was a little more moist similar to the tuna mayo.

Afterwards I began on the sushi set. It consisted of two pieces of inari, two tamagoyaki nigiri, and two different maki rolls. Like the onigiri the rice was nicely cooked. However, the flavoring of the rice was kind of bland. There wasn't a good vinegar or sweet taste to it. The inari was okay just like I expected, better than equivalents you can get in the states. The egg in the tamagoyaki was good, nice and moist with a good level of sweetness. The two maki were okay there was little in the center.

Finally there were the chips. The flavor was Grilled chicken and Garlic. Calbee is a brand of chips that I am very familiar with. They are usually sold in many Japanese markets in San Francisco as well as other places in the city. The taste was great, it had that flavor of grilled chicken but without a strong meaty taste that some chips have. The garlic flavor was also good, it wasn't overpowering. The primary taste you got was of the chicken seasoning flavor, then at the end you got just a hint of garlic.

Final Rating
Paradise Tropical Tea: 7/10
Flavor was good, but didn't live up to expectations and promises on the label.

Salmon Onigiri: 7/10
Average for a salmon onigiri.

Tuna Mayo Onigiri: 8/10
I enjoyed the combination of the tuna, soy sauce, and mayo.

Sushi set: 7.5/10
As a whole the set was a lot better than what you could pickup at Safeway. I would say it was about the same or marginally better than what you could get at a Japanese market in Japantown. The variety in ingredients was nice.

Calbee grilled chicken and garlic potato chips: 8.5/10
These were really good. After eating over three quarters of the bag the flavor became too intense, it was a little hard for my palette to finish the rest.

Overall: 7.5/10
This was a big step up from yesterdays choices, I can see why the things I choose yesterday were the last on the shelf. The food I had today was what I was expecting to see from a combini. Nothing really blew my mind, but everything was good, or great.