by Ken Tsui | Before chefs Shelome Bouvette and Allison Flook kick-off another fully booked dinner service at Mount Pleasant’s Peruvian-inspired Chicha eatery, they step aside to make way for general manager Kumiko Umeno, who will be putting together the night’s staff meal with her mom, Sayuri, as back-up. Together, they’re making mizutake and freshly folded gyozas for the team.

Mizutake is a Japanese chicken noodle soup – a comforting classic and exactly what the team needs before a busy night. As the chicken gently simmers in a traditional dashi stock, Kumiko and Sayuri fold gyozas with Shelome, who jumps in to help. Everyone has a good laugh when the chef’s first few dumplings look more like pierogis than gyozas, but with a bit of coaching from Sayuri, Bouvette quickly gets the hang of it.

When the chicken is almost ready, Kumiko drops enoki, tofu, cabbage and daikon into the bubbling broth and gives it all a stir. As the soup comes back up to a simmer, Kumiko adds udon while Sayuri pan fries the fresh gyoza. As the udon and first batch of gyoza finish cooking, Kumiko mounds shaved daikon into each bowl, flavouring it with soy, yuzu and spicy togarashi before ladling the restorative soup over it all.

Kumiko brings it all out to the hungry crew, who patiently wait in the dining room. The gyozas are scooped up quickly but Sayuri has the motherly foresight to pack some away, “the crew is going to need a late night snack after service,” she says while closing the lid of the box with a smile.

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