Paradis | Nagoya

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At Daniel's Wine Club we only write about places we genuinely love. This time it is Paradis, in Higashi-Sakura, Nagoya. There are very few restaurants in Japan serving real Romanian home cooking, and as someone whose whole working life is Romanian wine, this is one I have been waiting to write about.

It is on the second floor of a building, at the back. You will spend a moment looking for the sign and climbing the stairs, and you will forget all of that the second the door opens.

A Romanian table, in Nagoya

A small hideaway on the second floor

Paradis serves Romanian home cooking. Not a cuisine most people in Japan have a reference point for, which means the first plate usually produces a small surprise: so this is what it tastes like.

If Romanian food has one quality, it is comfort. Fish from the Black Sea, lamb and cheese from the Carpathians, vegetables from the Danube plain. Turkish, Hungarian and wider Balkan influences layered on top of each other. The spicing is never aggressive, and the handling of acidity is very good indeed. It lands more easily on a Japanese palate than you would expect.

What to order

Sarmale, mititei, ciorbă

Start with sarmale. They get translated as cabbage rolls, but the Romanian version is smaller, and each one is rolled by hand. They are eaten with mămăligă, a soft polenta made from cornmeal. For a Romanian, that pairing is the taste of a parent's kitchen.

Mititei are short, thick sausages worked through with herbs and garlic. In Romania they go with beer as a matter of law, but they are excellent with a red. Ciorbă is a sour soup, made differently in every house and every restaurant, and one spoonful of it resets you. The gulyas here is rich and deep, and much talked about.

Beyond that there is the creamy mushroom stew and a roast lamb with truffle mash, both of which ask for a bottle rather than a glass.

Yamada san

A sommelier choosing Romanian wine

Paradis is run by its owner, Yamada san, and she is a sommelier. That, more than anything else, is what makes this place unusual.

A handful of restaurants in Japan cook Romanian food. A restaurant where a sommelier selects the Romanian wine and matches it to the plate in front of you is, as far as I know, this one. If you have no idea what to drink, hand the decision to her. That is the best way to eat here.

The wines we import at Daniel's Wine Club are on the list at Paradis in Nagoya. Bottles we chose by walking the vineyards in Romania, standing on a second floor in Nagoya, next to a plate of sarmale. There is no better use for them.

If something you drank there stays with you, our Romanian wine collection is where to look for it afterwards.

In the middle of Nagoya, and slightly further away

Why the regulars are regulars

It is a casual room. You walk in without ceremony, you order a glass, and at some point you notice you have been talking to Yamada san about Romania for half an hour. That distance, close but not intrusive, is why people keep coming back.

You are in the centre of the city, and one door has put you somewhere further off. That is the trick Paradis pulls.

Getting there and booking

Paradis is walkable from Takaoka station on the Sakura-dori subway line and from Sakae on the Higashiyama line. Second floor, at the back, room 202.

• Address: Unibourg Sakae 202, 1-6-3 Higashi-Sakura, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 461-0005
• Hours: Monday to Thursday 18:00 to 23:00; Friday 11:30 to 15:00 and 18:00 to 23:00; Saturday 18:00 to 23:00
• Closed: Sundays
• Bookings: 052-971-8378
• Instagram: @____paradis

Opening hours and closing days can change. Check the official Instagram before you visit.

In short

Romanian home cooking, Romanian wine chosen by a sommelier, and Yamada san's welcome. I cannot think of anywhere else in Japan where all three are in the same room.

If you are in Nagoya, go. Mention that you came from Daniel's Wine Club and the evening will be a good one.

Written by BERES Daniel, Daniel's Wine Club