Chinese Licorice: Ajiichiban, Chinatown

Chinese Licorice: Ajiichiban, Chinatown

Ajiichiban is one of my favorite pre-dinner places in Chinatown to take out-of-town guests. There’s a lot of strange and delicious stuff to nibble, and there are always dozens of samples trays set out. I figure, this is excellent foreplay for the dinner that might include other foods they’ve never seen before, a visit to Ajiichiban in the Chinatown Mall is a good toe-in-the-water.

I like licorice (Nibs, Good N’Plenty, Snaps), so I bought a few bags of Chinese licorice treats (and there were a number of licorice items to choose from; I don’t think I’ve nearly scratched the surface of what the Middle Kingdom has to offer in the way of licorice inventions).

Seedless Licorice Olives ($10/lb) are made from dried (though still somewhat moist) green or yellow olives (below), treated with a sweet blend of licorice and, I think, vanilla. Licorice is naturally sweet, but there may also have been a little sugar added to this candy. The inteplay of somewhat bitter olive and sweet licorice is pleasing, as is the chewy texture of these snacks.



Ba Xian Guo ($12/lb) is for serious licori-philes. It comes in firm yet crumbly black tar-like wedges (below) and in larger ovoid shapes about the size of a league baseball. The flavor is intense, almost incense-like, and is likely not to please some. I detected notes of lemon, menthol and asafetida, which I feel makes this candy an excellent apres chowdown stomach settler. It’s sweet with a little salt, and the heavy licorice flavor doesn’t fool around.



Some of Ajiichiban's sweet-flavored cuttlefish and shrimp are also very interesting, blending some surprising flavors, and I will try to post about such candies in the future.

Ajiichiban is a franchise, though I found none of the above-mentioned licorice candies on their site (http://www.ajiichiban-usa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv) and their only store in the Midwest is in Chicago’s Chinatown.

Ajiichiban
2117-A S. China Place
Chicago, IL 60616
312-328-9998

Definitely put me in the not likely to please camp. I tried it once and the camphor taste was so strong I nearly gagged. It took multiple lengthy doses of mouthwash to fully get the taste out.

I love the candies and dried shrimpy things there. The kids LOVE the chocolates that look like aquarium rocks.