Weak-end

No post yesterday, but I did have the ramen so I'll write a double today. We went outside Tokyo yesterday to visit a friend. We had also heard from her that there was a good ramen place near her station which we decided to try on the way. Itsuki ramen was supposed to be wonderful, the only problem was it turned out that this was not Itsuki ramen. Thanks Google Maps. Whatever this place was, there was a line outside and I got in it. The funny part was that this place seemed like it might be really good. They are billed as having a good broth, made from tai (red snapper) and shio (salt). That is exactly what I ordered with an egg. I waited for it to come as I looked at some of the other "innovative" bowls my fellow diners were enjoying. One had bell peppers on top in three colors and, of all things, a slice of bread! Sure, why not top it off with some mashed potato too.

The soup came and looked good enough, the smell of the fish was pungent, and this was obviously not for those who don't like fish. I do, and this was what I had ordered, so I couldn't possible take points off for the soup smelling, or tasting, like tai. The noodles were a different story, thick and gummy, they left a lot to be desired. The pork as well was square, and seemed to have been seared on all sides and sliced rather than braised. This of course made for a tough mess of what should have been a nice piece of pork. Its difficult to see, but under that nori is two blocks of menma. Menma, preserved bamboo shoots, are usually sliced so that they blend nicely with the noodle offering a nice addition to the flavor of the noodle. This was an attept at innovation, it floundered as I'm sure the bread did. This was not good ramen.

1 and 1/2 bowls



Sunday morning I was back at it. This time only a few short blocks from the house at a place that my brother-in-law Yas-san and his son said was pretty good, Manpuku Ramen. I ordered the tonkotsu with chashu and negi. This was a small shop, and had a very mom and pop feel. When the soup arrived, it looked great. The broth whitish, with just the right amount of oil on top in small bubbles rather than a slick of grease. The chashu, five generous slices, was arranged around the perimeter of the bowl. In the center were menma, propperly sliced this time and a small pile of green onions. The bowl was finished off with a single piece of nori at the left.


Looks great, but wasn't. The noodles were ok, and the soup did have good flavors, but there was a lack of salt here that left the soup, and hence everything it was supposed to flavor, bland. I added some pepper, sesame seeds and nori flakes to try to give it some more appeal, but no luck. The pork was not rolled and wasn't soft enough, though it was not chewy either. The spinach was just slightly over boiled as well. This was a bowl that was not without promise or beyond rescue, but it wasn't great.

I gave this 2 1/2 bowls.

It's A Family Affair

When I first had the idea to write this, I thought that my in laws would think it all a bit troublesome that not only do I still not speak Japanese, but now I need to eat ramen everyday. Instead, they seem to have embraced the idea and have come along a few times on tastings. Today when Rumi and her sister went to get a haircut, they were reading a magazine article about a local ramen shop. It was decided that we would all have dinner there, and boy did they find a winner. Murataya ramen was billed as a very good shop, where there was frequently a long wait to get in. Like most good shops, it is small with just a few four-tops and a counter. We decided to be there first, which leads me to revise an earlier piece of advice on lines. When there's a line, be first. We were, they were still cleaning up out front when we arrived ten minutes before opening. There were fourteen people on line behind us by the time they opened the doors.

The place was this busy within three minutes of opening. That's my nephew in the corner. We had a bit of trouble with a 5000 yen bill that wouldn't go into the machine and had to ask for change, the people behind us seemed to be losing patience. Rumi said they were known for their negi (spring onion or scallion) ramen. But this was dinner, I went for the negi-chashu to get a little more protien, to hell with my arteries. The server came over and asked how we wanted the noodles, and did we want garlic oil. I did of course!

Feast your eyes on perfection my loyal reader. For this, while I don't believe in THE perfect bowl of ramen, was certainly A perfect bowl. Simply to die for. When it came, it was gorgeous. Eight slices of juicy chashu, a mountain of fresh spring onion, toasted sesame seeds and a single slice of crisp nori bending over the pork as if to protect it from its inevitable fate. Sorry porky, you've and I have had this date for a long time.

There was a different aroma too, the broth at this place is flavored primarily with katsuo (bonito or skipjack) and pork, of course. Add to this garlic oil and you have a soup that smelled good enough to bathe in. I wanted to take some time, enjoy the view, but I knew the noodles would get soft if I waited too long, and I had a monkey on my back that wouldn't let me resist diving in for another second.

Below the surface there was yet another surprise, the noodles were exceptionally thin, almost an angelhair, and white. They were divine. The soup was rich and had an almost creamy texture. I was actually eating the soup so fast at the beginning that I was depleting the volume at a rate that would have left me with a bowl of noodles and no broth. I stepped back a second, contemplated the chashu, and then tasted a pork so yummy that I ate three slices in succession. I downed the entire bowl in about five or seven minutes. There was not a thing that I would have changed.

Needless to say, I ate the whole thing. By then the baby was fed up with the back seat, so I went outside for a few minutes to let the rest of the party finish eating in peace. There were people waiting already. When Rumi came out she said, "This is the best so far," and "You like katsuo right?" She is right on both counts. This had a slight edge on the others on all counts and is proof of the fact that when it comes to food, simple good flavors make for an enjoyable meal. All the toppings in the world couldn't make up for this broth. Sheer perfection, 5 Bowls.

Night at the Museum

Today I went to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum about 45 minutes or so south of Tokyo. The museum is actually pretty fun if you are into quirky sort of tourist attractions. The bulk of the museum is divided into two floors, the first housing a ramen counter and gift shop as well as a rather funny collection of ramen artifacts and time lines detailing the evolution of ramen in Japan. Above notice the lights above the museum in the shape of ramen bowls. Center, I am at the gate to the main exhibition hall, more on this later. At the right is a collection of limited edition cup noodles. I wonder how much these are worth if they are still hermetically sealed?

The main exhibition hall is a recreation on a 1:1 scale of a section of Tokyo from the year Showa 33 (1958). This year is important because this was the year that instant noodles were invented. Ahhh yes, the joys of processed foods. The museum was created and built by a Mr. Yoji Iwaoka, a prominent developer and philanthropist who was raised in Shin-Yokohama and has a passion for ramen. The main hall looks and feels like one might imagine 1958 Tokyo to feel. It is night in the middle of the afternoon. The exhibition is complete with characters (a policeman, schoolgirl, postman, etc. There are a few shops which do not sell ramen, such as a vintage candy shop where picture cards of famous Tokyo Giants of the era hang on the wall. There are street performers and of course ramen shops. About 10 in all. They are a collection of famous shops from all over Japan who have opened a branch in the museum. Visitors pay only 200 yen to get in and are encouraged to buy at least one bowl of ramen. Most shops offer a sample size, roughly half price, for those who wish to try several. I had three, two full size and one sample. I will rate them in the order I tried them.

Ryushanhai Ramen
The first place I tried was Ryushanhai from Yamagata. This was a miso flavored soup, but shouldn't be confused with the soup they serve you when you get a sushi lunch. The big red blob in the center of the soup is the miso. Very spicy miso. I tasted the broth when the soup arrived and then tasted the miso on its own before mixing the two together. I began to understand why several of my fellow diners had ordered theirs on the side. Not me however, I was determined to sample any ramen today the way the shop intended which made them famous. The miso was fire hot. I whisked it into the soup which produced a fantastic red hue and made the entire soup hot. Byt the second or third slurp, my nose was running as were beads of sweat on my forehead. The soup was also topped with two pieces of chashu, menma, green onions and a slice of fish cake (the pink and white swirl). The toppings were each of good quality, the star being of course the miso itself with the chashu evaporating as it was eaten and everything carrying the taste of the broth. The noodles were different than what I am used to, being broader and heavier noodles than the usual thin variety. I ate every last one of them and drank just about as much of the broth as I could handle before I threw in the towel.

This was about as different a bowl as I've had so far and the most perfect. Clean bright broth that got body and heat when the miso was added, well cooked noodles and good toppings. I give this five bowls.


Next I took a little bit of a break, had a quick cold beer in the middle of the exhibition hall and took some time to appreciate the scene. Tokyo shure did look different if it looked like this. I noticed an advertisement for a Mifune movie, a tobacco shop that sold only Hope, Peace, Midori, and Lucky Strike cigarettes. There was a story teller on a bicycle entertaining fellow diners. I however couldn't understand a word of it, so after a quick visit to the bathroom, not circa 1958 thank god, I was down for another bowl.

My second stop was Hachiya from Asahikawa in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. When I read the fact that the family that owns Hachiya has been making ramen for over 60 years (three generations) I couldn't wait to try it. Having done so, I swear grandma must have been in the soup. The first choice for Hachiya, though they like most shops here serve several kinds, was shoyu ramen (soy sauce flavor). Just think Oriental Flavor for those of you trying to keep pace at home with a brick of Top Ramen. Hachiya's shop was pleasant, well lit and the staff was friendly. It should have been telling though that there were only two other diners in the place with me. It wasn't terrible, it was just not good either. I regretted not having tried the mini.

The bowl in question here is Hachiya's shoyu ramen. Though it is named shoyu, the flavors come from pork and seafood as well. The saltiness of the soy sauce is fine, to be expected and I suppose some of the salt came from the seafood as well, but there are powerful dark undertones here that tend to overwhelm. That might be an oxymoron, ah well... The soup almost has a gravy-like quality about it, and it was also very oily, see below. Like when someone tries to make gravy by adding chicken stock.

I did enjoy the noodles however which were cooked perfectly despite the fact that the waitress and cook were clearly flirting extensively while the young man prepared my order. A third staff member just stood by and watched the cook closely. The pork itself resembled the soup in the way that the gravy would have gone well on the pork with a side of mashed potato or something like that. The menma however were simply to die for. They were huge, crisp and had that hint of sesame oil. I wish I could have brought them to Ryushanhai and put them on that bowl instead. Overall this was not a very good bowl of soup, certainly a let down after the perfection of the Yamagata bowl. I give it two bowls for the noodles and menma.

I wandered around for about ten or fifteen minutes debating whether or not I should try one more. There is a terrace level that overlooks the first floor and has two more shops on it. One of these shops, Eki Ramen, had a line down the block. There is a good practice to follow when seeking ramen; if you see a line, get on it.

Eki Ramen, from Sapporo in Hokkaido also served miso, though this was not a spicy variety. Though I was far from hungry and a little nauseated, I figured I could manage a mini from this shop since it seemed to have a good reputation. I found myself wishing my friend Tracy was here since I know he would have egged me through it and this kind of thing would be right up his alley.

The broth was miso alright, but with a strong garlic taste, not unlike what I had at Jangara a few days ago. I am not sure if this was for the mini only or if they always do this, but the toppings seem to have been tossed in with the noodles before the soup was added. The pork was tender, but still had been cubed. There were a substantial amount of spring onions and what seemed to be sauteed garlic lending a crunch to the soup.

The noodles were again larger, though not quite as large as Ryushanhai. Really great, really different. I wish I had had the full size here, but I couldn't possibly have finished it. I gave this bowl four bowls, but it really isn't fair to rate a taster. If I go back, I will
surely have the full size here. I gave the taster four bowls.


On the way out I stopped off at the gift shop, but didn't choose to buy anything. I thought it would be a cool idea to buy a bowl from there, but you can get the same bowls in Chinatown for about a buck a piece. Still, below are a few of the food items I could have packed up.


Left, instant ramen from some of the finest shops in the land. That price tag is about $6.50, not sure how many are in there. Center, preserved eggs, wonder what the shelf life is on those. And finally at the right is the famous chashu. Sorry, needs to be refrigerated.

I really enjoyed this place, if you find yourself in Tokyo, it's worth a stop particularly if you go to Yokohama, it is on the way.

Pork Fever

Today I went to Saikai Ramen, a shop I have been to in three of the last four years. The first year, not really understanding what the difference was between ramen dishes, I told my sister-in-law, "I'll have what you recommend." That was this bowl, tonkotsu (I know again but I wanted to get this right) ramen with mountain vegetables and one slice of pork. That time we were at a branch of Saikai that is somewhere out in the sticks, actually it may not be that far but I had no concept of Tokyo geography at that point. It was memorable, so memorable in fact that two years later (last year) I asked if we could go there again and was told that there was a branch of Saikai in a local shopping center near Hashimoto. We went last year and when Chizuko, my sister-in-law suggested that we go again I jumped at the chance.

This time however I went with the chashu ramen. I know, many of the ramen we've seen so far have had chashu, but when you order "chashu ramen" you get extra. I hadn't had any breakfast to speak of so a little extra pork sounded just like what the doctor ordered, though not my doctor. What you can see nicely here is that this is a smaller piece of pork which is typically rolled and tied when it is braised. While we're on the subject of toppings, the green stuff has been identified as a seaweed by the family, but I'm not convinced, seemed a bit too hearty almost like a mustard green without the bitterness. There are also two slices of a variety of pickled ginger at center which are a variety I have only previously seen shredded. Some green onions, preserved bamboo shoots and toasted sesame seeds round it out. The chashu was good, but didn't have that soft-as-butter consistency I consider optimal, though it was not tough by any stretch.

The story in this case was the noodles. When Rumi asked if I wanted my noodles a little spicy or regular I assumed she was talking about the soup. Saikai however offers a "spicy noodle" something I have not seen until now. It was different to be sure, so I went for it. They were only slightly spicy, but the difference was noticeable and not just a gimmick. I have however a small criticism here, I ordered mine al-dente, they were past that. Actually in one case there was a small clump where they were stuck. The cook had obviously forgot the noodles in the pot. Sorry, you guys lose a point here.

The soup was wonderful, not too salty and I added just a bit of yusu-kosho, a blend of a citrus fruit and pepper and gave it another interesting layer. So good I drank it all.
I ate that last noodle too. I gave it 4 1/2 bowls, nobody else's noodles were overcooked.