Cup Noodle: "Due Italian"

This past weekend I went camping. It was great! However, it didn't allow me enough time to visit a new ramen shop. I decided that instead of skipping posts, that I would post about a cup noodle I had recently. There are crazy numbers of cup noodle to choose from and only a handful are actually the Cup Noodle brand that Nissin makes. With so many options how is one to choose!

 Lately, if I go the cup noodle route I choose based on whether or not I have seen or had that particular type before. One of my favorites is actually a 7-11 brand that roughly translates to "Mongolian" style.

You can look at a Japanese page about it here. I eat it a lot when I am not feeling well at work and the spice helps my congested nose. This time I bought Due Italian in Family Mart, another popular convenience store chain. I was drawn to it because I hadn't seen it before and the word Italian intrigued me. What was Italian about this cup noodle? The answer...cheese. Dehydrated cheese. As is the obvious case with cup noodles, the ingredients are dehydrated. After poking around online I have discovered that Due Italian is a cup noodle made by Nissin to emulate an actual shop in Chiyoda (maybe I will have to check it out sometime). This happens more than you might think with cup noodles! So, how was Due Italian?

You can see the partially hydradated cheese there at the top of the cup and after I mixed it into the rest. I actually wish that it was chessier. Really. It all kind of disappeared after mixing. Due Italian tasted a little like garlic and a lot like salt. Not my favorite of the cup noodle experiences I have had. Due Italian gets a 2/5 for trying and for being intriguing, but not for being so Italian or delicious.

Here is a map to the shop of the original Due Italian. Maybe I will try the real deal some day!

ら～めん鈴 (Ramen Suzu Motosumiyoshi)

Ramen is so popular that there are publications devoted to it. Some time ago I purchased the Ramen Walker for the Kanagawa area and since then have been itching to use it. I plan to visit more shops contained within its pages to farther reaches of Kanagawa, however this past Saturday was quite rainy and miserable. So, a local shop was more desirable and my trusty Ramen Walker did not disappoint:

Who can resist such an enthusiastic crane pose? I invited a friend so that I could write twice the review, for you see, not only does one of their chefs have an awesome crane pose, but Ramen Suzu also offers a fish base stock as well as a deep fatty tonkotsu. Why choose when I can have a good friend help? So here we have, that’s right, a double review! Fish first:

My friend is a pescatarian so we get excited to find fish based ramen. He also always gives me his pork. Ahhh, friendship! We both really enjoyed the flavor of this bowl and extra fish powder helped deliver an extra punch. We both agreed that it could use a little garlic, but there was none to be found. Garlic aside, the flavor was an absolutely divine bonito and I want to return to get my very own bowl. Now onto the deep fatty tonkotsu, their signature featured in Ramen Walker:

How rich and fatty it was! Wow. There were tiny bits of pork populating a deep, viscous broth. It was absolutely delicious. The chashu itself was also a highlight, being slow cooked, thick, fatty and practically falling apart in my mouth. With so many subpar pork encounters in my ramen saga, I was very pleased with Ramen Suzu. Also just look at this egg!

So perfect. This is also one of the many shops in the Yokohama area that offers complimentary rice, which though I don’t need, I love. I agreed with my friend that there should be more condiments available (garlic and sesame), but this may be one shop that really doesn’t need any extra flavor. Condiments are just nice to have. At least there was pepper!  Because of this one minor detail Ramen Suzu gets a 4.5/5. When we were leaving a staff member asked us how we knew about the shop (which is quite new) and we told her about the Ramen Walker. I think they may be open to suggestions, and I do plan on returning. Perhaps I can drop a hint their way.

Here is a map, links to tabelog, and strangely enough a google plus page.

麺や勝治 (Katsuji Kannai)

I returned to Katsuji after loosing my SD card to recapture some pictures and the experience. Kannai is a neighborhood close to Yokohama famous for a "red light" district, but also home to some thrifty shopping, and the office of my current employer! I have to go there for meetings so it is a perfect excuse to check out Katsuji once again. On the other side of the station from Isezaki (the main shopping area) you will find this ramen shop tucked away on a side street. Don't worry about missing it though, they are one of the shops that have an awesome mechanical bowl outside that emulates chopsticks bringing noodles out of an oversized bowl:

As you can see, Katsuji has a bone crossed with a chili pepper as their logo. They also have a point card system, which I used on my 2nd visit to get a free egg! I am a wimp when it comes to very hot spice in my ramen (maybe next time, as it is a convenient shop for me) so I just went with their number one recommended ramen.

The staff here is pretty gaijin friendly and they made sure I was OK with having a soft boiled egg. Of course I was, so out came my ramen with a lovely seasoned egg. A real standout of Katsuji is their use of caramelized onion bits that you can see there hanging out near the nori. They are absolutely fantastic, as is the shio stock. The egg was cooked to perfection as well. It is disappointing to note that their pork was slightly dry and lacking of any character or flavor. This is often the case, where I find most things to be perfect, there is one detraction. Overall Katsuji is delcious and I will report back if I try their signature super spicy ramen. 4/5

Map and link to the tabelog!