Curry Festival @UNU

Long time, no noodle. I was on holiday during the end of December and the beginning of January. When on Holiday I find it hard to blog. I was also in the US, and my main culinary conquests were pizza, Jewish deli food, and Mexican. All three things are difficult to locate in Japan, and I was into satisfying my homesick palate. On my return I really wanted ramen. I stopped at a favorite local shop. But what to do about a new review? Every weekend the Aoyama area has a farmer's market. If you like trying samples of fresh vegetables and other treats I suggest you go! They often have special food based events and this past weekend was the curry festival. I scoped it out and after sharing some cheesy nan and curry with my friends I landed at the "curry ramen" stall:

This was offered by Ikiba, a very cute and cozy cafe nestled in the hustle and bustle of Harajuku. Generally Ikiba does not have ramen, but I have been there before and their food is quite delicious. Being the only ramen offered at the curry festival I went for it. It was a cook your own adventure, meaning you put the noodles into the steaming hot water yourself and then with the aid of their chef finished a lovely bowl of ramen.

The noodles were a flat wavy type I associate with Chinese dishes. Cilantro and a little chili oil was added to round out the flavor of a robust pork curry. Amazing! I am sad that this was a one time offer during a special event and now I might be in search of more curry ramen dishes. If you haven't been to Ikiba and you need a break while in the Harajuku area I highly recommend it! 5/5

Here are maps to both the farmer's market and Ikiba!

Farmer's market



Ikiba

柴田商店 (Shibata Shouten Hiyoshi)

I have been feeling under the weather and a great way to thwart the evils of congestion is to eat some spicy ramen. I really really wanted tantanmen, however, I didn't want to go far so I stayed in Hiyoshi and found Shibata Shouten.

After a peek inside from the window I determined that there was enough hot chili oil and pepper to loosen up my uhm...passage ways. Shibata Shouten is a fairly new shop to Hiyoshi (as of March 2015) and it lasted longer than another chain shop that also opened in Hiyoshi this year. It can be hard to compete with Musashiya and Tsukemen Abisuke. Shibata Shouten is doing quite well from the looks of it, being super crowded around its small bar at the dinner hour. I managed to snag a nice shot of the interior after everyone cleared out though. I chose the miso ramen and as always an egg. The bowl came topped with raw onion, woodear mushrooms, nori and chashu.

The noodles themselves were the thinner style I associate with regular (not Yokohama style) tonkotsu. Raw onion is an interesting touch because I am used to seeing negi, and it added a nice bite to the bowl. As you can see the egg is ever so slightly undercooked, not the perfect jelled yolk that it should be. There were a full range of condiments and I was able to adjust the spice level accordingly. Before adjusting the heat I tried the base, the real highlight at Shibata Shouten. Very smooth, subtle, and savory. Though the chashu had a nice smokey flavor, I found it to be a little overcooked. Undercooked egg and overcooked pork give Shibata Shouten a solid 4.

Map and a link to their tabelog.

節骨麺たいぞう 池袋東口店 (Bushikotsumen Taizo Ikebukuro)

Ikebukuro is a strange, but interesting place within the metropolitan Tokyo area. It has been hailed as the female otaku alternative to Akihabara because there are several shops that specialize in Yaoi manga. If you are unfamiliar, click the link. I like Ikebukuro for its strange charms and the lesser visited "other side of the tracks" west exit. Usually I try to avoid chains, but Bushikotsumen Taizo is a relatively small one, with only 3 shops, one of them being near the west exit.

Japanese ramen bloggers also seem to really enjoy this shop. Right away I enjoyed the busy and excited atmosphere. The shop staff at Taizo is super genki. I went with a friend so I could have a chance to do a double review. He chose the pork and chicken base and I chose the seafood because I can't seem to get enough of that deep salty fish flavor.

The noodles and toppings are basically the same for both bowls: negi, chashu, nori, bamboo shoots, and egg. Standard and classic. However the pork/chicken bowl had minced garlic and a complex meaty flavor. The seafood bowl was an excellent strong bonito. True standouts here for me are their noodles and chashu.

The noodles come from Hokkaido and are a perfect texture between soft and firm. I can not stress how much I liked Taizo's noodles. Some of the best to date! Their fatty chashu basically melts in your mouth and made me wish that I had selected the chashu ramen. How about condiments? I am happy to report that Taizo fresh garlic that you can press yourself, hot sesame oil, pepper, and condiments for the gyoza that you can order. The gyoza was fairly standard and I recommend going for their ramen alone. I can't seem to find anything bad about Taizo so it's going to get a 5/5 for a genki staff and delicious chashu.

Map and links: official site, tabelog

みそや林檎堂/アップルベーシック (Misoya Ringo/Apple Basic Higashi Nakano)

So nice they had to name it twice? Let's find out! Misoya Ringo or Apple Basic in Higashi Nakano offers up a miso ramen with style. This is another shop that I found to be on the boutique end of the ramen shop spectrum. It presents a cozy atmosphere with magazines and stylish, but basic bar seating:

The staff there was also really friendly and asked me about why I was taking pictures. Of course I had to admit that eating ramen is a hobby, but I suppose I am still a little too shy to mention that I also write about it. Higashi Nakano is not such a busy or famous neighborhood, but Apple Basic just may be worth the trip. This shop has seen 2 overhauls, and I think the 3rd time is the charm.

I ordered miso ramen with an egg. This shop did not skimp on detail or noodles. I really appreciated the presentation, noodles buried under toppings of egg, chashu, thinly sliced negi, mizuna, bean sprouts, and ground pork.

The egg was also a lovely deep red orange color, and I haven't seen one quite like it.

Apple Basic's noodles are on the slightly thick and soft side, which I think went well with the miso base because they held it quite well. After all, part of the reason for choosing noodles is to best capture the base of your ramen. Some shops do this more successfully than others and Apple Basic is one of them. The base itself had a nice light miso flavor and mixed really well with the toppings. Their chashu, which they also sell separately, is soft, juicy, but not served warm. Same goes for the egg. Not my preference, but the cook on both is sublime. Condiments were slightly lacking, there was hot oil and pepper, but this might be another bowl that is quite perfect on its very own merits. 4.5/5 for Apple Basic, and worth the trip if it's a cold winter day!

Tabelog page and a Map:

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!