陸 尾山台店 (Riku Ramen Oyamadai)

The first encounter I had with Jiro style ramen was a challenge! Let me start at the beginning. Jiro ramen is a style (coming from an original shop, but there are MANY spin offs) which generally has a lot of toppings like cabbage and bean sprouts piled resembling a mountain plus thick slices of pork. It is very popular here and there are many shops that feature Jiro style. A Japanese friend of mine found out about my little project here and asked me if I had tried Jiro style before. I hadn't so he took me to one of his favorite places in Oyamadai. When I ordered the large size he laughed and asked me if I was sure. Undaunted by his laughter I replied with confident YES! We ordered and as we waited my friend taunted me and continued to ask if I was sure I could finish my order. My confidence was unbroken but then our order arrived:

It looked ok, the bowl was a little bit bigger than most, but the toppings were not mountain size like most other Jiro ramen places I have heard about. I began my quest to finish the ramen. What I noticed right away was that this ramen had almost no broth. It was mostly noodles, which were very thick. The broth was a salty delight and extremley flavorful. It reminded me of certain tsukemen broths that I have had. The pork was cut thick and also slightly dry but it wasn't a huge detractor from the overall bowl. I kept at it for a long time, but I didn't see an end in sight. It was as if the bowl kept replenishing itself. I wondered it was a magic curse, or if we had entered an alternate dimension. My friend laughed again, and said something about how he told me to be careful. As much as I was determined to finish, I was unable to complete my quest to defeat my first bout with Jiro style ramen. Defeated, I finally pushed the bowl away. Riku Ramen has excellent service and a delicious soup base. Their toppings aren't too much, but I warn you to get the regular. 4/5 bowls for the slightly dry pork.

As always a map:

Soba in Ueda at Senbonzakura

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Ueda for a teaching event. After doing some research I discovered that Ueda and the surrounding areas are famous for soba. Speaking to several teachers at my school, one who had grown up in the area confirmed that, indeed, the soba there is famous and possibly better than most places "because of the water". Whatever the reason was, I wanted to try this local culinary gem. It was a cold misty day in Ueda, perfect for a hot bowl of soba:

Often served cold with a dipping sauce in the summer, soba is also served hot when it looks exactly like this outside, at least I have a hard time when it's cold out eating cold food. I was taken to the restaurant with my guide and a friend. The place was actually one that I had seen on tabelog before going, 千本桜 (Senbonzakura). It had caught my eye while looking at different offerings in Ueda because one of the dishes comes with a giant kakiage (basically a mix of ingredients fried in tempura batter). We ordered and patiently waited for our food. For some reason it took a really long time. While I don't like to be too impatient, I feel like our food took longer than it should have, so the rating on customer service here is not as high. It was possibly a very busy day for them so I try to look past this inconvenience and focus on the food. When my soba finally came I was excited to dig in. *UPDATE* For some reason I can not locate the picture of the soba, but please read was is described below.

:(

This picture does not do the kakiage justice. It was truly huge! What I enjoyed about this soba was the lemon. I had not seen it served that way before and it changed the way that I cook soba at home. The soba itself was delicate and cooked perfectly. So other than the slow service, I enjoyed my time here at Senbonzakura. Perhaps the saying "good things come to those who wait" is true. However, I still have to give it 4/5 bowls because of the length of time it took to get my bowl.

In case you are ever in Ueda and want to visit here is the map:

Ramen Girl's Festival -- ソラノイロ Japanese Soup Noodle Free Style

The weekend before last Yokohama held a Ramen Girls Festival. In the past ramen was a man's world, but this festival celebrated equal ramen rights for all. I guess! It was held outside beside Yokohama's red brick warehouse. I will use just about any excuse to visit this area of Yokohama because I find it to be enchanting, especially at night:

As you may have inferred from the pictures I arrived in the late after noon and didn't leave until evening. This was because the festival was very busy and each ramen shop represented had lines of hungry customers. The first line I wanted to get in was for a different shop, but the men helping heard the crowd informed me that by the time I got to the ramen (roughly 2 hours) it might be sold out. I don't think this festival was properly organized as it may have been easier to sell tickets to each individual vendor from a ramen style machine, have a set number of tickets for the amount of food, and close the vendor's area when/if they sold out. This misfortune was actually a stroke of luck. The line I ended up in was for ソラノイロ Japanese Soup Noodle Free Style, chosen because of its colorful broth and unique toppings. I assume that to appeal to girls the festival chose shops that were supposed to appeal to women's traditionally assumed appetites. In short, women like vegetables...right?! Well I do, but I don't think it's because of something that stupid. After waiting about an hour and a half I got to turn in my festival tickets plus some extra cash to get all the toppings.

And it was well worth it:

Immediately I saw why this shop was calling itself Free Style. The ramen was topped with cherry tomatoes, sweet potato, a delicious egg, shredded cabbage, mizuna (water greens), cheese, barley, chashu (pork), and a sprinkle of black sesame. The best part was the surprise of the color of the noodles, a bright orange. Actually that wasn't the best part as this ramen was all around delicious. The broth was a delicate tomato and carrot base and the toppings mixed well. I was surprised, but I actually really enjoyed the cheese!

What I liked about the ramen festival was that on the flyer each vendor represented had their shop details listed so that if you missed out on one or wanted to return to another you could easily visit. While I didn't get to visit the shop I would really like to in the future. Here is a link to their site. After scanning the menu I want to return as soon as I can! 5/5

While I didn't visit their shop (located in Chiyoda between Hanzomon and Kojimachi stations) I will map it for you! 



初代 けいすけ 品川店

Recently I had a meeting in Shinagawa station and afterward decided to check out Shinatatsu Ramen Street/Ramen Alley. This is a strip of ramen shops outside of the west exit of Shinagawa station. All of these shops are part of larger chains that have gained notoriety for one reason or another:

The line for Tetsu was too long, as it is the most popular shop in Ramen Alley, so I decided to try Shodai Keisuke:

Ramen Alley is a bit of tourist trap, but Keisuke has been written about positively on TimeOut Tokyo. It was obvious that I try the famed black miso ramen. When my ramen arrived I was excited because it looked beautiful, a delicate topping of saffron, perfectly cooked egg, a generous portion of pork, menma (bamboo shoots), and ribboned negi (green onion):

Toppings, no matter how beautiful or delicious, do not make the bowl. What makes the best bowl is the base, and I am sad to say the black miso base of the ramen at Shodai Keisuke is seriously lacking. The black miso, which looks more green than black, had a muddy flavor. Muddy is not a desirable quality in ramen (for me at least) and it was such a shame because the toppings were done perfectly. The only redeeming flavor factor was the hearty helping of shansho (sichuan pepper). The pepper couldn't save it, but it did help. I might revisit this shop and try a different base, but it won't be any time in the near future. I did enjoy their laminated booklets that featured the owner Keisuke Takeda in cartoon form and other locations of his shops:

The atmosphere was warm and friendly and this is the only place on Ramen Alley that has an English menu, so it might be worth a stop for anyone at Shinagawa waiting on a shinkansen. If you go try something that's not the black miso ramen and let me know if you liked it! From me it gets a 2/5.

<<Click>> for their site, and here's a handy map:

麺場 ハマトラ

You might be thinking (if you have read the blog so far), didn't Natalie already go to a  ハマトラ (Hamatora)? The answer is yes, but most Japanese people will tell you that food, even basic foods like gyoza or onigiri are different in every location! Which is quite true. This location is in Hiyoshi, the place of my future apartment. Hiyoshi is a cute area near Keio University with a ton of ramen shops and other restaurants. Expect a grand tour of Hiyoshi ramen shops in the future! On to the noodles and shop. When we came across the location after studying our map we thought, is this place still under construction??

There is a lot of exposed concrete and what look to be large bags of concrete which (we think) is actually flour for the noodles. I think that they make their noodles at this location, and it is partially the reason I insisted on going here instead of one of the other myriad of shops in Hiyoshi. Because this particular location of ハマトラ serves ramen noodles that are black!

As you can see from the left picture, my ramen was topped with natto. For those of you unfamiliar with Japan, natto is a fermented soy bean product that many people like to eat with rice or alone or topped on various things. I don't really like natto, but it is because of the slimy texture that natto has, not the taste. At least it got mixed into the soup and the texture was masked so I wasn't too unhappy. My friend, who accompanied me on my visit to their Yokohama shop, discussed the flavor of the broth itself. We both agreed that this broth was not as delicious. Perhaps they focus more on noodle production here, but we remain unsure. I did like the novelty of the black noodles though and their business cards!

For some reason my friend and I are unsure of, Hiyoshi is obsessed with tigers. The real kicker is that this shop has a cotton candy machine! So if you feel like getting a diabetic head rush you can help yourself to free cotton candy. Overall this shop was quite nice. I liked the atmosphere (free tea and cotton candy, spacious interior, and FREE WIFI!). Their ramen was also good, but because we had been to the other location we were expecting a little bit more. So this place gets 4/5 bowls.

Here is a link to their tabelog, thier own site and as always a map:



Chun Shui Tang

This week there will probably be two posts because they are taking tests at my school and I am very bored sitting at my desk! My first post is about Chun Shui Tang, the originator of Taiwanese bubble tea! My friend and I were cheering each other up on Valentine's day last week by going to a bunny cafe in Harajuku together:

 She had visited Chun Shui Tang before with a friend and who doesn't want to try a place that is famous for inventing bubble tea?! I ordered the 五香湯麺(ｳｰｼｬﾝﾀﾝﾒﾝ) 五香湯麵 -- Taiwanese Five spice Soup Noodles:

I thought they looked the best, even though, as established thin noodles are not my jam. But these were very similar to rice noodles found in Vietnamese Pho (which I am still in need of here in Japan). The taste was also very similar to Pho; a lot of cilantro and maybe some lemon grass. The broth was very mild but delicious and balanced. The only criticism I have is that there were no condiments on the tables. I don't know if it's the specific location, or if they are all like that, but personally I like the option for pepper. Oh maybe today is a good day to work on a picture for my rating system (edit, I did, you can now see the ratings at the bottom of every post)! Anyway, Chun Shui Tang, gets 4 out of 5 noodle bowls and that's just because there was no pepper on the table. They probably think their noodles are perfect as they are, and it's almost true! It's a nice spot in Harajuku or Omotesando  (technically in Omotesando) for a lunch date in between shopping or sightseeing. Here is a link to their Japan website <click click>, and as always a map:

4/5

四川麺条 香氣

This was a while ago ramen. Back on a chilly November afternoon I was feeling sick. I even skipped a hair appointment, but that didn't stop me from seeking out some of the spiciest ramen I have had to date. The friends whose neighborhood I was visitng suggested their favorite; "Cou-Ki". This shop had a few options for the level of spice, and like a dummy I chose the two chili option:

 

It certainly cleared out my sinuses and I felt as if the heat was actually helping me fight my cold. I do not recommend this option for the faint of tongue. They do offer a mild option, which I had when I returned and I thought it was much better. It is topped with a pinch of saffron and a really nice tahini. Their ramen is "tan tan" style, which is the Japanese interpretation of Szechuan style noodles (usually served with thinner noodles, chili, and ground pork). In fact, if you ask most Japanese people they will tell you that ramen is not a Japanese food, but rather it is Chinese. I think that the Japanese have done a great job reinventing ramen though! If I were to rate Cou-Ki I think I would give it 3.5 out of 5 bowls and that's mostly based on my noodle thickness bias. I prefer thicker noodles! However, the broth was flavorful and if you want a kick in the mouth you can order some spicy ramen here! The location I visited was in Gakugeidaigaku, but they have several other locations according to their website.

As promised here is a map to the location I visited:

3.5/5