A couple of stars

And finally, I arrived at ramen #100 !

First up, Sobahouse Konjiki Hototogisu, located in Shinjuku and proud recipient of a Michelin star. I got here during a weekday’s afternoon, but the line was still pretty long, and it took about 30-45 minutes to get a seat iirc. Could’ve been worse during dinner time or weekends. Anyway, I got the braised pork shoyu soba, as pictured above. I wasn’t in the mood for shio, and usually shoyu is the better way to gauge the quality of a ramen restaurant, in my humble opinion.

I’m gonna gloss over the noodles and chashu a little bit, because they were top notch, as expected from a place with a Michelin star. The broth, however, is where the money is. Mushroom, daikon, and bone marrow made up an interesting flavor profile that honestly really stood out from what you would usually find in a normal shoyu ramen. It still tasted like ramen soup, of course, but at the same time there was a certain spark of inspiration, straying from the traditional path of ramen-making. It was full of umami sweetness, courtesy of the mushroom and daikon but not too overwhelming. The small pinch of bone marrow added an extra punch to what was already a well-constructed layout of tastiness.

A bit of clarification, before moving on: this was not actually my penultimate ramen before getting to #100, but for the sake of catchy title and organizing the blog posts, I decided to save it for this one.

And here we are, ramen #100 ! It took slightly more than 3 years to get to this point, but at last I managed to cross this milestone. Without further ado, this is Chukasoba Ginza Hachigou, a newly-awarded Michelin star ramen restaurant located in Ginza. They only offer one type of ramen (and a special version of it, for 3000 yen, or roughly 25 U.S dollars), so that’s what I got. Thin egg noodles, silky soft ham-like chashu, soft boiled egg, and a kickass broth. They absolutely nailed everything, but again, the broth is where the money is. Filled with richness from a lot of bones, with a thin layer of fat on top, you could tell that many hours of labor went into making the broth. I do think it was maybe a step below the other Michelin star recipient that I’d visited, but that’s not to say it wasn’t good. It was superb. The seating arrangement left a lot to desire, though. I understand the need to focus on taste and service, but having only 6 seats in a ramen restaurant is borderline pretentious, to me at least. No matter how you look at it, we’re not talking about a 10 or 15-course chef-recommended sushi menu, but a one-type ramen menu. Welp, anyway, they got a star for it, so maybe I’m just a clueless customer.

Quantity vs Quality

Sometimes you get both, sometimes you get neither.

First up, we have AFURI ramen, a modern up-and-coming chain specializing in yuzu ramen. It’s gotten a bit of a hippie/posh vibe going on with the interior design and presentation, but that’s not what I’m here to judge lol. Anyhow, I went with Yuzu Shio ramen on this occasion, since I don’t think yuzu and shoyu go well together. When I said posh, I also meant their price, because these people charge 250 yen for one slice of extra chashu, but you can pay by card or do mobile payment here so it’s all good.

On to the ramen though, it’s very clear that even though it’s a chain, they do put a lot of effort into this thing. The broth was light but very flavorful, with the sour note of yuzu as the main emphasis. The noodles were also of high quality, with smooth silky texture but not too soft. Half an egg should be a crime, but it was perfectly soft-boiled so that’s that. Chashu was also great, seared and marinated well, but it actually kinda stood apart from the rest of the components, as opposed to harmonizing with them. Overall a solid display of quality, although the quantity left a lot to be desired. This was one of the few times I left a ramen restaurant without feeling full.

Next up we have Sapporo Miso Ramen Aoba, so another one from Hokkaido lol but this one is a branch store near my apartment. I got yet another shrimp miso ramen, with extra chashu this time, and ooh la la. What an absolute unit of a ramen bowl.

Contrary to Ichigen, here at Aoba they take a more aggressive approach to seasoning. The broth was bold, rich, and heavily seasoned. Compared to the elegant flavor profile of yuzu ramen, this one feels a lot more blue collar esque. Chashu was thick and wide, just the way I like it. Noodles were also a thick variation, which the soup can hold onto. This was a full-throttle ramen experience from start to finish, albeit got somewhat too salty by the end, so I struggled a bit to finish it.

Hokkaido Ramen

Finally got myself up North and ready for some breezy ramen adventure

First up, we have Aji no Karyu, located right at the entrance of Ramen Street in Sapporo. I did my research and knew that there was a “ramen street”, but it was in the middle of a state of emergency so I wasn’t sure of the situation there. It turned out most of the restaurants were either temporarily closed or closed early. Aji no Karyu was one of the few places that remained active when I went there for dinner, so I walked in and got myself a Shoyu Wonton ramen. Due to the state of emergency, there weren’t really any other patron there with me, except a few Westerners who finished just as I arrived. As such, I didn’t have to wait long for my ramen to be served. The first impression was that the shoyu broth was very intense, reflected by its deep black color. It hit me with a very strong saltiness right from the get go, so I was glad I got some wonton to ease up my palate a bit. The chashu and noodles were ok-ish, I think the meat got somewhat overwhelmed by the broth. However, the silver lining here was that I spotted a sign on the wall saying that the late Anthony Bourdain had visited this place before. I pointed that out to the chef, he acknowledged it, and we both shared a moment of silence. It was oddly satisfying to realize that Bourdain would have absolutely loved whatever ramen he ordered here, but I could disagree with him on this occasion.

Next up, we have Ebi Soba Ichigen (main store), and as the name suggests, they specialize in shrimp ramen, which comes in 3 varieties: miso, shoyu, and shio. I went with miso on this occasion. Long story short, it was one of the best ramen I’ve had so far, on par with some of the Michelin star-owning spots in Tokyo. The first slurp of the broth instantly flushed me with a rich, creamy, shrimp-y flavor that was wildly satisfying. It’s got a perfect balance between the sweetness of shrimp and the creamy saltiness of miso. Honestly I would give this place 10/10 just for the broth alone. With that being said, they didn’t slack of in the other departments either. Decent noodles, a whole lot of lean chashu, and a generous amount of shrimp flakes for topping. The egg was slightly overdone, but it was a small footnote of error for what was otherwise a bloody delicious bowl of ramen. I rarely finish the soup when I eat soupy stuff, but this one had me going at it until the bowl was empty.

Toppings – are they really necessary ?

Sometimes, y’know, just having noodles and protein is satisfactory enough

With that being said, we have Ramen Raimu in Fukushima, specializing in Kitakata-style ramen. Initially I was planning to go straight to Kitakata as some sort of ramen pilgrimage, but the guy I was meeting up with overslept and we missed the train, so we settled for a place within Fukushima city. Anyway, as you see, Kitakata ramen consists of nothing but the bare necessities: noodles, chashu, and egg. Nothing to distract your palate from enjoying the core foundation of a good ramen. And quite honestly, Raimu did a pretty good job. Chashu was cooked just right and the meat retained its integrity. Noodles also retained a decent level of springy-ness, which is always a good sign. Needless to say, the egg was perfectly soft-boiled, an excellent finishing touch. Icing on the cake, really.

Next up, we have Ichiju Bika(?) (the name is 一寿美家, and I’m not quite sure how to read the latter 2). Anyway, they specialize in Yokohama Iekei style, and this is the Premium Miso ramen. Contrary to the Kitakata ramen above, there’s quite a lot going on in this ramen bowl. Some green veggie, brown-ear mushroom, and more nori than I can eat in one seating. The toppings turned out to be quite helpful, as they lessened the saltiness of the broth, but I still ended up having to splash some vinegar in. The nori, though, took away quite a few points for me personally. One or two sheets, I can deal with, but anything more than that and it becomes an chore to eat. The chashu was quite thick, so that brought back some of the lost points lol. To be fair, it wasn’t a particularly “bad” ramen by any stretch, but could have been a lot better.

Plain ol’ ramen

As long as it’s ramen, it’s going into the list

Right, so first up today is miso ramen from Ramen Yado Yoshibeee, a small eatery in the middle of nowhere that me and a coworker stopped by for lunch before going back to work. It was cold, rainy, we just got off from 2 hours of frickin’ grass cutting and had another 3 hours to go, so we weren’t in a position to be picky. The ramen was actually quite serviceable, nothing too offending. Well, maybe except the fact that I only got half an egg. I was extremely hungry from the physical labor, and it wasn’t salty, so I enjoyed it. They got some pretty crispy gyoza, too.

Now this one, it may look a bit plain, but black chashu you see there is horse meat. This is horse chashu ramen from Yume-no-yu, another small eatery located near Aso station, at the base of Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture. Horse meat is a local delicacy in Kumamoto, so it was only naturally that it would be on the menu, even in a ramen izakaya. The soup base was tonkotsu, which combined with the horse for a strong 1-2 combination of meaty flavor. I’m pretty sure they only used frozen horse meat, but it still had a slight gamey kick to it (pun intended), so that was nice. Unfortunately, the other components of the ramen offered nothing more to write home about. It was just a couple of levels better than if I had grabbed some instant ramen and put horse meat on top.

More neighborhood ramen

It’s always reassuring to know that if I can’ travel far and away for ramen, there are still hidden gems to be found nearby

First up today is Ramen Nakanaka, a small family-owned restaurant specializing in chuuka soba. Their menu was simple yet confusing at the same time, so I opted for a basic miso ramen, since I wasn’t particularly hungry that day. It came out looking exactly like how a basic miso ramen would look like, but the plain appearance didn’t do it enough justice. Usually, these family-owned restaurants don’t pay much attention to the noodles, but here they got some quality stuff. Chashu meat was marinated and cooked well, as opposed to being dryly overcooked like I was afraid from first impression. The main star of the show was, of course, the miso-based broth, which delivered a balanced, harmonious taste. It was seasoned just right, in my opinion. Not too salty, not too sweet. The owner(s) clearly knew their ramen, and I left with a happily satisfied stomach.

Next up is Kagetsu Arashi, a local ramen chain. They were actually having a collaboration with another ramen restaurant called Kira Houshi, so I ordered the 2-type chashu tonkotsu that was specially offered for the period of collaboration. The first type of chashu was seared and marinated, so it had a more aggressive flavor profile, while the second type was more cold-cut style and had a more elegant taste. The cold-cut chashu felt a bit out of place in a tonkotsu ramen, but at least it was made with care. Unfortunately, the rest of the ramen didn’t leave a strong impression to match the grandeur of having 2 types of meat. I actually thought the broth was a bit lackluster for what I would expect in a tonkotsu ramen. It relied on a lot of seasoning, and didn’t really have the essence of a lot of bones being parboiled for a long time. The same sense of dullness also applied to the nooodles. I was hoping for something “special”, but in the end it felt like I got a watered-down version of something that could have been a lot better.

Miso Miso Miso

Welp, for some reason, where I live, they really like miso in their ramen.

First up is Taiheiraku, the oldest-looking shop in a small strip of 4 ramen stores located a few minutes from my apartment, so I sometimes cycle out there for dinner. This is their Ago-dashi miso ramen with extra chashu, as is tradition.

I’m pretty sure I’ve said before that I wouldn’t touch fish-based stock for a while, but it was indeed a while since that incident so I decided to give it another go this time. The soup turned out to be quite nice. Rich and creamy with miso, but accompanied by a light sweetness aftertaste, kudos to the ago fish. Their chashu was also very nicely done, marinated very little then parboiled (by the taste of it), with a ratio of meat and fat close to 50/50. The noodles type of choice was thick egg noodles, the right type of noodles to soak up the miso and fat flakes in the broth. And the finishing touch was a piece of edamame, something I didn’t expect to see as a topping in my ramen, but there it was. Another big plus was the volume. I only ordered extra chashu, but the size of their regular bowl was no joke, and I had to actually stay for some time after finishing my ramen to allow it to fully set into my stomach before biking home. Good stuff

Next up on the block is Kurahachi Ramen, a local chain of ramen specializing in miso ramen. I went there on a wimp with a colleague after seeing the line outside (and inside) our first choice.

There are two main types of miso ramen at Kurahachi: red and white. I went with the red one this time. So…being a chain ramen, there’s really nothing to write home about this one. It tasted…for a lack of better words, quite mechanical. Basically it tasted exactly like what you would expect from a chain ramen: salty but with no depth, so-so chashu, and cheap noodles. I had to begrudgingly employed the help of some vinegar to offset the saltiness, and dragged myself to the finish line with this one. Not good stuff, sadly.

“Can you put some more meat on it?”

There’s no such thing as too much protein, ain’t it ?

First up for the day is Tanaka Soba, a “specialized restaurant” focusing on chuuka soba, a variety of ramen that strongly resembles Chinese noodles. They serve two kinds of broth: shio and miso. I just got out of a long bus ride before this so I went with the former. As you can see, Tanaka keeps it simple, just spring onion and sliced wood-ear mushroom as topping, a bunch of chashu underneath, and noodles underneath of them all. The broth was delicious, with an incredible richness coming from generous use of pork bones. You can also see a lot of fat flakes floating on top of the broth, but that’s where a lot of the flavor comes from, so don’t worry about gaining a few ounces of weight from all that extra calories. I do, however, recommend a splash of vinegar to balance out some of that fattiness and keep your palate from feeling overwhelmed. The chashu was properly cooked, thickly sliced, and gave me a very pleasant mouthfeel. Since this is chuuka soba, the default (and only) noodles type is the thin and slightly chewy one, which went quite smoothly from the chopsticks to the inside of my mouth. Overall, a really strong ramen, very fitting to be an energy-charger of sort.

Next up is Agoya, a modern ramen bar specializing in miso ramen with dried sardine broth. I know I’ve said some negative things about dried sardine and ramen broth as a combination, but luckily Agoya proved me wrong on this one. They went with a very light sardine-to-miso ratio, something like 20-80, so that the fishiness doesn’t creep up on you unexpectedly. The chashu, however, could use a more balanced ratio of meat and fat, as they were just a tad bit too fatty for me. Unlike chuuka soba, miso ramen usually utilizes a thicker type of noodles to soak up the flavor, and this one didn’t steer away from that status quo. Basically this is on the heavier side of ramen flavor, but I managed to finish it up with some effort. Not quite sure if I was satisfied enough with the taste or not, but the volume definitely weighed me down a bit by the time I walked out.

Sometimes, if it looks good…

…it also tastes good.

First up for today, we have Ramen Hayashida, located in a small alley in Shinjuku area. I just happened to pass by this place, but there was a line in front of it so I joined those poor unfortunate souls in the quest of waiting for good ramen. They specialize in shoyu ramen so I got their special bowl, which comes with an egg and one extra piece of chashu. In my experience, an encouraging sign for knowing a good ramen place when you step into one is the smell. From the moment I set foot inside Hayashida, I could smell the richness of the broth embracing me almost immediately. They took my order at the door, so the wait time was fairly short, and I was soon introduced a very delightful looking bowl of ramen. Not too dark of a broth for shoyu ramen, and the ham-like chashu shines brightly in the middle of faintly marinated egg and menma.

First impression was 10/10, and the actual taste did not disappoint, either. The broth was flavorful, with a complex sweetness coming from a mix of chicken and pork bones. It was not too strong to overpower the cold-cut chashu, but accompanied and enhanced the meat in a harmonious way. The chashu was quite thin, but the softness and meatiness made up for it, so I’ll give it a pass. The menma was also soft and tasted quite fresh, to my delight. And finally, the egg was perfectly soft-boiled, which capped off a strong line-up of toppings. Underneath all of those wonderful toppings was the silky smooth noodles, probably sourced from a reputable supplier, if I have to guess.

All in all, a near-perfect ramen experience, where all components received a fair amount of attention, and came together amicably to become something greater than the sum of its parts.

Next up is Takesuke Tokyo Premium, tucked away on an unassuming street right next to Yokojikken River, a few blocks from Tokyo Skytree. Their signature scallop broth ramen sold out that day, so I settled for the shoyu ramen instead. It came with one single leaf of bokchoy, a few slices of wood ear mushroom, white onions, and 3 different kinds of meat. There was white meat chicken, grilled dark meat chicken, and duck meat. The assortment seemed a bit all over the place, but nothing was too overwhelming or steering away from the overall flavor profile, so it worked out well in the end. The broth had a layer of chicken fat on top, which added to the richness of its flavor without satiating the palate too much. With the risk of sounding a bit pretentious, the noodles was cooked al dente, which paired well with the variety of chashu.

I had a hard time taking the bokchoy seriously, because the fact that there was only one frickin’ leaf was quite comical and difficult to overlook. However, it was still a very delicious bowl of ramen.

Too hot to handle

Welp, since it’s very likely I’m never eating this kind of ramen again, I’ve decided that it deserves its own post

So today, we have Tomato Tantanmen, from Togenka. For those of you who don’t know, tantanmen is a kind of ramen characterized by its ground meat topping, as well as spicy hot broth. I was very hesitant when invited to this place by a coworker, but the dude assured me that we could choose the level of spiciness once we got there, so it would be all good. Fast forward to ordering time, the waitress came, took our order, and…that was it. I knew I was in hot sh*t when she turned away without asking me how not-spicy I want my tantanmen to be. Then the thing above arrived in front of my face, and I knew I was in deep, hot sh*t. Even from a distance you could smell and feel the chili and spiciness just radiating from the soup.

It was too late to back out at that point, so I took a deep breath and dig in. Within the first few seconds I started coughing, and within the first minute I started sweating. My body clearly wasn’t enjoying the experience I was putting it through. But, I moved forward. I slurped the noodles down as fast as I could, and tried not to breath in too much. A lot of people would say that once the lips are numbed, you can’t taste the spiciness anymore, and you would be free from the scorching sensation that whatever chili they put in gives you. I tried to follow that advice, but the panicking side of me kept gulping down water in hope of temporarily relieving my mouth.

Eventually I managed to finished the noodles, and some of the ground meat, and even a little bit of the soup. It did have a slight note of tomato, but my tongue was so far gone by the end to be able to pick up anything apart from the heat. All in all it was painful, and I swore to myself I’ll never touch tantanmen again, or at least for a very long time.