Saturday, January 24, 2009

立川や (Tachikawaya in Tachikawa)

立川や
Exit out the south of Tachikawa station. It's on the street level.


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Right next to Tachikawa station, in what could only be described as prime real estate gone bad, is a little ramen shop. Literally 2 seconds from the busy station, this run down building looks like it could go any day. It was recommended to me by a student, and I've actually been there about 4 times in the last year. This time I remembered my camera.

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It's a straight forward bowl, with 2 choices of soup. The とんこつ pork broth is decent, but not even in the running against ばんから or , which are both nearby. The other choice is かつおだし. Katsuodashi is a simple broth used in all sorts of Japanese cooking. It could be said it is the chicken stock of Japan. Made from dried fish flakes, it has a subtle salty taste. If you'v ever eaten anything in Japan, chances are it was flavored with this broth.

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A little fishy, the taste lingers longer than a soy sauce broth. Today, for some reason, it seemed to linger longer than usual, and I found myself popping mints 30 minutes later before my next student's lesson.

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Yep, another ramen shop in Tachikawa. Maybe I should move to a new school for my Saturday lessons, I think I've exhausted this place. I know there's a Ramen Jiro here too...

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