Wednesday, September 7, 2011

パパパパパイン (Papapapa Pine in Nishi Ogikubo)

パパパパパイン

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What is ramen? What is a ramen adventure? The later question is a personal one, and to me just skipping down the street can turn into an adventure featuring ramen. The first question is a difficult one. Or is it a simple one?

What I am getting at is that sometimes on the ramen scene in Japan, someone works at a famous shop, then goes and gets crazy, and we all ponder what has just been created.

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It should not take much to figure out what you will find in this ramen.

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It pops up everywhere in the shop.

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Why not?

Why not make a shio ramen with pineapple juice?

Why not top it with chunks of pineapple?

Why not soak the half-cooked egg in pineapple juice, offer pineapple-infused vinegar for flavor, or serve your ramen with pineapple flavored wine to drink?

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Despite what seems like a risky business venture (nothing on the menu is pineapple-less), this is an interesting bowl. Roasted pineapple flavors mingling with salty is nothing unheard of, though this is a far cry from Hawaiian style pizza or a teriyaki burger.

Every flavor is light in the bowl. I went with the cold shio version to help me with the 35 degree battle outside. I think hot would be a better choice. Hot would be like flavoring ramen with pineapple. Cold was like flavoring pineapple with ramen. There is a difference there.

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The egg is a ball of flavors. Order one.

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The madman, Haruda-san, comes by way of respected ramen shop Kai.

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I might not be craving this again anytime soon, but it is certainly somewhere that any ramen nut living in Tokyo should check out.

Check the video!






東京都杉並区西荻南3-12-1
Tokyo, Suginami-ku, Nishiogiminami 3-12-1
Closest station: Nishi Ogikubo

Open 11:00-21:00

3 comments:

Bashico said...

welcome back:)

Steve D. said...

On the ticket machine, how do you distinguish between the hot and the cold?
They cannot both be in the upper left corner. 8=)#

Ramen Adventures said...

TO be honest, I haven't been in a while. If I recall, the cold was a summer limited menu. I'll probably try and go again in the next few weeks.