Monday, July 2, 2012

勝丸 (Katumaru in Roppongi)

支那そば 勝丸

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I went to famous (10 years ago famous) Katamaru in Roppongi. But first . . .

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Frozen beer? There were a bunch of ads on the trains for this new . . . invention. Take a draft beer and top it with a frozen head. Keeps your beer cooler for longer! Two problems. You boast that you are making the beer colder, and then serve it in plastic cups? Does anyone else see the problem? Then the taste of this beer foam. It isn't so great. So you wait for the foam to melt, to avoid tasting any of it, at which point you are drinking a warm beer from a plastic cup. And you had to pay an extra 30 yen for this gimmick.

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Speaking of gimmicks that don't deliver, I went to Katumaru.

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So this guy, Katsumaru, won the Ramen Championship 10 years ago. Here is just another case where a shop gets on TV and becomes famous. There is a whole genre of programming in Japan, let's call it wacky celebs trying food. Japanese celebrities are required to like everything they eat, excellent or not. Whether money is changing hands behind the scenes, or if it is just a wa thing is unknown to me.

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But this champion ramen sucked.

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Nothing special, unless you feel that the four wantans stuck together into one starchy mass counts as special. The only other point I can make is about the aftertaste; it sent me to the nearest 7-11 for some mint gum.

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It's a shame, as the few decent ramen shops in Roppongi have recently been diminishing, leaving sparse choices for ramen loving Roppongi people.

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Neat stereo though.

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東京都港区六本木6-2-31 六本木ヒルズノ-スタワ-B1F
Tokyo, Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-2-31 (inside the station pretty much)
Closest station: Roppongi

Open 11:00-23:00

1 comment:

thegypsie said...

I am currently checking out your blog while enjoying won ton sui soup and I would be very sad if my dumping were all clumped together. :( This is comfort food for my ailing self so eating something that's not satisfying when you want comfort food is bad juju.