Somewhere, on some list, I had written something about some ramen shop with ホープ in the name. It was a warm day, the first in a while, so I hopped on my bicycle and headed out. A Google Map search showed that it was somewhere super easy to get to. Just take the big road by my house, and turn on another big road a few kilometers away. No need to write anything down! Simple!
But I turned one street too late, and though not lost, was unsure where this place was. The next 30 minutes were spent searching randomly. Finally I ran right into it! Lucky?
Nogata Hopu, though it looks intense, had almost no taste. I would have never thought such a heavy bowl could be flavorless.
This is abura style ramen. Pork stock, flavored with soy sauce, and topped with a lot of pork back fat. My all-time favorite in this genre is Sengoku Jiman.
But, yeah, this one had no taste.
Until I added a massive pile of the table-side kimchi and raw garlic. Then it just tasted like garlic and kimchi.
When I got home, shock! This Hopu was the wrong Hopu! Just around the corner from Nogata Hopu is Hopu Ken. Yeah, I went to the wrong one.
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東京都渋谷区千駄ヶ谷2-1-8
Tokyo, Shibuya-ku, Sendagaya 2-1-8
Closest station: Kitasando
Open 11:00-4:00am
2 comments:
I commisserate with your experience. I had a similar experience back in December (2012). I spent most of a Friday afternoon shopping for JAVs on Hakusan Dori in Chiyoda-ku. I intended to eat at a ramen shack which I had missed in 2011 because I strolled down the wrong east-west avenue. It is a shack you recommended.
This time, with a paper shopping bag containing some of my purchases {I pulled the not-so-old trick of taking some other DVDs in that store which I wasn't sure about buying until I shopped other stores along Hakusan and stashing them on a half-vacant lower shelf; and putting two more DVDs in front of them to keep hunters off the trail.}, I put myself on the proper avenue one block north of Yasukuni.
I walked until I got to a corner where there was a queue of locals waiting for something. A-ha! This is the line for that ramen shack, I uttered. So I queued up. At one moment, our ramen-ya came out of the shop to see how many more people were waiting.
The queue moved well. As I got closer to the entrance, I noticed most of my priors were selecting the same ramen - the most popular one in the upper left corner on the machine. I selected that as well.
A big bowl overflowing with toppings was served to me. Yes, I took a picture of it. If you want to see it later, you can let me know. But you probably won't after.. oops, I am getting ahead of the story here.
I had to get up from the counter and refill my glass of water a few times to get through this massive bowl, but I finished it. (I took a picture of that also.) This shop was preparing to close, so I took the towel, cleaned off my spot, and got up and walked outside to the corner to reassemble myself. Would you believe I actually left the paper bag with the DVDs under the counter? Fortunately, the staff there noticed it, and walked outside to where I was still standing. "Yes, that is my bag!"
(I went back to that DVD shop and scarfed up the stack I had stashed.)
The next day, I went to see Keizo at Bassanova. I had the green curry ramen. I told him about the bowl I had had the day before and asked if he wanted to see it - because I still wasn't sure exactly what I had ordered. I back-parsed through the images on my camera and showed him the full bowl.
"That is Jiro. You had Ramen Jiro."
ARGH! Well, I am proud to have finished the entire bowl of Jiro on my first attempt. But that still wasn't the shack at which I wanted to eat! So I flubbed it again. X=)
Awesome!!!
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