I was lucky enough to hear about, at the last minute, a 1-day mash-up gentei bowl between Kabochan and Nishio. If you are very nerdy about ramen, you will know that Nishio, part of the amazing Nagi group, closed his shop a while ago, and helped Kabochan open in his place. The coolest part of the story is that Kabochan was a complete ramen rookie. Just a guy who loved to eat the stuff.
The 5 seat shop was perfect for this type of endeavor, and Kabochan (that is the master's nickname) became a bit of a sleeper hit in town.
We (Hiroshi and I) arrived at the exact last minute.
We literally got the last bit of tare of the day. Today's seasoning brought to you buy some ultra-premium shoyu from Yamaroku, a famous brewer from Kagawa prefecture.
I miss this place. This 1-day collab bowl was made with ingredients from about 30 different prefectures in Japan. It was a veritable who's who of local goods. Konbo from Hokkaido. Chicken from Akita. Green onions from Kyoto. The list went on and on.
You see, I used to live around the corner, and popping in for a solid bowl was always an option. I'm now across town, with different local haunts.
Though it was dropping into single digit temperature outside, I had to try the waiting-in-line-special.
Fresh apple kakigori! And, yes, the apples were from Aomori, one of the most famous apple regions of Japan.
Original Review Here
東京都北区西ヶ原1-54-1
Tokyo, Kita-ku, Nishigahara 1-54-1
Closest station: Komagome
Open 11:30-15:30, 17:30-21:00
