How is anyone supposed to know about this place? First of all, the A4-sized sign is almost impossible to see among the wall of other restaurant signs on this nondescript corner of Kanda. Second of all, the stairwell down to the shop is dark and scary, making you think some odd beast lurks below.
A ginger beast!
Well, if you brave the unknown, you'll find a tiny bar that doubles as a ramen shop for a few hours a day during the lunch service.
The ramen here, and there is only style, is shio shoga, salt and ginger.
The ginger is something special. きなしょうが, kinashoga, from Kumamoto Prefecture. Ginger is notoriously an environmentally unfriendly crop. Chemical fertilizer works very well with this root, and a little bit chemistry yields a much greater crop. My father, who lives in Hawaii next to a ginger farm, says he will never eat the stuff again after seeing how it is produced.
Kinashoga, on the other hand, is grown naturally, by a farmer who has specialized in ginger for half a century. The color is more vivid, and the taste is much more pronounced. It's essentially super-ginger.
One bowl of super ginger shio ramen please.
The soup base is light, so essentially this is one for ginger lovers. You'll taste ginger in every slurp. Tender chicken thigh, also lightly flavored, adds some meaty texture.
Welcome to ginger world. One of Tokyo's secret bowls.
東京都千代田区内神田1-9-10
Tokyo, Chioda-ku, Uchikanda 1-9-10
Closest station: Kanda
Open 11:00-16:00
Closed Sundays
