Thursday, March 19, 2020

鶏Soba 座銀 にぼし店 (Zagin Niboshi in Osaka)

鶏Soba 座銀 にぼし店


Beautiful bowl, I know. Zagin's second shop serves a niboshi offshoot of what they serve at their first shop, a frothy tori paitan. Artistic with a taste to match. What's not to love?



Well, Zagin is one of those shops adored by overseas tourists, and ramen like this has some convincing to do. I don't automatically dislike the shops with 80% tourists in the line, but I am often underwhelmed. Can Zagin do it for me?


Oh yeah. The already creamy chicken soup is blended with a mixer to aerate it more, turning the broth white. Served with their signature fried burdock root (ゴボ) you get a creamy smooth and an earthy crunch. Sous vide pork and chicken chashu adds more layers to an already excellent bowl.

Zagin Niboshi uses dried sardines from Kyushu, Nagasaki and Fukuoka to be exact, to give the soup a bit of deeper ocean umami.



The day I went, I noticed a limited cold soupless bowl on the menu. I can almost always crush another bowl if it is sans-soup, and that's that I did. Italian cured ham and seasonal vegetables. Of course, plenty of fried burdock.


Very good, though a bit of a challenge to eat with so many parts. Do you eat each bit separately or mix it all into a blob. Your choice.


As with most 80% tourist shops, Zagin has a few branches overseas. If you live in Hong Kong, let me know how they are.




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