ばんから (Bankara in Tachikawa again)

ばんから



This time I brought my camera to take some photos of the soy sauce ramen. This bowl is rich and full of abura. What could make it more delicious? Bunkara's giant slab of pork, which comes along side the regular slice of chayshu. This is a great bowl, but I recommend the tonkotsu more. And yes, the tonkotsu comes with a giant slab of pork as well.



Also on the menu today was a side of rice topped with mountain vegetables. If you are feling like even more meat, you can order rice topped with grilled meat (pork I'm assuming). I saved about half the soup broth and dumped the rice in at the end of the meal. Suddenly I had what equated to another bowl of ramen on my hands. Yeah, it was too much.



Finding a balance is a hard thing to do.

Official Site Here

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大勝軒 (Taishoken in Ikebukuro)

大勝軒

Actually, I wasn't hungry at all. I had just eaten. But I had some time to kill in Ikebukuro, so I thought I'd find where the #5 Ramen shop was. It's the last one in central Tokyo on my list. It was a little off the beaten path, out past the Sunshine 60 building. Who goes past Sunshine 60? Apparently ramen lovers do.

Here's some foreshadowing for you... CLOSED

I swear I'm on the right block. But I can't find any addresses. Just this.



A massive construction site.

I wandered around the area in disbelief for about 20 minutes. Sure enough, Taishoken is no more. Funny thing though, it's still there on google earth.


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I take note and leave. Thanks to the internet, I'm able to find out what happened.

Urban development.

And damn, I sure missed out. Turns out this is the birthplace of Tsukemen, the concept of dipping noodles into a separate sauce. The master at Taishoken was ramen royalty. Hour long waits and an uproar over his (attempted) retirement add to the allure.

But in February of 2007, the doors shut.

If you want to read more, check out a review at rameniac.

ゴリララーメン (Gorilla Ramen in Fuchu)

ゴリララーメン

Somewhere in Fuchu city, on Route 20, is a place called Gorilla Ramen.



Actually, I was trying to get to the #3 place on my list, but they were closed... again. I've been there a few times, and each time is the same story. Today I think I just missed them, as the gate on the store was halfway open.

Driving home on congested Route 20, I saw this place. I couldn't resist.



Not crowded at all, just one other guy reading a manga. The staff was in good spirits at having some strange foreign guy in their store taking photos. Trying to hold back their laughter, they took my order. Of course, I ordered the ゴーリラーラーメン, Gorilla Ramen. It was a spicy bowl of shoyu, with ground meat in the soup.



Seriously, the master was cracking up with his friend in the back the whole time I was there.



Fairly standard stuff, with a perfect kick of spice. The heat stuck on my tongue for a while after I left.

Most people don't finish the soup in their shoyu ramen, but I did. Surprise!

More Info Here

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