Ramen Adventures

ほん田 (Honda in Oji)

麺処ほん田

Honda is highly ranked, with a score over 90 on the Supleks ramen database. That's not a sure-fire indication of success, as just about any tonkotsu gyokai seems to get a bump in their reviews. But surely Mendokoro Honda, which is sitting at the coveted #1 position for 2011 should be excellent.

It seems that every station along the Kehin-Tohoku line, from Ueno to Omiya, is a bustling night spot. It makes sense, as many (around a million according to government data) hard working salarymen in Tokyo leave the city for cheaper residence up towards Saitama.

I like the logo, though I'd take a Honda over a Harley any day.

特製濃厚豚骨魚介らーめん - Special thick pork and fish soup ramen

Worthy of high regards. The meat on the left is more of a peppered pastrami style. The rest of it great, though I'm curious why they are ranked higher than other equally delicious shops. Maybe it's because the trek out to Higashi Jujo station builds anticipation as well as hunger. Or maybe it's that the shop offers other things, like a trendy shio.

Mendokoro Honda will be at the Tokyo Ramen Street from April, I'm very curious to see them go head to head with Rokurinsha.

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School Food in Takadanobaba

School Food

The Tokyo Ramen Guide is a book I wrote recently. Don't get your hopes up, it's just a Tokyo pocket atlas, with a little post-it note for every shop that I want to try in the future. But, alas, I usually only write the name and address, not the shop's hours. So TMD420G (that's the ramen shop's name) was closed when I arrived. Further research indicated that it is actually closed for good. The ramen radar pointed me to the nearest noodle-serving shop. School Food?

韓国料理, Koean food. Maybe they have some ramyeon. They sure have a lot of K-pop posters.

And they sure have a lot of Jinro.

There it is. I ordered a bowl of ramen and a side of kimchi gimbap. I watched as the chef opened a packet of dried instant ramen.

The addition of eggs and greens didn't bring this bowl to any higher state. Don't get me wrong, Korean instant noodles are a go-to winner for an easy bite. It really should have been just 300 yen though, 500 is a bit pricey for what was served.

No info, but found this tasty looking shop with the same name in NY and Korea. Obviously a different place.

Random Bowls with Ramen Fans

In a typical month, I meet up with 4 or 5 random travelling fans of ramen. Met up with the guys behind Ken Ken Ramen, a new pop up shop in San Francisco. There were mentions of their spicy miso being one of the first to sell out, so we went to my absolute favorite spicy miso place, Kikanbo. Spices from Japan, China, South Korea, and India.