Monday, April 21, 2014

トタン屋 (Totanya in Matsue)

麺'sダイニング トタン屋

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I wish I had better things to say about ramen in Matsue, the capital city of Shimane Prefecture. The town itself is quite lovely. An old samurai city on the banks of lake Shinjiko, you would think the hungry travelers who frequent Matsue would influence some decent noodles.

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Pokemon plane!

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Anyways, I was drawn here by the name alone. 麺'sダイニング - Men's Dining. The signature dish, Totan Ramen, was a "light tonkotosu" that was more like garlic-oil flavored water.

Stay tuned, the bad-ramen-in-Matsue commentary continues!

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島根県松江市和多見町80
Shimane-len, Matsue-shi, Wadamicho 80
Closest station: Matsue

Open 18:00-3:00am

Thursday, April 17, 2014

しながわ (Shinagawa in Ikebukuro)

しながわ

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Shinagawa is an offshoot of nearby BASSO. If the connection is any indication, this should be an excellent bowl. The homemade noodles from this group are solid.

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Your standard chukasoba. At 1000 yen for the special bowl (extra pork, egg, menma, and nori) it is a bit on the pricey side. Worth it?

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Despite the rest of the ramen world raving about this bowl, I wasn't impressed. Not a lot of impact, and a huge amount of hot oil on the top. Yeah, the noodles were excellent, but I wanted them in a different soup.

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The niboshisoba might be a better match, but I won't be going back to find out.

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東京都豊島区西池袋4-19-14
Tokyo, Toshima-ku, Nishi-Ikebukuro 4-19-14
Closest station: Ikebukuro

Open 11:30-15:30, 17:00-21:00

Monday, April 14, 2014

炭家 (Sumiya in Nakano)

花田流焼肉 炭家

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I have heard that there are around 9000 places to eat ramen in Tokyo. This is, of course, counting everywhere ramen is served. Chain ramen shops, family restaurants (i.e. Denny's), Chinese dives, and in this case, Korean barbecue. Usually these outlying ramen shops don't make it to Ramen Adventures, because, well, they tend to suck.

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Sumiya, a nondescript Korean barbecue place a few stops out of Shinjuku, proved me wrong.

The word 〆 (shime) can be added to the front of a menu item to indicate that it is something to be eaten after the rest of the food. In this case, the shimenoramen in question is an insanely kodawari bowl made with freshwater clams from Lake Jusanko in Aomori, breaking all stereotypes that non-ramen-shop ramen is bad.



Usually reserved for high end bowls of miso soup, these are some of the best of the best in Japan. Add to that noodles from Shimane Prefecture, and a simple Japanese broth made from high quality konbu and katsuo, and this was the ultimate shime after some fatty cuts of prime beef.

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Apologies for forgetting to take shots of the meat. We were filming for an upcoming episode of オスカルX21! and I didn't have time to get the camera out. On air May 9th!

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Wow, I was shocked by this bowl. Most of the time, shime ramen just means that you dump noodles into a pot of whatever was eaten before. Usually leftover soup in a hot pot type of dish. Most of the time, shime ramen is just a delivery method to get some post-meat carbs.

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Shockingly good. The shop's meat specialty is a cut of A5 wagyu with garlic butter. This simple bowl was an excellent refresher.

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The master was happy to show off the konbu, from the far reaches of Hokkaido, bought at tsukiji fish market.

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With only enough seating for about 10 people, you might want to call ahead.

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東京都中野区沼袋4-32-6
Tokyo, Nakano-ku, Numabukuro 4-32-6
Closest station: Numabukuro

Open 6:00pm until late
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays