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.

crab台風 (Crab Typhoon in Ningyocho, Tokyo)

crab台風



Crab Typhoon is an offshoot of Typhoon, a spot I didn't care for much back in 2009. I look to be in the minority, as they had a bit of success and even opened an outlet in Hong Kong (香港荃灣にらーめん). That said, I can't comment on something I tried once 11 years ago. Let's focus on the new!



Crab Typhoon, as the name suggests, uses crab. While shops have been blending rich tonkotsu soup with dried fish, this is one of the first shops to blend it with crab.



The result isn't very crabby. It's more like a kicked up new-wave tonkotsu ramen. Bits of ocean umami mingling with the heavy collagen of the pork. I really dug this one.



The spicy green sauce is a must. A bit aromatic with a tame amount of heat. This is Japan, after all, and anything above a two on the spice-o-meter just won't fly.



Ramen or soupless noodles on the menu. Choose what you like. If I return I will go for the soupless with an extra serving of the green sauce.



In 2020, they opened a third shop called Typhoon R. Stay tuned!



Official site here.

いそのかづお (Isono Kazuo in Sapporo, Hokkaido)

いそのかづお

This trip to Hokkaido was all about the legend shops, ramen restaurants highlighted in The Best of the Best Ramen. This meant a lot of great bowls. This also had a strange side effect; I ate very few bowls of miso ramen in Hokkaido this time around.

Isono Kazuo is, as the surrounding Susukino area, a late-night spot. Susukino is one of Japan's top nightlife areas if we are talking about the drinky kinds. The kinds where Japanese businessmen pay top dollar to have attractive women pour their drinks and make small talk. Apparently, Susukino is a bit more affordable. I have my favorite natural wine bar in Sapporo, so I'm more interested in the ramen.

Open from 10pm until something like 6am. You can get a bowl of Sapporo Black Ramen anytime you need.

Dark soy sauce and a fishy base. A garlic punch hiding in there somewhere. 

The unofficial style of ramen known as black is famous in Toyama and Osaka, but any locality can do it. Is one of the rules that the soup has to stain the noodles?

Check! Noodles made from Hokkaido-based Hinodeseimen noodle factory. Though the soup isn't a Sapporo miso, those noodles are thick, curly, and eggy. 

The master works quickly. This is a good thing, as the line at 9:30 pm was already 15 people deep. By the time I left at around 11, there must have been 30 people waiting.

This is a must in Sapporo, though that list for me is around 10 shops now.