How to tell the Americans are back in Japan

So I returned to Japan with Bon in tow last March when the USD-JPY exchange rate was 151.50. That made puttering around in Japan cheap for us. And made delicious meals even cheaper!

For many tourists, the first stop after arriving is Tokyo Station where there’s a Ramen Street in the basement mall. Delicious!

For us, this was our last meal in Tokyo as we were there to catch the Narita Express on our first leg back to SFO. So sad!!

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Tonkotsu broth with char siu MADE OF PORK
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Look at that perfect egg! And those scallions! And that broth!!
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The bowl I had was 1190 yen or 7.91 USD!!

Do you see the big sign above in English that is posted on top of the ticket machine? It’s in English I’m guessing because enough stupid Americans were asking if their char siu had pork in it. They don’t have a “our ramen is not vegan” sign yet though. Ha!

Momosan Santana Row: I queued, I ate, I paid

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This mural takes up the back wall

I will admit, I am not a trendy person. I don’t usually go out to do the latest trendy thing. It takes a lot of effort on my part and requires queuing, which I suck at. If anything, I wind up being ahead of the trend (such as blogging about ramen back in 2002, flashpacking before the term was invented, etc) or trying to desperately ignore it. Pumpkin spice anyone? IGNORE

So Chef Morimoto (of Iron Chef fame) opened up a branch of his ramen/casual dining restaurant Momosan in San Jose a couple of weeks back. Momosan also has locations in NYC and Waikiki. The other night, I decided to drive down to try the place out with a friend who lives down there.

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The decor inside is modern, minimalist and woody. Kinda trendy and a full house

The rule about new trendy spots that open is to try the place on a weeknight. Actually, the rule is to go to any place that’s popular on a weeknight. The queues shouldn’t be as bad as the weekends. This is true according to the manager there. He also told me that the queue for the night I was there began at 16:00, an hour before they opened and was 40+ by opening time.

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This was about 30 minutes. Note: Line died down around 19:30 on Thursday night.

When you enter, the staff greets you with a hearty ”irasshaimase!!” as you’re seated. Even though the servers are new at the ramen game, service was friendly, fun and prompt.

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Next: Food!!

Look at the menu here. The going price of a bowl was US$19.00, a little higher than the norm over here of US$14-15 for a bowl. The jaw dropping bowls were US$29.00, one called the All-Star which was basically meat with some noodles and broth tossed in and the other one, the Gyukotsu which reads like short rib ramen. The latter is limited to 30 bowls a night and the manager told me that it sells out within the first hour. My friend got the All-Star and I got the traditional Tonkotsu.

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Popcorn Shrimp. Not like the typical with the fried batter

But first, appetizers! Two easy ones, the duck fat fries with truffle ketchup and the popcorn shrimp (tempura battered with kojuchang aioli). Both hot and fresh and delish!

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Fries came out hot hot and the ketchup was great

Now the main course. Right off the bat, I love the presentation. And you’ll notice the bowls here fall under the ”least amount of toppings” category so there’s something really good here.

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Tonkotsu Ramen with that ajitama tamago

The noodles were thicker than my preferred Hakata style but not as thick as Hokkaido ramen noodles. A nice middle of the road Tokyo noodle I’d call it. The noodles were fine. The broth had the tonkotsu umami and savoryness but not as heavy or as fatty as traditional tonkotsu. That means that you can indulge and you don’t feel like you have to be rolled out of the restaurant. I liked the broth a lot. I finished it.

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There’s some chasiu for you

The chasiu was different. Instead of the typical slices of chasiu, this looks like they put it in a slicer. They were thin cuts of chasiu, rolled up. When you picked it up with hashi, it looked like slices of bacon. It was good! And also wasn’t too heavy. Was this a diet bowl of ramen I had? Perhaps.

My friend devoured the All-Star before I could get better pix of that. He did let me steal a piece of the pork belly that came with his bowl. The fat was melt in your mouth delish and the meat was almost melt in your mouth too. Yum. Next visit may try that if the gyukotsu is sold out again.

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The All-Star, with pork belly, chasiu and chicken

Momosan Santana Row
378 Santana Row, Suite 1130
San Jose, CA 95128

Menya Shono San Rafael. Better ramen than in San Francisco

Many of the ramen shops in San Francisco fall under the “throw lots of stuff into our ramen so it will hide the missing taste” category. That, along with over salted broth, is why you often feel bloated after finishing your overpriced bowl and wind up a kilo heavier the next morning. It’s hard to avoid since many of the ramen shops around San Francisco are often turnkey restaurants or owned by people who open a restaurant to be on the next trendy thing.

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I think there’s some noodles down there, under the corn, negi, kale, karaage…

Except ramen shouldn’t be trendy, should it? I mean, it’s considered fast food in Japan and Asia and it’s been around forever.

In my extensive experience in eating ramen, I’ve found that the best bowls are the ones with the least amount of toppings to distract you from enjoying the quality broth and noodles that you should be devouring. Which takes us across the Golden Gate Bridge to downtown San Rafael to Menya Shono.

This location is the first in the US for Menya Shono (there’s a second location in Union City now) and they have done the very difficult: replicated a good bowl of ramen and sides that wouldn’t be out of place in Tokyo, Hakata or Sapporo. The noodles are made in house and the greens and other ingredients are farm to table.

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Noodle machine that makes Noodles

Menya Shono has no menus; you order and pay by smartphone via a QR code and no tipping, meaning the gratuity is baked into the price. The prices seem about the same as San Francisco after tip is factored in. Here’s their online menu. And here are bowls of Shio Ramen from my visits.

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Not a lot of toppings…I mean you can see the noodles and everything
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There’s pork and duck chasiu and kale there. The only way I will eat the latter is in this ramen.

The broth was light and complex, both chasius (pork and duck) fell apart when picked up with chopsticks and the toppings of fried garlic and the egg complimented the broth, not overwhelming it. The noodles were snappy and satisfying. The only nit I can pick is the temperature of the broth. It should be steaming hot, not kinda hot. This is a common problem with ramen in California, and to be fair, with most food and drink since the McDonald’s coffee thing.

Do I like this place? YES. I’ll even eat the $9 toll to get home without complaining. Hey, it’s like paying for parking in The City…and your car won’t get its windows broken.

Menya Shono
908 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94941

Gratitutious Ramen entry

This was a fast trip, to be ended with an early morning in Tokyo. It made more sense to get my ramen fix while I was in town, as opposed to being in transit.

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Shinagawa. Going from the Keikyu Line to JR.

This is how transit looks like in Tokyo. The trains are color coded and queueing is orderly. However, it’s a huge crush even at 0700 in the morning. Thankfully people here have a good sense of hygiene. But you don’t have ramen for breakfast here. Yet.

I was in Hong Kong for several days so I decided to get my ramen fix there. Many of the major ramen chains are there including Ichiran.

Ichiran is (in)famous for it’s attitude towards it’s ramen. Instead of tables where you can occupy space for hours, yakking with your friends, their ramen is served individually in cubicles so nothing gets in the way of the ramen. Then when you finish, you leave. Your bowl is customizable. The softness of the noodles, the intensity of the broth and as many (or as little) toppings as you’d like. As it should be.

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Hard noodles, rich broth with scallions and red oil. YESSSSSS

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The aftermath after one serving of kaedama.

Since the Singapore leg of this trip was going to be busy, I’m glad I got my fix here.

Ippudo Story San Francisco (Lost in Translation)

No Scarlett Johansson here (bummer).  Just two ramen fans that were excited to welcome San Francisco into the big league of ramen towns.  San Francisco has an Ippudo.  Finally! No more queueing at Mensho for hours in the TL with bums.  We could now queue in a wind tunnel off of Market Street! Despite being forewarned about the broth being dumbed down (at Ippudo Berkeley, which opened nine months earlier),  we braved downtown, found a parking space and crossed Market Street for a bowl.  A very expensive bowl.

Yes.  That’s $82 (after tip) for dinner for two.  A beer, a bun, a bowl and some ice cream.  Keep in mind that the same bowl in Tokyo is half the price (along with the beer) in what gaijin call “the most expensive city” in the world.  I would be willing to excuse this as “the price of doing business” in San Francisco, except the broth here tasted like they phoned it in.  It’s technically tonkotsu, but set at 5 instead of 11.  The best way to describe my disappointment is to say that the broth here has been Lost in Translation.  It isn’t as “fierce” as it should be.  Also, no sides of garlic and ginger as the other Ippudos in Asia have.

They did get some things right.  The cha siu was tender and the broth could have been a smidge hotter (in order to keep the noodles hot).  And Ippudo is probably the only place in San Francisco that can actually do the soft boiled ramen egg properly.  Delish!

Because of this, it’s technically an “Ippudo”.  The ramen was bowled properly, the noodles had some snap.  The flavors are there, just not enough of it.  I really wanted to love this place; to be able to say that it’s a match for Ippudo’s Tokyo and Singapore locations (I know these best) and everyone should brave the line and the price for a bowl of Akamaru Modern because THIS is what ramen is supposed to be like.  Instead, I’d recommend this as a starter Ippudo.  Go here and appreciate it for what it is.  A decent, but VERY overpriced bowl (because of the local conditions that restaurants in San Francisco have to operate in, not because of Panda Express greed).  Then book a flight to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore or Shanghai and have a bowl over there.  That’s how it’s supposed to taste.  And you’ll save some money too.

Ippudo SF
18 Yerba Buena Lane
San Francisco, CA 94103

L is for Lobster ramen

Ramen Keisuke is a small local ramen chain in Singapore. Each of the shops has a different speciality.  The newest location at Clarke Quay, Lobster King, makes lobster based ramen broth.  Yes, it’s awesome.

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It’s so goshdarn awesome that when I first visited here back in February, there was a 1 hour queue.  On a Sunday night.  Still that was better than the 3 hour queue on Saturday.  So this time around, we figured, “Thursday night, around 8”.  Figure everyone else would not come out cos it was a workday.  Ha.  Wound up waiting 40 minutes anyway.  Ramen was the awesome again.  Had the shio this time.  And when we left at 2200, no line!  So if you want a bowl without the queue, come for siu yeh on a weekday.

Ramen Keisuke Lobster King
3C River Valley Road, #01-07
The Cannery (Clarke Quay), Singapore

K is for kudos

I’m currently staying at the Singapore St. Regis. It’s on the very end of Tanglin Road, right before Orchard Towers and the Hilton. Ion Orchard is a 10 minute stroll (with humidity) where Orchard MRT is in the basement.

This is my first time here and I can say the place is plush. Breakfast is good too. Since I don’t know this area too well, I decided to take a walk down to Ion, just to see what’s around. I found a Hiroshima based ramen shop called Ramen Bari Uma in the basement of a mall. Their claim to fame is a very hearty broth and thick smoked chasiu. The egg was the standard soft boiled and the bowl was just the right size. If you’re American, you may think it’s on the small side. Thin noodles and the perfect temperature from the kitchen to table.


Another thing is that this place felt very Japanese. Besides the greetings, the cleanliness and the feeling inside the place felt like Japan. Except they speak English. Kudos!

Ramen Bari Uma
19 Tanglin Road, Tanglin Shopping Centre,
Singapore

 

Good food is where you find it; Mutsumi-ya in Tokyo Station

I spent my last hour in Japan (being in the lounge doesn’t count, because since you clear passport control, you’re technically “not” in Japan) puttering in 東京駅.
It’s been a while since I’ve needed to go through Tokyo Station on the way to NRT. These past few visits I’ve been going through Shinjuku Station since it’s closer to where I stay during my visits. There’s a lot happening in Tokyo Station and the surrounding Marounouchi neighborhood. For one, Tokyo Station has a left baggage service in the basement close to the NE’X tracks so you can check your bag and putter around for the day before making the long slog to NRT. Although both stations have lockers, they won’t swallow a 26″ roller, that’s why it’s nice to have the left baggage service at Tokyo Station because Shinjuku doesn’t have it. Another bright spot of Marunouchi are the many nice restaurants in the area that includes a branch of A16 and a Cafe that’s part of Joel Robuchon’s restaurant chains.
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Almost feels like being in Paris. Of course, we ARE in Marunouchi…
The best food I found though was inside Tokyo Station itself. There’s a branch of Mutsumi-ya in a special Tokyo Ramen Street section of the basement. I stumbled upon this gem as I was wandering around semi-lost for a new place to eat. Mutsumi-ya is a Hokkaido based chain as evidenced by their flagship bowl of corn-butter ramen.
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It was very oishii! Corn and butter in the broth…
Unlike most Hokkaido style ramen I’ve had, this bowl has the satisfying food buzz that you get with good Hakata style ramen. The broth was rich and hearty and very satisfying. And unusually for Hokkaido ramen, the noodles were firm and has the feel of quality. It’s easy to mass produce thick noodles (which Hokkaido ramen uses) and many shops cheat with store bought noodles. I don’t think Mutsumi-ya does that. It’s that good.
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The restaurant itself is not designed for lingering; rather it’s all about eating and going.
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Here’s some of their other menu offerings and some credentials

Ramen Usefulness!

Contrary to popular belief, this blog is NOT a ramen blog! Or rather, this blog is not JUST a ramen blog…
That being said, here’s a useful site that explains the different styles of ramen that’s out there. Eventually, this will go onto the blogroll once I find a good template I can tweak without messing it up.
*hat tip to Tastespotting*

Ippudo Story NY

After my first visit to Ippudo Shibuya back in March, I vowed to eat this delicious ramen again! Even if I had to travel all the way to New York! It’s only 5+ hours to JFK from SFO…
So last weekend, I did that. Flew to New York. To eat and drink. Actually, I was in New York for a different event and wound up with some time on Sunday morning to visit Ippudo NY. It’s just north of Astor Place station on the 6 line. Astor Place should be renamed to “ramen place” because this is the station that leads to St. Mark’s place and the East Village. Or as I call it, “ramen central” for the United States. All the good ramen shops are here in this small area of Manhattan (with the sole exception of Ichiran, which has opened up a branch in Greenpoint), both home grown (Momofuku) and from Japan (Ichiran).
There’s no doubt about where you are when you see the front door. It has that rustic feel like the Tokyo location. Until you actually walk through the front door.
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As you walk through these doors, you will be transported to Japan…
Then all of a sudden, it’s not rustic anymore. It’s very modern in a neo-japonesque kinda way.
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How modern! How big! How modern!
As with all things American, it’s big! Compared to the Shibuya location, it’s at least four times as big. Comfortable chairs and big tables. However, the menu is roughly the same. Which is a good thing. This time I went for the Akamaru Shin-Aji with the signature red glob of pork fat in the middle of the bowl.
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the noodles are hiding under the broth…
You’re supposed to stir it up. This is how the broth changes after you stir it up. And I was transported back to Japan and better days. Springy noodles. Rich pork fat reinforced broth. Wonderfully tender (albeit a bit small) slices of roast pork. Garlic and negi in excellent proportions. And a second helping of noodles. Yes, I was very happy consuming lunch. After I finished my bowl, I was experiencing pork overload. Didn’t mesh too well with the slight hangover I was nursing.
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orangish porky broth goodness!
Ippudo NY has a cash bar in the front of the restaurant that has various beers (Kirin, Sapporo) on tap as well as Yebisu in bottles and featured sakes.
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Now that’s a lotta bowls…
The hella cool thing is that they have a 2 for $6 happy hour beer deal during the week. That includes Yebisu! I had one to balance out my system, which was dealing with a wine induced sneaky hangover and tonkotsu broth overload when I needed to go to the bathroom, which was downstairs. Besides the bathrooms being nice, I discovered something else on my trip to the bathroom…
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Two long glass slits next to doors that say “private”. What are they doing inside these mysterious rooms? Why they’re making broth! And noodles! From scratch!
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Mmmm…broth!
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Here’s the dough…
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that turns into noodles in your soup!
So, yes you can get authentic Hakata ramen in the United States. Well, you can get authentic Hakata ramen in New York. This is a “must visit” place when you’re here on the island.
Ippudo NY
65 4th Avenue
New York, NY 10003
1-212-388-0088
http://www.ippudo.com/ny