Rock and Noodles

Okay! Went to a cool raamen shop that had things most places don't have (at least raamen shops don't have.) First, a menu for kids. Smaller portions with orange juice and a cheap toy. And, rock music on the speakers. Not pop music, rock. As in loud guitars. Great place but a little pricey and the noodles were over-cooked. But worst of all, I forgot the name of the place! This affords me the opportunity to go back and a) take a photo to share with you all and b) see if it was just that day the noodles were over-cooked or if it's a regular thing. And to check out the music some more.

There is currently a raamen boom here in Japan. Raamen shops are springing up everywhere and they're starting to get away from frumpy old 'traditional' designs and going with trendy new 'modern' designs. At least for the building and fixtures. This results in Euro-trash modern settings for ancient food. It's both sad and amusing. I have a feeling someone's going to upgrade the food to 'trendy' new heights soon, too. Maybe a vegetarian tofu California raamen (I'm sure there must be one) or a caffeine-free 'lite' raamen. And jazz on the stereo. Maybe a Bill Frisell greatest hits CD.

The Nation's Biggest Noodle....

...Chain.

Set for 600 yen. A bowl for 490 yen. And up, plus build-it yourself (i.e. add the few ingredients they have available - egg, onions, etc. for about an extra 100 yen each.)

Yes, I did it. I slurped some tonkotsu (豚骨) raamen at the nation's largest chain: Kourakuen. 幸楽苑, which could be translated as Sweet Fun Garden. It's transliteration is Kourakuen, 'ko' (幸) meaning 'sweet,' and 'raku' (楽) meaning 'fun,' or 'enjoyable,' and 'raku' (苑) meaning 'garden.' However, the food was good and plentiful. The service was quick and didn't shout at the customers like Samurai no Michi (侍の道) did.

The big surprise, though, was that it was quiet: neither loud waiters and waitresses nor loud music. In fact, the music was definitely muted but I think I heard some Bill Frisell guitar work. The music was jazz, I might add. Plus, no here's the surprise, the entire restuarant was Non-Smoking. Non-smoking, I tell you, in a land where the cigarette warning says: "Don't smoke too much."

In the heat wave Japan is going through right now, though, raamen shops aren't doing so well. According to one source, Korakuen Raamen's sales are down 10% over last summer. I guess when it gets hot, people try to avoid hot food. (Although everyone sells a zaru- something. Zarusoba or zaru-raamen. ざるそば. Cold noodles.)

What I've found out about Korakuen - mostly from their menu: They've been in business since 1954. However, if you want more info about this chain of nearly 200 restaurants, you can check out this link: Korakuen.

Enjoy Your Raamen!

Raamen in Space: Space Ram!

Space Ram: It's not just for computers anymore.

Behold, our man Momofuku Ando is sending raamen into space on the Discovery. The Japanese astronaut, Soichi Noguchi, is going to slurp a... a what? a sack of noodles from Nissin, according to the Mainichi. Click on the title of this post to see the story in the Mainichi newspaper online.

Raamen Consulting anyone?

Also, in an entirely unrelated vein, a raamen consultant is bad-mouthing Aoba, a popular raamen shop because the consultant feels slighted by the owner of Aoba. Check out it out here. For another look at the kidnapping-raamen-consultant story, look here. This is more human interest angle. Sort of. Who knew running a raamen shop could be fraught with such danger.

And, from further afield, here is an article from The Australian on the same dangerous topic. I guess jealousy has raised its ugly head.

Here also is the website for Akibaya, the restaurant owned by the consultant. In Japanese. And one in English for Aoba.

Raamen Refresher Course & a Request

Just to refresh our knowledge of raamen, I'm going to include this little table. It will also help you practice your Japanese. (Then why do I have a daily Spanish lesson on the side? Where does it say you can only learn one language at a time, eh?) Remember, please, that the noodles are often the same in each raamen. It's the soup and stuff that's sprinkled on the top that makes the different raamen different.

Typical types of ラーメン (raamen) and their Japanese equivalents. (In language, not content.)

Salt-based soup 塩 ラーメン しお shio = salt
Soy sauce-based soup 醤油 ラーメン しょうゆ shouyu = soy sauce
Pork bone-based soup 豚骨 ラーメン とんこつ tonkotsu = pork bones
Soybean paste soup 味噌 ラーメン みそ miso = soybean paste

There are a variety of other types of raamen, too. Such as:

Cold raamen 冷やし中華 ひやしちゅうか hiyashi-chuuka
Chinese style noodles 中華そば ちゅうかそば chuuka-soba (中華 = Chinese)
Sesame-based soup タンタン麺 たんたんめん tantan-men

Also, here are a few links to raamen reviews or raamen-related places. Some of these can be found on the sidebar to your right; this update just makes them easier to look at. Aren't I nice?

The Ramen Ninja (reviews of restaurants mostly in the Nagoya area.)

World Ramen (lots of information about ramen, plus reviews of raamen shops worldwide.)

A History of Ramen (gosh, what do you think this website is about, huh?)

Sapporo The City of Ramen (with a little history about the noodle of the north.)

Jason & Terry's Bay Area Reviews (This link links to their raamen reviews.)

Finally, please remember that those hard noodles you buy in bulk
and add hot water to and eat late at night? They're not the kind of
raamen we're talking about here, okay?

And now, my request, if you know of any good raamen shops in your town, let me know. I'll post your review of the place here and maybe someone'll be able to have a good meal.

Lastly, enjoy raamen and enjoy life!

After the Rush

After the Rush
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

This is the counter after the lunch rush. Looks desolate, eh? As you can see, the interior is a combination sleek black with accents in red and concrete. Well, I guess you can't see any red, but there is some. When I got there a little after 1:00 PM, there was one customer and three employees. Ah! Two employees were female and they were the cooks! A little different, that. Usually, a male cooks while the females wait. In this store it was role reversal time.

Small miso raamen
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

These two shots of the Samurai no Michi raamen shop show the small bowl of raamen I had and the counter after the lunch rush. The raamen comes in three sizes called "small," "medium," and, uh, oh yeah, "large." The small is ¥500. The lunch, which was a medium and rice with pork, was ¥600. Beer was ¥500, too. While the caption for the picture says 'small miso raamen,' it should say 'small tonkotsu raamen.' In either case, it was delicious.

How to order: You buy a ticket of the food item you want from a machine and hand it to the waiter who is waiting to take the ticket. Then he shouts to the cook what you ordered. I guess this speeds up the process because now you've paid for the meal and when you're finished, you don't have to wait for the cashier to figure out your change.

Samurai Michi

Samurai Michi
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

This is a nice little raamen shop called "Samurai no Michi" which could either be translated as "The Samurai's Road" or "The Way of the Samurai" or not at all.

The kanji is 侍の道. 侍 is 'samurai' as in The Last... and 道 is 'michi' as in 'road' or 'way' as in Tao. (Like the Tao of Pooh, for example?)

I had a small bowl of miso raamen which was too small for my needs at the time but very tasty. Delicious. Small noodles, not the big kind, but well-timed in the boiling process. The small bowl is great if you're on a diet (and who among us isn't?) but I think I could've eaten two small bowls. Next time, the Medium!

My only complaint is the professionalism of the staff: very proper, very by-the-book. A little boring and cold, in other words, but I'm sure most people don't mind. Most people are probably just there to grab and slurp and run.

The inside is mostly red on black. The whole place holds about 30 people. I hope it stays in business. It's near a smallish-big shopping center (I'm in its parking lot when I take this picture) and a video rental store.

Raamen Specialist

Raamen specialist
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

The "Raamen Specialist" (ラーメン専門店)

This being Bastille Day, I thought I'd celebrate with a nice miso raamen treat so...

...after a long interval wherein I was too busy pretending to be working to slurp noodles, I dropped in on this place to a pleasant surprise: happy workers and a crowd. The crowd was mostly working folks: construction workers and road crews. The shop people were smiling, enjoying their time, and including me in their conversation.

The raamen was good, too. One type: miso, in three sizes: large, medium, and small. You can add things to it, though: soft boiled egg, wakame, nori, or homegrown leeks (negi). Prices starting at ¥550 for the unadorned small raamen. Unadorned does not mean naked. It had nori, negi (a little) and, to my surprise not-overboiled spinach. Quite tasty. Al dente noodles, as our Italian brothers and sisters would say.

I'm going back to get a better shot of the exterior and, hopefully, of the working crew there.

Have a nice bowl.

Coffee and Raamen....

How cool would that be, Seattlites? Nutrition and your jump-start all in one. Like steak-flavored Q-tips. (An old joke by....? Goes like this: "Hey, I like meat. I like clean ears: Steak-flavored Q-tips!")

Check out this great website: Coming Anarchy for coffee raamen! Looks like there's more than a full cup of java after all the noodles are slurped up. Wonder what the cook does with the pork.

Ando Packs It In.

Our man, the inventor/creator/innovator of instant raamen and Cup Noodles, Momofuku Ando, has decided, at the tender age of 95, to retire. Egads! Is nothing left sacred in this world when a man has to give up his sole love and joy just because he's pushing the century mark? Actually, according to my sources, he wants to retire. Wants to spend more time doing the things he really enjoys doing, no doubt, whatever they may be. After spending time in jail for tax evasion and coming out nearly penniless and definitely jobless at age 48, he turns hard noodles, a packet of spices, and hot water into a billion-dollar empire. Not too shabby. I hope he gets to spend a few more decades in leisurely retirement knowing that without him hundreds of thousands of mostly male college students would've starved to death.

Kitakata Kura Raamen

Kitakata Raamen
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Today's lunch spot. The food was both good and not-so-good. It tasted good at the time but later kept coming back to me and I felt heavy all afternoon. Did it have just a smidgeon of MSG? I wonder because MSG (called Ajinomoto, after the company that sells the most of it) gives me a headache and I had a small one for a short period after eating here.
However, you can choose your noodle here: thick or thin. I took the thick and they were quite tasty. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday gyoza is half price and, anytime, if you order rice when you order the raamen, it's free. Otherwise, I think it's 200 yen.
If for any reason you're interested in owning a franchise, check out this Franchise site. But if you're more interested in finding how many stores they have and where and you want to practice your Japanese reading ability, check out this Kitakata Kura Raamen site. (I discovered, for example, that it is from Kitakata City in Fukushima Prefecture.)

Kitakata's interior

Kitakata's interior
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Right after lunch, the cashier is grabbing money left and right. I got there at 12:40 and left at 1:00. It's clean and welcomes children, not a common sight in most raamen places. It also had nice music that wasn't too loud. The workers, on the other hand, had to yell whenever a customer came in, (いっらしゃいませ!) or left (ありがとうございます!), and when they put in an order (野菜 一丁!), all of which is common in most sushi, raamen, yakitori-yas and other cheap traditional restaurants. The other thing was, every time someone cleaned a table they yelled "Table Number 5. Clear!" And I kept thinking, what is this an aircraft carrier? So, needless to say, the help spent a lot of time yelling.
This cashier cleaned tables, took the money, and seated people. I wonder if he was the owner/franchisee or just hired help.

Menu on the Wall

Menu on the Wall
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Now you can read and practice your Japanese while you read. The first three kanji from the top are the name of the store: Kitakata. 喜多 is Kita. 方 is kata. Kitakata =喜多方. The Happy Way (?) Below the 喜多方 is raamen (ラーメン). The third raamen from the right is onion raamen, (ネギ = Negi = leek). The first one is the Kitakata Raamen shop's specialty, which I didn't try. It's the cheapest at about 525 yen but it has four or five slices of fatty pork. The rest are about 700 to 900 yen. I tried 味噌 (miso) 野菜 (yasai = vegetables) ラーメン which is the 7th from the right, almost directly under the light. You can just make out that it costs ¥714.
(By the way, prices used to NOT include the 5% sales tax. Now they do. So a price that used to be ¥200 is now listed as ¥210. To make it more convenient for shoppers to figure out how much they'll really have to spend. I have a feeling Women's Groups had a big influence on this decision.)

Kitakata's Miso Vegetable Raamen

Kitakata's Miso Vegetable Raamen
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Two pieces of pork and more vegetables than most raamen. I liked it. The only thing about the restaurant I found interesting was the bill came before the food, so you knew how much your meal cost before you even got your meal. This raamen cost 714 yen (what's that in real money? $6.00?) The veggie raamen had bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, cabbage, mushrooms, and miso. With thick noodles.

Two Instant Noodles:

Type Instant Noodles (Hakata & Vegetarian)
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Hakata & Vegetarian

The vegetarian noodles cost ¥126 while the Hakata noodles cost about ¥140. To be honest, the Hakata noodles tasted better but maybe that's because it is more the taste I expected. However, the soup (dashi or だし or maybe even 出汁)of the vegetarian noodles tasted better. Figure that out. In fact, the dashi was the best tasting dashi I've had so far. The vegetarian noodles claimed to be shoyu aji (しょう油味) but it tasted more like miso.

As instant noodles went, they weren't half bad. Or is that not half good? Is the glass half....?

If you want to see more about the vegetarian raamen or, if you really, really, want to practice your Japanese, you can go to Sakurai Foods in Gifu, Japan for more info OR you can go to their webpage (which is back towards the middle of this sentence) to practice reading Japanese.

This company uses organic ingredients so we all won't die of something... chemical poisons? ... quite as quickly. Not only is it vegetarian but it doesn't contain any fish or meat, either. (You'd be surprised how many 'vegetarian' products use animals or body parts - one instant noodle uses cow brains. For taste, they said after it was discovered the cows they used were livid. Completely mad.) As the Sakurai Foods webpage says: 肉・魚を使用していません。かんすいは使用していません。Clear enough, eh?

Lost ...

...in My Own Mind

Have you ever gotten in your car, on your bike, or jetski to go over to Suzie and Bill's house to watch the new Reality TV show and scarf down potato chips by the ton and, instead of turning left to Suzie and Bill's house you turned right because your mind was switched on by hearing a certain song or seeing something that reminded you of someone and you just automatically drove through town to your favorite raamen shop but realized half way into your miso raamen with a side of gyoza that you were supposed to be at Suzie and Bill's house watching a reality TV show? Well, that's what happened to me today except for the Suzie and Bill and television. And the potato chips.

I was going to find a raamen shop I hadn't been to before and check out their raamen. I looked at their menu: they had five raamens but four sets (A: raamen and gyoza, B: fried rice and gyoza, C: raamen and fried rice, and D: two things which I've forgotten.) I ordered B. Halfway into it I realized, 'Hey, this isn't raamen.' I almost ordered a bowl of raamen just to taste it, but I didn't.

Below you will see pictures of that shop wherein I planned to have raamen but ended up chowing down on some delicious fried rice and gyoza. For about $8.00.

The Pot

The Pot
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

This is the big pot into which are put the raw raamen noodles. There must be four or five baskets where the noodles are put in and the four or five employees watch them, pull them out on time, and replenish the water when needed by turning on the faucet you can see just to the left.

Chef at Work

Chef at Work
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Here is the guy who made my lunch. Besides him, there were three women cooking, serving, running the register, and cleaning up. He' sitting just in front of the register, by the way.

Here the chef is on his post-lunch break rush break. He's watching the Seattle Mariners (Ichiro) vs New York Yankees (Matsui) game (Yankees were ahead 6-4 when I left) on a TV that's bolted to the wall just below the ceiling and he can't hear it where he works (the exhaust fan is too loud) so he sits out in the dining area. At least when most of the customers are gone, he does. In a lot of raamen places the cook will come out front to sit and watch TV or eat. I've seen some who have a beer when there aren't too many customers. And usually they smoke, but this guy isn't. It's a pretty clean shop with a nice surprise in the back.

The B (non-raamen) Set

The B (non-raamen) Set
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Okay, I spaced out and ordered fried rice and gyoza instead of raamen. I also got a bit o'soup and a baseball game on TV. The fried rice was great - spicy but not too spicy, hot but not too hot. The gyoza was the same. Next time, though, I'm definitely going to try to remember I'm in there to taste the raamen, not the rice.

The Surprise Garden

The Surprise Garden
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Here, hidden in the back dining room area (seats about 10; the whole place seats about 25), is a nice little garden that really sets the place apart and makes eating there more enjoyable. It takes you out of the busy-ness that is your daily life and gives you a little nature to contemplate. I don't know how many people actually looked at it while they snarfed down their noodles, but it is nice to look at just the same. It's also very small, as you can see.

Thumb and Raamen Shop

Thumb and Raamen Shop
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

A raamen shop named 千門天 which, when translated by the Romantic writer would be called "Heaven of a Thousand Gates" or "A Thousand Gates to Heaven" but it is also a homonym for "specialty store" (専門店). Both are pronounced "sen mon ten."

So far it is not a chain store. It only has this one log-cabinesque outlet. The taste is... not the best, not the worst, pretty average. (Excellent photographic skills, by the way, by including my thumb in the picture.) Taken at 10:50 AM, a little early for raamen but the store is open.

Raamen Shop, Two

Raamen Shop
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

The 専門店 and 千門天 shop from a different angle and without the thumb. A car is substituted for the thumb in this photo adding, I suspect, an air of realism (?) and a tree for foreground emphasis.

I will attempt to make it to this shop and get interior shots if I can.

HachiBan

HachiBan
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

One of the many successful chains of raamen restaurants in Japan and other places (Thailand, for example.) They have about 120 stores in-country and franchises are available. If you have the $300,000 necessary. (By the way, the hobby of the man in charge of franchises is gardening and golf.) This photo was snapped at 6:00 PM. Notice the lack of cars in the parking lot (and no, there aren't more hidden off to the side.) It's too early for dinner for most people in this burg; they're on their way. In about 45 minutes this place will be packed. (The cook is trimming the shrubbery in her spare time.)

Tedorigawa

Tedorigawa
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Three boxed bottles of a fine Japanese sake that happens to go by the name of Tedorigawa (named after the river from which they scoop their water; the water is snow and ice-fed from the top of the nearest large mountain.) Good stuff. About $20.00 for the two on the left; about $22.00 for the bottle on the right.

Fresh Raamen

Fresh Raamen
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Fresh noodles that actually bend when you twist them and have a use-by-date that is closer to the date of purchase than the instant dehydrated noodles. These were quite tasty. They are also more expensive (about $3.00) than the instant version. But I must point out, taste and quality of life is so much more important than instant gratification. Isn't it?

Cold Raamen Noodles

Cold Raamen Noodles
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Noodles for something called Zaru Raamen which is a cold raamen dish wherein you dip the noodles into a sauce with green onions and wasabi to give them some taste. I have no idea why ordinary raamen noodles aren't used for zaru raamen. I'm guessing someone believes these noodles taste better cold than cooked, but I'm just guessing. If you know, please let me know so I can tell the world. (And give you credit for exposing my ignorance, of course.)

A Quarter of a Stack

A Quarter of a Stack
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Thousands of styrofoam cups full of dehydrated noodles to choose from at this store. Similar scenery in grocery stores and convenience stores all over the islands of Japan and, I guess, increasingly in other countries as well. Cheap ($1.00 ~ $2.50), quick, instant, and only a smidgen of MSG (go to Nissin's webpage to find out how much.)

HachiBan Raamen, Redux.

HachiBan Raamen, Redux.
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

HachiBan Raamen is fast, relatively good. About 120 stores nation-wide and some good comments from various sources about their stores in Thailand. I've never eaten in one in Thailand but I've eaten in several here.

Bo Raamen Kyushu Aji

Bo Raamen Kyushu Aji
Originally uploaded by Tedori.

Tastes good, too. You'll notice it has Kyushu Aji written on the right side. Does this make it tonkotsu raamen? Not according to the ingredient label but who knows, eh?

The Not-So-Instant/Not-So-Slow

Instant Raamen

Went foraging for food the other evening only to discover, stacked silently behind a horde of instant raamen (Cup Noodles and Sapporo) this not-so-instant raamen (see the photo of the empty package above. Yes, of course it's empty. You don't think I'd tell you about raamen I haven't eaten yet, do you?) The noodles are not flash fried but are relatively fresh. i.e. they are soft to the touch and bend when bent. The recipe on the back says boil water, drop the noodles in, wait three minutes. Pour the noodles and dashi into a raamen bowl, add whatever else you want in your noodles and eat. Pretty simple but the taste was miles above instant noodles.

Went to a Street Festival...

...And Found Three New Raamen Possibilities.

There was a street festival in another city and we drove up to it, parked the car and walked around looking at all the crap people were trying to sell; it was sad, if you will, because some of the vendors had zero customers and others had two or three. It looked like nobody went to the festival to buy anything, but just to be with friends. Lots of groups hanging out. Mostly what looked like high school and junior high students but some older people, too. Almost no families, of course.

So, as we were walking around looking at all the stuff we weren't going to buy, we wandered into a store and I found some not-quite instant noodles. Later, we walked past a couple of places with that unmistakable aroma of freshly skewered pork, lightly boiled veggies, and dashi. Yes, a couple of raamen shops I hadn't seen before! Great!

Not-quite Instant
First, I found not-instant raamen noodles. Just the noodles. You have to provide your own veggies and soup. I haven't tried them yet, but the next time I'm hungry I'll give them a shot. By the way, the noodles aren't small and hard. They're soft, long, and pale. Like some people's legs.

Raamen Shop One
It looked clean. A little too clean. But it had the same layout as cheaper shops. The pictures of the raamen on the menu looked like a nice variety: tonkotsu, miso etc. We didn't have time to try it but I wrote a mental note on my brain to get back to it for lunch someday. When I glanced in I saw:
• A counter person cleaning the counter,
• dark wood counters with matching stools,
• no customers.

Okay, it was six in the evening and most people are either on their way or left early and some people don't think of raamen as a dinner; more of an after dinner/before bed snack, but not one single raamenhead sitting in the place staring down at the empty bowl? If I don't zip down soon, it might not be around.

Raamen Shop Two
Like a submarine, this was a dive. A cockroach-infested, smoke-filled hole-in-the-wall. Total capacity might be five customers. Maybe six if they really like each other. Tonkotsu raamen seemed to be the dive's specialty, according to the faded picture on the only menu, which was tacked to the door. Definitely a great place for a cheap lunch. Definitely going to bicycle on down for a quick bite.

What do Yale, Techno and Fred Ramen...

...Have in Common? Raamen!

Fred Ramen
Go to Rosen Publishing to find a list of books written by Fred Ramen. He writes a lot of biographies of various nefarious humans (lightly termed 'humans') such as Albert Speer ("Hitler's Architect") and that Hermann Goering guy ("Hitler's Second-in-Command") and less volatile humans such as Hernando Cortes, Jerry West, and Joe Montana. Fred also writes about the Constitution of the US and has a historical map of Iran. He writes for the Young Adult market and several of his non-fiction books are recommended for schools. (The link above takes you to his "A Historical Atlas of North America Before Columbus.")

You might wonder why Rosen Publishing has so many typos on their site (Goering is spelled Goring; Hernando is spelled Hernan), but that doesn't detract from the fact they have a Ramen (even if it does have only one 'A') on their list of authors.

Shirts Plus
At Techno Ramen you can get a thong. Or a bunch of shirts with テクノラーメン imprinted on them. (That's katakana for Techno Ramen.) The thong and a hoodie are the only items advertised as "Made in the USA." All the other items don't share their country of origin information which can only make one suspect China (country of origin for raamen or 'lau mein').

Yale
The east coast school, not the locksmith. Check out this "Ramen to Riches" story by a Yalie with a background a bit different from most Yalies.

Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Yagoohoogle search for ramen.
A comparison of the three search engines looking for "ramen" reveals
Google ............... 2,690,000
Yahoo ................ 2,470,000
Yagoohoogle.......5,160,000
MSN ................225,999,068

Wow. How does MSN do it? I think they do it by including every website on the 'Net because some of the sites had absolutely nothing to do with raamen. (Check out the "Job and Volunteer Opportunities" site, for example.)

Thanks for dropping by; drop a drop of rum in your raamen and let me know how it turned out.

Alleviate Hunger (hungersite) and Help...

...Others

Please click on the Hunger, Child Health, and Literacy sites. (Here and on the top right of the page.) It costs you nothing, you get to feel good about yourself, and you help others all at the same time. And, if you make them your home site, you can click everyday. And feel good about yourself everyday! Think of the self-satisfaction you'll get from that! (And if you're really hungry yourself, you can click on the World Ramen link and view world ramen.)

Thank you very much.

How Do You Deal with...

...Security cams?

Today's raamen had half an egg, some really small bean sprouts, some oily greasy film on the top, the noodles, a thin slice of fatty pork, and some seaweed, but very little. It cost about US$3.00 and came with nothing. Nada. No onigiri, no pickled cabbage. Nothing. No ambience to speak of, either, as I was snarfing it down in a cafeteria.

However, whilst slurping I meet an Australian and an American who were sucking up to their supervisors, both Americans. Seems both the workers chose the job based on the city rather than the job itself. This didn't make their supervisors estatic, but they were only being honest.

We discussed, among other things, the presence of spy cameras in their office. They were placed there for 'security reasons,' according to their supervisors, who answered questions and then remained silent. Spy-like silent, I might add. Naturally. But we think the real reason is to catch white-collar theft.

Regardless, we proposed ways of circumventing the cameras, the easiest of which was to turn it off. Whoa, what a concept. The others included making a tape-loop of you working hard; turning the camera toward the window so the supervisors could see how the weather was doing; turning the camera toward the supervisors' offices so they could see how they were doing - not a popular one among the, uh, supervisors.

The raamen was mediocre to average while the conversation was above average. Probably because of the mix of nationalities. It was a shio (salt) raamen. Next week I'm going to try the tonkotsu (pork bone?) Kyushu-style raamen.

More when I eat more. (This is ironic.) Help others. Click here: The HungerSite

Raamen has Two A's...

...Doesn't it?

Every site and every book I read about raamen spells it with one A. Why? Because people spell it that way? Then, why do I spell it with two? To be different? To be contrary? To bne out of step with the rest of society? Yes. However, in my defense I must insist that, in Japanese, raamen is written ラーメン. Now, what does that long hyphen mean? To me it means stretch it out, say it long, say it proud. So, raaaaaaamen. To me 'ramen' is too short, too insincere, too Westernized thinking. Raaaaaaaamen. Sounds great. Maybe a few too many 'a's, so, raamen. "Ramen" would be written in Japanese as ラメン. (Without the hyphen.)

Trendy

There were/are two raamen shops near where I live. One was very trendy with jazzy music, lots of wood, plants, sharp-dressing waiters and waitresses, unique and stylish bowls and chopsticks. Plenty of parking. Went out of business in a year.

The other one, of course, was a pit: dirty, small, cramped, the owner/cook was brusque (not rude, just not kind). Been in business for decades. The cook probably bought his house, sent his kids through college and vacations in Spain for a month every year.

Maybe the trendy one ran by a different business plan: a certain percentage of return on investment had to be met and it wasn't. The stinky-poo shop probably works on the 'I made money' school of business.

In any case, check out Mr. Trendy Organic Raamen Man in another city. Especially read the last paragraph about what a traditional raamen shop is. I liked the "dingy joints, their counters crowded with chopsticks..." They left out the cockroaches. Out of the article, not the raamen. Raamen shops, the greasy chopsticks of Japan.

Nutrition

By the way, one thing raamen isn't is low in sodium. Check this out for the nutritional love raamen slurps your way. If you go to Nissin's website and slide on over to the FAQ, you might notice most of the questions have to do with the health or non-health aspects of their Top Ramen and Cup Noodles. Hmmm. Nutrition and Raamen. Sounds like a good research project for some underpaid, over-stressed PhD candidate.

More when the hunger strikes.

A Good Raamen Shop Should Have...

...Cockroaches.

Big ones. Hungry ones. By cockroaches, of course, I mean big friggin' black cockroaches that fly when too irritated and can take the arms off of a small bird. Preferably a Blatta orientalis, the most common creepy from Japan. Why? (I mean, besides being able to find a roach in your raamen environment.) Because raamen is not health food; despite what some raamen apologists claim. Healthy? It's noodles floating in pork (read: dead and boiled pigs) bits.

If you've ever been in Japan and if you've gone drinking with your buddies in Japan then you know that after a few hefty bottles of sake or shochu (my favorite deadly drink.), your buddies will drag your inebriated soul to a raamen shop. A cheap one. Where you will be expected to consume oily, greasy, pork-ladden soup with vegies. And maybe a couple of onigiri. Why? Because you need something to throw up. Nothing worse on the train station or in the back of a taxi than dry heaving in a foreign language.

Raamen. A great food. I love it. And it's not just for after drinking anymore either. You can have it for lunch! In bright and shiny new chain raamen shops. With cheerful waitresses in bright white uniforms and charming smiles. Boring! Boring! Raamen is meant to be slurped down in a dive. With a crappy TV in the corner with bad reception. Or a radio (ever been to Japan? And you listened to the radio? Why?) just slightly out of tune that nobody listens to anyway.

More in two seconds; I need a bowl.

What in the World Happened...

... In Nebraska on this date in 1916?

My mother was born. Thus setting the stage for this blog about raamen and it's lore and love. Would my mother approve of my mating cockroaches and pigs in a blog on a food item? I don't think so. She may have never eaten raamen. She's eaten spaghetti. And what's the connection? Noodles. She did, however, instill a bit of a wanderlust in her offspring, thus giving me about two thousand addresses before I finally landed where I am now: Japan, for those interested. Other places being Washington, Wisconsin, Virginia, and a bunch of smaller places in between. (Can you think of something smaller than Lake Delton, WI?)

My mother was quite excited when I landed my first job in Japan. She started planning her vacation to visit me before I even got out of the car at the airport.

First time I stopped in on a raamen shop in Japan I was aghast. Startled. Concerned. Weirded out. Why? The presence of vermin not only on the floor and behind the counter but On the counter, on the walls, on the chopsticks. And, in one exciting moment, in the raamen. Oooh, lovely sight. Sharing your raamen with another of God's little creatures. I nearly upchucked my sake but that would've been a waste of several hundreds of dollars of good alcohol and several hours of mindless drinking.

How can you dislike a food whose whole preparation is diametrically opposed to cleanliness and readily acceptable levels of restaurant hygene?

In the next post, more about raamen.

More to Raamen than Raamen

Working Raamen Sites

For Fueled By Ramen records ("No Food, No Sleep, Just Records") and their very lively bands (Check out "I think Patrick Swayze is Sexy" by Kane Hodder) go to: Fueled By Ramen

For online renting of English-subtitled Asian DVDs including Japanese anime, rush off to the aptly named RamenCity at, aptly enough: RamenCity

To find out that instant noodles (Top Ramen, Cup Noodles) is an invention of Momofuku Ando and rakes in hundreds of billions of dollars a year (okay, $10 billion), go to Straight Dope at Straight Dope

(plus, I wanted to write Straight Dope on my blog. I mean, roaches are always welcome at raamen shops.) Mind you, of course, instant noodles are to raamen what an open, festering gunshot wound is to a nice bottle of chianti in a lover-friendly lounge with good live jazz.

If you want to brush up on your Japanese skills you can go here to find out that Japan has 12,634 raamen shops. I don't think so. I think there are a few thousand not counted. I mean, is this site talking about raamen shops or chain stores with bright lights? I don't know either. You be the judge (or teller) at the RamenBank at RamenBank

And if you still want to eat instant raamen in less than three minutes or so, go to this site and download a timer so you won't oversleep and miss that gourmet meal. (Instant noodles, the devil's plaything.) Timer

More on raamen after a quick snack, but thanks for all the folks above for proving raamen doesn't have to be about just noodles anymore.

What is Raamen and ...

...How Can it be Cured?

Raamen is not that university student garbage in the styrofoam (environmentally friendly students always use it, eh?) cup. Those are instant noodles, the Asian fast-food invention of the 50s, when Japan was on the verge of starvation. Understand that? On the verge, the precipice, the edge of dying from hunger. They - they being Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin Foods (the home of Top Ramen and Cup Noodles) - invented instant noodles in that instant, 1958, and behold, they didn't.

Raamen, on the other chopstick, is a nice soup (broth, stock, dashi, whatever) into which are placed a variety of vegetables and other food items such as seaweed, an egg (or half of one, anyway), onions, a wonton or two, bean sprouts, mushrooms of a Japanese variety, and - often - a hunk of sliced, diced, brunt pig. (pork, for you meateaters, the other white meat.) There's tonkotsu ramen (pork), miso raamen (miso), shio raamen (salt), and shoyu raamen (soy sauce).

Naturally there are a few billion recipes for different kinds of raamen, like curry raamen. If you want to see 268 (and growing) recipes, check out Matt Fischer.

Raamen: the noodles, the topping, the broth. These simple three ingredients have a great variety of variation; lots. In fact, you can make a vegetarian raamen (leave out the pork, duh.) or a spicy hot raamen (add kimchi maybe?) if you want to. The point is, raamen is not instant noodles. Thank you very much.

More seriousness later, maybe.