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.