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.