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.