Unagi rice with cold soba (680 yen) at some noodle shop on Waseda Dori, Chiyoda.
When I was slurping ramen with Mai at The Ramen Shop, I vowed to drown myself in ramen when I get to Japan. When I’m in Japan, I get so overwhelmed that I resign to konbini foods. It is too easy to find a soba, udon or ramen joint in Tokyo, the former two often together. Every 20 meter is likely to pack a few shops, and any shop we see likely serves superior fares to the places we’ve tried in the States. June air in Tokyo is as heavy as the steam from the bowl, but it never stops our appetite.
One minor setback: the order machine. It’s simple enough: you decide what you want, insert the money, push a few buttons (or one, if you don’t want to add anything to your order). The problem is reading the all-Japanese labels. I always feel like an idiot when I stare it down for minutes when everyone just punches away. Granted I’ve never taken less than 2 minutes with a candy vending machine in the States either.
Inside a soba and udon shop on Waseda street:
We didn’t pick this place for any reason other than it being on our way to Yasukuni shrine, but I had the best soba here.
A simple hot soba with wakame (sheets of seaweed – the dark green stuff) and tempura mushroom. You can have the tempura on the side or in the soup, I opted for in the soup because I just love the crunchy texture on the verge of turning soggy. The wakame soba by itself would have been 400 yen, tempura boosted it to 470 yen.
The much shorter wait helps: you place the order and get your noodle in hardly 2 minutes. Not because this place was relatively empty. Jangara in Akihabara had a line of tens of salarymen out the door, and my noodles came out before I could even take a picture of the menu.
The Jangara I visisted is a tiny ramen shop in a sidestreet in Akihabara and known for its Kyushu-style ramen (fatty rich broth from pork bones). An acquaintance recommended this place as his childhood favorite and a contributor to propel the status of Kyushu ramen and shape the modern ramen scene in Tokyo. There’s a Jangara in Harajuku with English menu. This one doesn’t (or they didn’t give me one). I was ushered into the very last counter seat (thank god! I was worried that I’d be put between two serious-looking Japanese men and be judged for taking pictures and eating slowly) and given an all-Japanese menu. (Much preferable to the buttons and machines though!)
I sticked to the top few choices that had “Jangara” in the name, and managed to make out “meat” in the sea of kanjis. That was the most important thing, so I thought.
However, I should have studied harder and remembered the character for “egg”, because my ramen did not have a soft-boiled egg. The customer next to me (a few of them actually, they came and went so fast while I was there that I lost count) all had eggs. 🙁 Regardless, this is the best ramen I’ve ever had. Yes, the broth is superior (rich and hot like melted garlic butter), but the noodle won me over. It was round and thin, very slightly curled, and just the right amount of chewiness. The pork belly was a nice accessory but far from necessary.
I still wonder how the salarymen could eat so fast (and drank the whole bowl of broth too!). It made me feel bad that I took about 10 minutes total and couldn’t finish my broth (I didn’t want to burst). I tried very hard to sink into my corner and weaseled my way out as quietly as possible. Hopefully nobody noticed the only girl in the flow of customers.
Address: Kyushu Jangara (九州じゃんがら)
Sotokanda 3-11-6, Chiyoda-ku, TOKYO
(West of Akihabara station)
Jangara ramen with pork: 800 yen
(To be continued)
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Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo
C. is Asian, female, something of a frivolous nature that wishes to go only by C. and so kindly agrees to blog while Mai is head-deep in work and Kristen is away in Seoul.
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