The day started out a little shaky as Husband and I had
attended a live heavy metal show at a local music hall. What was already pretty
entertaining was made even more so by the group of about ten elderly people
that showed up and were, in fact, not in the wrong place. Watching the band,
while the peeking at the group of senior citizens bobbing their head to the
screaming music, definitely made for a memorable night. The next day, we kept
with the musical theme by attending an outdoor, live DJ show at a park in a
nearby town. After mingling and having a couple beers, our group agreed that we
should get some Ramen.
In the hopes of such an occurrence, I had remembered to
bring the stamp book with me. One of the last remaining shops in the Joetsu
vicinity was located in the roadside shopping area, the same one that we had
previously visited for an earlier adventure. Conveniently, it was not too far
from the park where we had been watching the DJ. The strip of stores and
restaurants was not as busy as it had been before; this weekend was not a
holiday. The shop, 食堂ミサ (Shokudo-Misa) still had a fair sized group, I learned
that the shop is actually pretty popular and the owner runs more than just the
one restaurant.
Wanting to follow the recommendation of the Komachi
magazine, I ordered their signature 味噌 (miso) Ramen. Having never been a
follower of such soup, there is not much ground on which to compare. When the
soup arrived, the first thing anyone would notice was the pile of onions
creating a small mountain atop the noodles. The slightly overbearing scent of
garlic accompanied the obvious aroma of the onions. The two, along with the
already salty and almost sweet flavor of the味噌,
combined to create an interesting bowl of Ramen.
The noodles were good, but there were really not enough of
them to compete with the sheer amount of onions that covered the entire bowl.
While I do not hate onions, there seemed to be just too many to finish. The
slice of chashu was a nice finishing touch; it was tender and juicy but a little
lacking in taste.
Husband was not in the Ramen mood, especially when he was
told the restaurant offered katsu-curry-rice. He is a sucker for that breaded
pork cutlet sitting on a mound of rice and slathered in hearty curry gravy. He
happily ordered it, hoping for a nice filling lunch, and was given a platter of
food. The order also included soup and salad on the side. Needless to say,
Husband stuffed himself and was full for the rest of the night.
On the way out the door, the book was given stamp number
nineteen. This shop will stick in my mind due to the pile of onions on my
Ramen, and because when the shopkeeper stamped my book, she accidentally held the
stamp upside down and now there is one little “bowl” that stands out. With only
a handful of weeks left, the challenge is nearly two-thirds of the way
completed. It is now time to gear up for the final haul.
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| 食堂ミサ (Shokudo-Misa) |
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| Garlic-y, onion-y Miso Ramen. |
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| Not Ramen, but Husband's curry platter was definitely photo-worthy. |
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