優: Bowl #6

Last, but not least, for this day full of catching up with my blog posts is a tribute to 面工房 優 (Men-koubou Yuu) which pretty much means "Noodle Workshop: Superior". Located in a shopping area on the edge of town, it had been overlooked by us in the past. Husband and I had previously eaten at the Chinese restaurant right in front of this Ramen shop, and now we both wish we had ventured into the maze of stores a little further. Either way, we had a great lunch. In the Komachi magazine this shop comes in at number five on the "shops to check out" list and boasts a whole half page spread describing the unique noodles they offer. Not only do they offer the standard white Ramen noodles, they also make a chili pepper and a seaweed variety.

After ordering by means of the ticket machine at the entrance (our favorite way to place an order) we sat down and observed the restaurant. There is the usual counter seating, but where as you can usually see into the kitchen and watch what the chefs are doing, at this location there is a tall wall partitioning the two areas. Since the view was restricted, we opted for the tables along the back. 

As you may have noticed in my earlier posts, I have an affinity for chashu-men and shoyu broths. Even though I did stick with my favorite style of shoyu soup since it was praised in the article, the Husband decided to try another recommendation; the spicy 坦々面 (tantan-men). Also with a proud spot on the page of the magazine, the 坦々面 was praised for the chili pepper noodles. Actually, all the noodles used by this shop were being recognized for the use of 100 percent local wheat.

An option not shown in the magazine was their house つけ面 (tsuke-men - dipping noodles). The two guys sitting next to us each ordered this course and were presented with a bowl of noodles about the size of the wheel of our car. A mountain of noodles surrounded by small mounds of sides with the bowl of strong broth for dipping completed this dish, and they were nice enough to let us snap a picture.

Our own bowls arrived and we eagerly tucked in. The shoyu Ramen had a slight seafood scent which was due to the fact that they use pork, chicken and seafood elements in their soup. The noodles were wonderfully thick and chewy, with broth clinging generously to them. The rest of the toppings were the ordinary green onion and nori as well as menma pieces that were thick and blocky like small books. The chashu was flavorful and tender, and rounded out my bowl of Ramen quite nicely.

Now for the double feature, Husband’s坦々面 was not as spicy as the reddish orange chili oil floating in the broth would suggest, but the bowl still packed a little heat.  The combination of pork stock, sesame paste, minced garlic, and finely ground black pepper delivered a flavorful bite with every chili laden slurp.  When the ramen first arrived all you could see was bright red puddle of steaming liquid with a stem of bok choy and what looked like an Italian style meatball floating in it.  Upon further inspection Husband found a tangle of red chili noodles hiding beneath the surface.  The noodles were the same great texture and thickness we both have come to love, but with a slightly

spicy flare which my Mexican food and hot wing addicted Husband enjoyed.  The meatball, made of minced pork, was both salty and sweet with a thick vinegar tone to it.  Solid at first, a quick jab with the chopsticks crumbled the ball into hundreds of tiny pieces which all found their way into the space between the noodles giving every spicy bite a tasty, cooling follow up.

On our way out the door the book received the sixth stamp. I did notice the bonus quiz question hanging on the wall, but since there is only a requisite of three answers it was not added to the book. I suppose if it is decided we like one shop more than another it can always be changed, so the answer has been logged away if it is in fact needed. Though there is still a long way to go, being 1/5 of the way through feels like a rewarding accomplishment, especially since it has only been one week.

面工房 優 (Men-koubou Yuu)

The ticket machine for ordering.

Nice, clear shoyu broth with a medley of toppings.

Close up shot of the plump, chewy noodles.

坦々面 (tantan-men)

Red, chili pepper noodles along side the mince pork "meatball" before it disintegrated. 

Something to try on another visit; the wheel-sized bowl of つけ面 (tsuke-men) with full toppings and dipping broth.

The stamp book with 6/30 marks!
Each shop has their own number.

えいしん: Bowl #5

After reading about this restaurant in the magazine I was really excited to try it out. From the pictures alone it was obvious that the soup would be to Husband’s and my liking. えいしん (Eishin) is located a little out of town on the way north along the beach towards Niigata city. We have passed by it a few times on our way to go swimming in the ocean and avoid the “海の家 (umi no ie)”, or “pay us to go to the beach”, setups that occupy Joetsu’s city beach area.

The Komachi magazine has reviews of all the shops and breaks them down into categories like こってり (kotteri, - rich flavor), つけ面 (tsukemen - cold noodles for dipping into a separate broth), or 辛い (karai - spicy). えいしん is listed under the top ten to check out for their chashu. The Japanese believe that うま味 (umami) is the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, bitter and salty and is said to be a taste all its own along the lines of what we would call savory. Wikipedia’s description of うま味 states that:

People taste umami through receptors for glutamate, commonly found in its salt form as the food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG). For that reason, scientists consider umami to be distinct from saltiness.

The magazine describes the chashu at えいしんas rich with うま味, so it was clear we were in for a savory delight for our dinner.

As previously mentioned, Husband and I have a preference for rich, strong flavoring when it comes to Ramen broth. When our bowls were handed to us over the counter from the chef we instantly knew we were not going to be disappointed. The aroma alone was incredible, hearty notes of pork wafted up from the steaming bowl. The soup was clear, brown, and rich with shoyu flavor. After spending the first few minutes just lapping up spoonfuls of the delicious broth, which was very light for being so flavorful, we moved on to the rest of the bowl. The noodles were straight and thin, but with great texture and cooked perfectly. There were no doubts about the noodles not being done right after seeing the chef testing the doneness of the boiling hot noodles by checking them with his bare hands.

The Ramen was topped with the usual menma and sliced green onions, but a first for us on this adventure was a piece of steamed bok choy. And then there was the chashu. The magazine certainly did not mislead us in believing that this pork would be amazing. We each ordered chashu-men so as to have more than just one or two pieces to enjoy, and we are both thankful we chose this option. The meat was so soft and tender it fell apart with the slightest pressure. The flavor can only be described as the truest definition of うま味. The whole bowl came together in a perfect collaboration of savory meat, rich broth and chewy noodles.

The Husband was in heaven. He is, obviously, the biggest fan of my homemade Ramen experiments, and stated that this was the closest in taste to how I make mine. A great compliment to me as I was worried my soup may be a little too rich for some. Clearly this isn’t an issue at えいしん as this shop has been open for at least thirty years and has also been doing delivery Ramen for that long. Delivery Ramen! We got to watch the staff assemble quite a large delivery order that came in by phone while we were eating. Each bowl was assembled, covered in a rubber banded saran wrap combo, stacked in a shelved metal box and then whisked away by the fanny-pack wearing wife of the chef.

Fully satisfied we paid for our dinner and left the shop, only after checking out the third and final bonus quiz question. It asked if the stools seats that lined the counter were green, they were red so this was another X mark circled in the stamp book. Upon further translation attempts, I think the quiz has something to do with choosing your three favorite shops and answering the questions to win a bonus prize. えいしん will certainly make the list for being one of our top three favorite spots in town.

えいしん (Eishin)

Chashu-men upon first glance. Clear broth, tender pork, and bok choy floating at the top.

It was difficult to stop eating to snap this second picture in order to show the noodles.

しょうじ: Bowl #4

It was a rainy Friday, perfect noodle weather, so Ramen was a no-brainer for lunch on such a dreary day. Already having been to しょうじ (shouji) noodle shop on a previous occasion did not require so much research into what to expect. Their soup is tonkotsu style, which means it is heavily flavored from pork that is boiled for a much longer time and is cloudy with chunks of fat floating around creating an awesome richness. しょうじ takes over two days to prepare their soup using locally sourced pig bones as the base for their stock. There are two options for the soup when you order; こってり (kotteri), which has pieces of pork back fat floating in the broth, orあっさり (assari), which is a lighter version with less fat.

Being a fan of stronger flavor, and not wanting to miss out on their most popular signature bowl, I naturally went for the stronger こってり Ramen. I stuck with regular Ramen, forgoing my love of extra slices of chashu for the sake of my afternoon full of teaching classes. Sitting at the counter offered me a nice view into the kitchen area where I could watch the method of their Ramen creation. Tonkotsu broth is ladled into the bowl and then a scoop of extra fat is shaken through a sieve over the top. Chunks of gooey pork pieces fly everywhere.

After receiving my bowl I take in the carefully perfected plating display. The noodles are topped with slices of pork, a healthy amount of bean sprouts, sliced green onions, a sheet of nori and saffron. Saffron! I don’t think I have eaten saffron in many other dishes, but here it is sitting on top of my bowl of noodles. Oh how far I have come from the instant Ramen days.

The broth is rich and delicious, the extra strong fatty flavor is not overwhelming, nor does it make you feel like you are eating straight pork fat (even though you basically are). The noodles are made in my favorite style; thicker and wavy, they grab on to the broth and ensure you receive the full flavor of the soup with every bite. The chashu pork is excellent, which is no surprise with how carefully they select the pig bones for their soup stock. I am not the biggest fan of bean sprouts, some are okay, but this bowl of noodles certainly comes with far more than I would normally desire. This fact doesn’t detract too much from the great, meaty flavor of the Ramen bowl as a whole.

After paying for my lunch, one girl, who was working the kitchen, saw me trying to carefully read and understand the bonus quiz question that was posted at the register. She helped me figure out that it was asking about the color of the little bowl that is pictured on the しょうじ sign mounted on the roof of the shop. The answer came to be a “no” as it is not black, the bowl is red. Husband was not with me on this lunch adventure, he was with me the first time we ate at しょうじ, but I am betting I could get him to eat there again as he has recently fallen in love with the fatty tonkotsu broth. しょうじ is definitely worth repeat visits. 

しょうじ sign against the gray sky.

Toppings carefully organized atop the rich broth and chewy noodles.
Note the fatty bits splattered around the edge of the bowl.

Just had to get a closer shot of the thicker style of noodles.
Also, you can see the rich color of the broth from under the fat in the spoon.

"The bowl that is drawn on the しょうじ sign is black".
Clearly, as seen in the first picture, it is red.

雪山行きたい: Bowl #3

My work day ends a whole thirty minutes earlier than usual on Thursdays (8:30pm instead of 9:00pm) and I was intent on trying out a new shop for my third bowl of the challenge. In the magazine I noticed the name of this particular restaurant 雪山行きたい  (Yukiyama Ikitai) which means "I want to go to the snowy mountain"and instantly knew Husband, a diehard snowboarder, would be on board. As well as Ramen, 雪山行きたいoffers お好み焼き (okonomiyaki); a kind of cabbage, meat, and batter pancake that is grilled and covered in sauce. Husband loves お好み焼き, so this was just another selling point. The shop also stays open until 10:00pm unlike many others in the area that have an average closing time of 8:00pm.

We had the place to ourselves when we arrived and promptly ordered a bowl of their house chashu-men and pork with kimchi お好み焼き which was to then be grilled by us on the teppanyaki fixed into the middle of the table. The proprietress was very kind and asked if we had cooked our own お好み焼き before, and even though we said we already had experience she helped us through the process. Once it was grilling away she brought out the Ramen.

The broth had a hearty chicken flavor that was not too fatty, or not fatty enough. My childhood love of chicken noodle soup was awakened and I would definitely welcome a bowl after a long day of snowboarding. Not to sound cheesy what with the name of the shop and all, I’m sure this was just what they were going for.

Nice fatty slices of chashu were arranged around the bowl, they were juicy and flavorful. Menma and strips of seaweed completed the toppings. The noodles were chewy and firm, a nice combination. I can remember being so disappointed with my instant Ramen when the noodles were forgotten in the pot, or sat in the broth for too long, and became soggy piles of mush so it is so nice to be eating noodles that have been carefully made and correctly cooked to perfection.

All in all it was a good dinner. We chatted with the owners about snowboarding for a little while after our meal (they commented on Husband’s Volcom Stones tattoos on his arm) and then I received my third stamp in my book. Unbeknownst to me at the start of this challenge, there is also a quiz question posted at each participating shop. Answering the yes-no question in the stamp book after reading the question adds to the prize yield once the challenge is finished. This shop’s question asked if there are teppanyaki grills in the center of the tables, the answer obviously being “yes”. Only three question answers are required by the challenge and I am looking forward to figuring out the next one, which is more of a challenge for me what with having to try and accurately translate it!

雪山行きたい - I want to go to the snowy mountain

House chashu-men

The first bonus quiz question I answered.

暁: Bowl #2

Heading into my second week of the challenge and I'm already falling behind in my posts. Week one was a success, in my opinion. Visiting four shops put a small, but satisfying, dent in the overall goal of thirty by Halloween. Now that it is my weekend and I have mostly recovered from Husband's big Saturday night birthday bash, it is time to buckle down and write about some tasty noodles. There's nothing like a trip to the beach to catch some last rays of the summer sun to get the creativity moving.

On Wednesday, which was day two of the journey, the husband and I decided on lunch at 暁 (Akatsuki), or "Dawn" when the kanji is translated. He had been to this shop on a previous occasion with a friend and had yet to take me there. Since it is pretty close to our apartment it seemed like a good choice for my lunch break. From what I can surmise with my limited translation skills, the one of the reasons for 暁's popularity is their chashu. It is cooked with secret ingredients at a low temperature and served rare and tender.

We were their first customers of the day and each ordered a bowl of Ramen, one standard order and one chashu-men order. I love Ramen shops (and all restaurants really) that just stick to what they know and do best. The menu at 暁 is this way; no muss, no fuss. The lovely lady who took our order was also the cook who prepared our lunch. The Ramen was ready very quickly and we were able to see a little bit of her well-oiled routine of preparing her bowls. They are proud of their soup with its thick pork broth made from a dashi of pig bones and meat. This was my kind of soup; rich and savory with strong meat and shoyu flavors. Good to the last drop.


After translating the small blurb from the Komachi magazine about this shop, I can fully agree with their reasoning of its popularity. The chashu was definitely unique and unlike the standard slices you get at the quick get in-get out shops scattered throughout Japan. Their pride in their recipe is apparent and it is certainly earned. It had a flavor all its own that was enhanced by the broth. Other mediocre bowls of Ramen rely on the broth to make the chashu have a better flavor, but the juicy pink slices of pork at 暁 could stand all on their own. I wish I could have a thick slab with some mashed potatoes and green beans, like a pot roast dinner.

Also a plus, the noodles were thicker and had great texture. Husband and I are both fond of the thicker cut noodles that maintain a delicious coating of broth as they are slurped up. Nothing is worse than thin, flavorless noodles. 暁 keeps it pretty simple when it comes to other toppings with some pieces of menma (bamboo shoots), cut green onions and a sheet of nori (seaweed). The real focus is meant to be on the savory broth and succulent chashu.

Patiently waiting for 暁 to open.

The no-nonsense menu with chashu-men being the specialty in bold on the right.

The standard Ramen.

The chashu-men. Same as the standard but with more delicious chashu to devour.

Starting Out: Bowl #1

The first shop I decided to grab a bowl of Ramen at is one that is just minutes from my apartment in Joetsu. My husband and I have walked past it many times, mentioned how we should go there sometime, and just never have. Though the date of this post will say otherwise, my first stamp came from this small shop called シンポー軒(Shinpo-ken). Being one of only two customers in the place, it wasn't difficult to find a seat. I ordered their chashu-men (Ramen topped with extra slices of pork) and then observed the older couple work together in the kitchen creating the dish from the various large stock pots that house broth, dashi flavoring and noodle water.

The soup was clear with a nice chicken broth and a slight shoyu (soy sauce) flavor. I am usually partial to stronger broth, but this lighter soup was good for a lunch meal. The noodles were a nice texture and not overcooked and the balance of soup to noodles was good. The chashu was a little bit of a let down. Like most people, I enjoy soft, juicy slices of pork that fall apart with little coaxing. The chashu made at this shop is more on the dry side and not as flavorful as others I have experienced. While not terrible, I wish I had just stuck to the standard Ramen bowl with one or two pieces of pork over the chashu-men with extra pork. The cost between the two is usually a couple bucks and it is pretty disappointing when your extra money didn't reward you with anything noteworthy. I finished my lunch and was rewarded with the first stamp in my book.

シンポー軒(Shinpo-ken)

Clear soup and slices of chashu pork.

Oodles of Noodles

Anyone who knows me (even a little bit) is aware that I love Japanese Ramen. Back in the day we were all in love with instant ramen noodles. Maruchan, Top Ramen, or any of the knock offs were one of the first foods we learned to, and were allowed to, cook on their own. And we loved those dry, salty noodles. My world was forever changed when I visited Japan for the first time on a brief community college language immersion trip where we stayed in Tokyo for two weeks and then in Kyoto for a few days. 

We were taken to a chain Ramen shop by some students who were our welcoming crew. It was nothing special, just a busy little shop that has many sister branches, but it was a revelation for me. After that first bowl of non-instant noodles I knew this was the food for me. I would learn it, I would study it, and I would taste as many bowls as possible. Back in America, I didn't waste any time locating Ramen shops in the area. Lucky for me, my city has a major restaurant industry as well as quite a large Japanese community. I found some shops, ate many bowl of noodles, and then decided to try cooking it myself.

Studying Japanese in college and my growing interest in my new favorite food bore the desire to live in Japan where my two passions are pretty popular. My husband and I decided to set off for Niigata on the Western coast of Japan where I got a job teaching English at a private eikaiwa in Joestu. So now here we are, living and learning about Japan while indulging ourselves in as much local cuisine as possible. Last week, at the bookstore next to my school, I stumbled across a magazine that showcased Ramen in the prefecture. Inside is page after page of shops showing off their signature bowl of soup or special topping and, what's more, a Ramen challenge. Trying a dish at thirty different Ramen shops in Niigata and filling up a stamp book wins you a prize. Challenge accepted.

Now, with my husband in tow, I will visit as many restaurants as possible and try to fill up my stamp sheet before October 31. This is roughly a bowl every other day. Luckily, there are about half the required number of shops in my city area. We will have to do a little traveling for the remaining stamps, but that only means visiting cities that we may not have otherwise seen. Thankfully my husband likes to travel and he supports my passions, no matter how silly they may seem. Here, in my first blog, I will post my progress and review my thoughts of each bowl of soup I try on my way to the goal.

The magazine that started it all.

Stamp book complete with maps sitting upon
of one of the magazine's coupon pages.