EPT+ Show Spoiler +
Last Saturday, I unwillingly dragged myself out of bed early in the morning, left the prosperous Shinjuku/Shibuya on a west-bound train... forty minutes later, found myself on the outskirt of Tokyo, in a tiny station almost in the middle of nowhere. All of this was to line up for a bowl of ramen. The ramen shop is almost the undisputed number one across Japan: ranked as such by prestigious survey sites such as tabelog (Japanese yelp) and ramendb (Japanese yelp for ramen). The ramen shop closes on Wednesdays and Sundays, and opens between 11:30 AM and 3 PM, or until their daily stock runs dry, whichever comes first. Getting in line early was essential! Despite having to wake up at an ungodly hour by weekend standards, I was nevertheless filled with excitement and joy. After a long journey, the ramen shop was found in a hidden alley. Unfortunately, instead of a line of hungry Japanese men, I was greeted with a white sheet of paper:
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0758 (Small).JPG)
"Shit happened, we are closed today for no reason. Honourably." -- That's the gist of it anyway.
FUUUUUUUUUUU. Instant rage.
Hind sight, I am sort of glad that I had missed it, because
a) I am definitely going back, and will eventually taste the best noodles in Japan/the world.
b) Its unexpected closure led me to discover two awesome noodle places.
1. Zenshutoku (全聚徳)
Known for their Peking ducks, this is probably the most famous Chinese restaurant in the world. The flagship restaurant in Beijing has served tens if not hundreds of millions of customers, including national and foreign officials. Its Chinese name, Quan Ju De, has in fact become a household name.
I was lucky enough to stumble upon it in Ginza Tokyo, and decided to relive my memories from four years ago, when I last dined in this very restaurant in Beijing.
In addition to duck, I tried their shark-fin noodles, and it was the most delicious noodles I have ever had, surpassing even the "Chicken Noodle Soup" I had at Morimoto's.
It was very easy to tell that the rich stock was made with duck, what was truly impressive about the noodles was how well they had fused the two ingredients, offering extremely complex layers of flavours.
I don't know if the pictures do them any justice, but I strongly urge people to try it if they have a chance, be it in China or in Japan.
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0763 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0764 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0766 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0772 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0773 (Small).JPG)
I then bought another food guide book, published by Tabelog:
![[image loading]](https://owqaua.bay.livefilestore.com/y1m5hM2NrVwzjbLYmMDTeLEYXckQB4XLeZtb-8WYDH5SOaeort3QqzeTSlCjD76Mrap7UIFUD8BlclUXzaMMBoFKy7iR99MZz9D1E0gu_VgBDO-eCjO2lPe1PXOrKHt6n8MzpL5RWB4TW46F5CnGmBHCA/taberoghon2.jpg)
And I was delighted to discover a highly ranked ramen place (#8) within minutes walking distance to where I live. And naturally, I paid it a visit that very night.
As described in the book, the place stank, but in an interesting way, sort of like blue cheese, the good kind.
The noodles were very thin, like most tonkotsu ramen, and the stock was very rich (felt like I was going to have a heart attack after I drank all the soup). I will most definitely go back... often.
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0794 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0796 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0797 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0804 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0805 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0807 (Small).JPG)
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![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0810 (Small).JPG)
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![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0815 (Small).JPG)
Some other food I had on Sunday:
Kua'Aina burger: It's a decent joint, certainly better than MacDonald's, but I've had much better.
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0832 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0833 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0836 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0837 (Small).JPG)
Maisen: This is actually a very famous tonkatsu joint in Tokyo, and it was indeed very good (they are the 3rd best according to my Zagat book).
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0886 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0892 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0894 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0895 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0896 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0897 (Small).JPG)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0916 (Small).JPG)
A random shot of Omotesando (another shopping district in Tokyo, a more elegant 5th Ave is how I would describe it) at night.
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0930 (Small).JPG)
More to come: Italian and French lunching.
![[image loading]](http://i45.tinypic.com/33lz4pd.png)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2010.05.30/IMG_0810%20(Small).JPG)
