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:

"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.

I then bought another food guide book, published by Tabelog:
[image loading]

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.

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 +

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 +

A random shot of Omotesando (another shopping district in Tokyo, a more elegant 5th Ave is how I would describe it) at night.

More to come: Italian and French lunching.

Judicator

United States7270 Posts

June 03 2010 15:01 GMT

I hate you for the food you got to eat.

fanta[Rn]

Japan2465 Posts

June 03 2010 15:11 GMT

Great blog!
Makes me so hungry, I'll check out the #1 ramen shop in august. Very excited about it, how much earlier should one arrive to still get a bowl?

Last year we came across this very delicious yakitori place at Ueno station, if you have a chance you should eat there. The chicken mixed with the sauce it came with melted in my mouth. Sadly they ran out of chicken by 3 pm and we only had two pieces each

. I don't quite remember where it is exactly, hope I can find it again this summer though. If you need more pictures poke me.
[image loading]

Disregard

China10252 Posts

June 03 2010 15:20 GMT

I have never found the special flair of shark fin soup, the expensive stuff is flavorless as it is. But all this ramen and peking ducks is sure making me hungry.

How was the gyzoa?

Have to get to the Japanese marketplace in New Jersey to get some products.

Oh and the last 2 pictures, it doesnt really come to mind but Ive eaten that many times. What is it called again?

pash1k

Ukraine119 Posts

June 03 2010 15:47 GMT

I love good food - this blog post makes me so happy

I really appreciate it when people recognize good food and don't just stick with eating crap every day. Of course, even the occasional crap tastes good, but we must recognize it as such and not try to label it as good.

Scaramanga

Australia8090 Posts

June 03 2010 15:51 GMT

:D awesome blog, tyvm

Monokeros

United States2493 Posts

June 03 2010 15:54 GMT

I just ate breakfast and now I am hungry again, so cruel.

snowbird

Germany2044 Posts

June 03 2010 15:54 GMT

Wow this looks so good, reminds me of that incredibly good Tsukemen restaurant in Setagaya

[image loading]

FragKrag

United States11549 Posts

June 03 2010 15:58 GMT

omfgggg those noodles look so good.

You are a cruel man Cambium

lokiM

United States3407 Posts

June 03 2010 16:06 GMT

#10

looks so fucking good, these are blogs you love to hate

condoriano

United States826 Posts

June 03 2010 16:08 GMT

#11

Picture of the week.

Jibba

United States22883 Posts

June 03 2010 16:09 GMT

#12

I think I've been to that Chinese restaurant. I was not thrilled with the shark fin soup or jellyfish noodles. So cruel, and so gross. :|

GL with Japanese Italian/French food. D:

Piste

6174 Posts

June 03 2010 16:25 GMT

#13

are you rich?

Disregard

China10252 Posts

June 03 2010 16:51 GMT

#14

On June 04 2010 01:09 Jibba wrote:
I think I've been to that Chinese restaurant. I was not thrilled with the shark fin soup or jellyfish noodles. So cruel, and so gross. :|

GL with Japanese Italian/French food. D:

Jellyfish is soooooooooooooo good for an appetizer or just with rice. With some sesame oil and seeds.

edit: Im pretty sure not the first time someone has asked that Piste.

Piste

6174 Posts

June 03 2010 17:26 GMT

#15

Yea I'm pretty sure about that too. There have been too many people on earth for that question not been asked already. And I've heard that question before also.

hifriend

China7935 Posts

June 03 2010 17:42 GMT

#16

The japanese are kinda good at italian, strangely.

FoieGras

Canada270 Posts

June 03 2010 18:58 GMT

#17

Looks so good. Would definitely like to try sometime when I get a chance to go to Japan.

Carnivorous Sheep

Baa?21242 Posts

June 03 2010 20:56 GMT

#18

Quan Ju De is amazing <333

And now I want some ramen ;;

zZygote

Canada898 Posts

June 03 2010 20:59 GMT

#19

Why do you tease me with such delicious Japanese food!

Damnit I hate how its so damn expensive here in BC especially... While we have a lot you'd think they'd be a lot more affordable!

koreasilver

9109 Posts

June 03 2010 23:14 GMT

#20

Holy god that tonkotsu ramen looks delicious.

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