SOBAHOUSE金色不如帰
そばはうすこんじきほととぎす
Shoyu ramen (+ ontama and yakinori): 18 / 20
Hototogisu had been on my radar for quite some time already, but I never found the occasion to push a couple of stations west from Shinjuku to go there. Finally it was time to try this monument of the ramen world and I went there around 1 pm on a wednesday. Twenty minutes after starting queuing, I could order and seat in the pleasant restaurant; ten minutes later, my soup arrived - the shoyu with ontama and yakinori.
Eating at Hototogisu was a quite holistic experience, and because of this, I should change a bit my usual, analytical way of presenting ramen. The first sips and bites were slightly disappointing: the soup tasted relatively mild, the noodles were slightly too soft and the meat was nothing remarkable. However, as I continued eating, the full potential of all these ingredients started to express and they blended in a truly wonderful way. The shoyu broth, flavored with clam as you will read everywhere (honestly, I would not have identified the taste) had a remarkable sweetness and thin smoothness, which was perfectly accompanied by the relatively soft noodles - it felt like biting on some wadding; the firm chashu, though not exceptional, brought some texture in this ocean of softness, and the four slices of yakinori a pleasant crispyness. The menma were absolutely remarkable: thick, soft, mild and a bit sweet, very juicy - some of the best I’ve ever eaten; some additional, thinner menma and negi were sprinkled among the noodles. Finally, the ajitama was also a model: the tasty white revealed an interesting gradation in cooking, with a very firm edge, and a more liquid inner part; the yolk was gooey at places, slightly firmer at other, but pleasant everywhere. This ajitama was a rainbow of taste.
The whole thing infused a homogeneity and a coherence that I rarely tasted anywhere - eating this with Prince’s Purple Rain on the radio, in front of this bright white counter surrounded by a pitck black atmosphere, made me feel like I just had fallen in some kind of alternative dimension. Shoyu may not be my favourite broth flavor, the meat may not be perfect, but this is a remarkable bowl that you have to try.
More info on ramendb.
Other links: Ramen Adventures, Gastrolust, Confused abc, Foodsaketokyo, Timeout
そばはうすこんじきほととぎす
Shoyu ramen (+ ontama and yakinori): 18 / 20
Hototogisu had been on my radar for quite some time already, but I never found the occasion to push a couple of stations west from Shinjuku to go there. Finally it was time to try this monument of the ramen world and I went there around 1 pm on a wednesday. Twenty minutes after starting queuing, I could order and seat in the pleasant restaurant; ten minutes later, my soup arrived - the shoyu with ontama and yakinori.
Eating at Hototogisu was a quite holistic experience, and because of this, I should change a bit my usual, analytical way of presenting ramen. The first sips and bites were slightly disappointing: the soup tasted relatively mild, the noodles were slightly too soft and the meat was nothing remarkable. However, as I continued eating, the full potential of all these ingredients started to express and they blended in a truly wonderful way. The shoyu broth, flavored with clam as you will read everywhere (honestly, I would not have identified the taste) had a remarkable sweetness and thin smoothness, which was perfectly accompanied by the relatively soft noodles - it felt like biting on some wadding; the firm chashu, though not exceptional, brought some texture in this ocean of softness, and the four slices of yakinori a pleasant crispyness. The menma were absolutely remarkable: thick, soft, mild and a bit sweet, very juicy - some of the best I’ve ever eaten; some additional, thinner menma and negi were sprinkled among the noodles. Finally, the ajitama was also a model: the tasty white revealed an interesting gradation in cooking, with a very firm edge, and a more liquid inner part; the yolk was gooey at places, slightly firmer at other, but pleasant everywhere. This ajitama was a rainbow of taste.
The whole thing infused a homogeneity and a coherence that I rarely tasted anywhere - eating this with Prince’s Purple Rain on the radio, in front of this bright white counter surrounded by a pitck black atmosphere, made me feel like I just had fallen in some kind of alternative dimension. Shoyu may not be my favourite broth flavor, the meat may not be perfect, but this is a remarkable bowl that you have to try.
More info on ramendb.
Other links: Ramen Adventures, Gastrolust, Confused abc, Foodsaketokyo, Timeout
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