Kazuya (Tokyo-to, Meguro-ku)

支那ソバ かづ屋
しなそば かづや
Shinasoba Kazuya

Shirunashi tantanmen: 15 / 20
(汁なし担々麺)

Wontonmen: 15 / 20
(ワンタンメン)

I had to be at Meguro station that evening, and wanted to continue my soupless-ramen comparison before leaving Tokyo. There were not many highly ranked abura soba or mazemen in the area (translate: ‘there were none’), but I could find a well respected restaurant that offered many dishes, including a soupless tantanmen. My friend ordered the specialty of the shop, their wanton ramen. As for me, it had been a while I did not have tantanmen, despite my love of this dish, so I had to try this - interestingly, it came with a side-bowl of broth.

Sauce: A spicy sauce flavored with peanuts and coriander and some spicy, sour laiu.

Noodles: The real letdown of what could have been an awesome bowl: much too soft to my taste (the Chinese influence, I guess).

Meat: As usual, a good and high-quality minced beef meat.

Toppings: There were a few bits of cashew nuts (I guess) sprinkled on the whole thing.

Soup (in the side-bowl): A very good clear broth with a strong niboshi taste.

This bowl had everything to appeal to me: I love tantanmen, I love coriander, I love niboshi broth – so how much could I love the combination of the three? Despite this, those very soft noodles really kind of ruined the harmony – with firmer noodles, it could really have deserved a 17/20. Also, I think that it might be a good idea for the cook to cut the coriander in small bits to infuse more the taste inside the dish (maybe on a side plate for those who don’t like coriander!). But anyway, this is a recommended bowl for sure.

The wantonmen was good too:

Soup: It had a weaker taste of niboshi than the side-bowl of the Shirunashi tantanmen, but it was definitely present.

Meat: A couple of bits of yakibhutan (you know, these chinese-inspired pork slices with a red edge) that did not taste anything special and were therefore quite superfluous.

Toppings: Wonton, obviously, and good ones! With a strong taste of lemongrass. Also, some soft menma with a classical taste.

As the cook explained, both broth are made by a mix of niboshi dashi (I'm not sure if it was the tare, or another soup) and torigara/tonkotsu clear soup that they mix at the last minute. The only difference between the side-bowl of the shirunashi tantanmen and the soup of the wantonmen lies in the mix – there is more niboshi dahshi in the side-bowl, obviously.

More info on ramendb.

Shunnosuke (Osaka-fu, Toyonaka-shi)

しゅんのすけ
しゅんのすけ
Shunnosuke

Hyashi tantanmen: 16 / 20

This restaurant close to Shonai station on Takarazuka line specializes in a variety of chicken-based soup. I was ready to order one of them to challenge my natural lack of interests for chicken-ramen, but then realized that they were also serving a cold tantanmen. I love tantanmen, I love reimen, I had to try this.

Sauce: No real broth, but a white tantanmen sauce with a light but subtle taste.

Noodles: Perfectly cooked, katame in a kind-of-elastic-but-oh-so-pleasant way.

Meat: As usual for tantanmen, there was some ground meat, but this one had an interesting braised after-taste. On top of that, there were two slices of firm chashu. They had the same nice braised after-taste - but otherwise kind of bland (like some average cold roastbeef?), and a part that was way too fat.

Egg: A raw egg topped the whole thing. Mixing it to the sauce it made it pleasantly thicker.

Toppings: A little bit of salad.

I would have given it a 17 without the two relatively uninteresting slices of meat (the ground meat was far enough). It is a very good ramen though; if you like tantanmen and don’t mind raw egg, it is really worth trying.

More information on ramendb.