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.

Ramen Expo, round 3 (Osaka-fu, Suita-shi)

This year, the Ramen Expo at Bampaku Kinen Koen was structured in three rounds in a row, with twelve different ramen shops at each round. I had been to the first round with Ben from Friends in Ramen (here and there), now it was time to go to the third round with my family - and sample as many bowls as we could! Here are a few short reviews.

Enraku x Jirochou: 12 / 20
(えん楽 × ラーメン次郎長)

This bowl was a collaboration between two Hokkaido shops: Enraku, from Hakodate, and Jirochou, from Kayabe. The shio broth, a specialty of Hakodate city, was relatively concentrated in taste and not bad, but well, a shio broth rarely reach etheral heights in taste. The noodles and menma were too soft, and the meat insignificant. The egg was good, though, and the mushroom brought some originality.

More info on ramendb: Enraku, Jirochou.


Ramen Nagi Niboshiou: 17 / 20
(ラーメン凪 煮干王)

The second ramen was the niboshi broth from Tokyo's Nagi. Superb, as usual, and the thick noodles held remakably well the difficult conditions of the Ramen Expo: it takes some time to go from the ramen stand to your seat, and most noodles become quickly too soft, but the Nagi's thick noodles didn't - that’s really the kind of noodles you need in such circumstances! It seemed to me that the meat tasted less good than at the mother shop, though.

More info on ramendb.


Takemotoshouten x Shimadakeimen: 12 / 20
(竹本商店 × 島田製麺食堂)

Two shops from Akita were collaborating for this third bowl. It had a very powerful and quite pleasant shrimp taste. However, the noodles sticked too each other and were too soft, they felt like some kind of pot noodles. The wanton was too soft too.

More info on ramendb: Takemotoshouten, Shimadakeimen


Raatsuu: 8 / 20
(千葉拉麺倶楽部 拉通)

This bowl from Chiba had a ton of meat on top of it - much too fat, unfortunately. The noodles were thin and elastic, and felt like some kind of industrial ready-made noodles. The shoyu broth did not have any special taste, and the menma were quite soft. Why on earth bring to Kansai such an insignificant bowl from as far as Chiba?

More info on ramendb.


Menya Sou: 11 / 20
(麺屋宗)

I was quite eager to finally try this famous Tokyo ramen, and my disappointment was huge. The broth was not unpleasant but relatively unremarkable, and the meat both too fat and too firm. However, the egg was very good and the menma quite interesting: fibrous, with a mild taste of fresh bamboo - they did not have the typical taste of preserved food that you can often find in menma. The last disappointing note were the seaweed and duck-meatballs (flavored with ginger) for which I paid 300 yens more: the idea is original for sure, but they were very average and insignificant. I’m quite puzzled here, is that really this famous ramen everyone adores? I would have to wait one month to discover that it isn’t... Stay tuned!

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Ramen Adventures, Ramenate, Ramen Walker, Ramenislove


Saeki ramen Aikoukai: 16 / 20
(佐伯ラーメン愛好会)

This last ramen was coming from Oita, and had a good broth with a delicious garlic taste - it was apparently tonkotsu, but in a clearly different style from the classical Hakata bowl. The sesame sprinkled on the meat formed a good alliance, and the noodles mixed well with the moyashi. Very convincing.


So, in a nutshell, only two really positive experiences (Nagi and Aikoukai) and four very average bowls - that was not a great success. Clearly, the Ramen Expo is not the perfect place to taste the ramen as you would in their natural environment. Sure, the atmosphere is fun and pleasant, and that's an occasion to discover ramen from other horizons, but some of them are clearly below the quality that you would enjoy in the original restaurant. I had a much better experience during the first round.

Mendokoro Ginzasa (Tokyo, Minato-ku)

麺処 銀笹
めんどころ ぎんざさ

Shio ramen (with ajitama): 18 / 20

Caught in a shio-ramen frenzy, I checked ramendb and discovered that the second most highly rated shio ramen in Tokyo was conveniently located close to Shimbashi (actually, it is a bit in the middle of nowwhere, but still only 10 minutes on foot from the station). Here I go, arriving 3 minutes after the opening of the shop at 11:33. The shop is nearly already full! Quite pleasant restaurant, no counter, only 7 or 8 small tables. I order the shio-ramen with the aji-tama. Here it comes, beautifully presented.

Broth: A classical shio broth. Good, although this was not the highlight of the bowl: everything else was.

Noodles: Yellow and firm noodles, which fit well with the soup.

Meat: A wonderful thick, tender slice of chashu, perfectly salty and braised, with melting fat. Oh boy that’s one of the best chashu I ever had! It gave a delicious braised taste to the soup around it.

Egg: Well-cooked aji-tama with a tasty white part; slightly on the hard side, but this is how it needs to be here, as you don’t want the yolk to spill in a shio broth.

Toppings: A couple of gingery shrimp wantons, tender but including crunchy parts, simply delicious. A few menma, very classical. You also get on a side dish some bits of dry nori, garlic and spice to sprinkle at your convenience in the soup.

So overall, the broth may not be stellar, but all the rest is. The combination of chashu and wanton is brilliant; both shine in their own way. You should not miss this ramen. Hyottoko may beat it for the soup, but all the rest (except menma) is far superior at Ginzasa. This is a clear winner.

More information on ramendb.