Buson (Nagano-ken, Nagano-shi)

麺屋蕪村
めんやぶそん
Menya Buson

Tsukesoba: 13 / 20
(つけそば)

Buson soba: 15 / 20
(蕪村そば)

Agosoba: 14 / 20
(あごそば)

Nagano prefecture is a pleasant place to go in winter: skiing, seeing monkey bathing in onsen, watching the snow falling... Does enjoying good ramen to the list? To have an idea about that, we went to Buson, the second most highly ranked ramen place in the prefecture on ramendb, and conveniently located near the station. We ordered the tsukesoba, the buson soba, and the agosoba. Let's start with the former.

Broth: A torigara-katsuo broth, a bit fat and simple, that did not stick enough to the noodles.

Noodles: A bit too soft. Is it because I asked them atsumori?

Meat: A few thick dices of meat with some good melting fat.

Toppings: A few mild, thick menma, most of them very firm and fibrous - too much! Lots of white negi. You can also add some mix of spices of yuzukoshio, garlic and momiji oroshi.

Soup wari: You get some chicken broth for the soup wari which changes the not so remarkable broth into an excellent, kind-of-creamy soup. This saved the bowl.

The Buson ramen was less fat than the tsukemen broth and had a more punchy and complex taste - although the soup wari of the tsukemen may have been better. The meat was thick and similar to the one in the tsukemen, and the noodles firmer.

The agosoba uses flying fish for dashi - an interesting twist, although it's difficult to taste the difference. The broth was a bit lighter, kind of intermediate between the buson ramen and a shio broth. I preferred the buson ramen though.

More info on ramendb.

Other review: Ramen Adventures.

Oborozuki (Tōkyō-to, Shinagawa-ku)

銀座 朧月(目黒処)
ぎんざ おぼろづき
Ginza Oborozuki

Shio tsukemen: 16 / 20
Chūka soba kiwami: 17 / 20
(中華そば 極み)

To finish my Tokyo-shio-tsukemen run, what other place to go than one of my favorite tsukemen restaurant: Ginza Oborozuki (see my former reviews here and there) - this time at the Meguro branch. I ordered the shio tsukemen (obviously), and my friend the chuka soba. Let's start with the former.

Broth: It had a strong herbal taste, and uncommonly, contained octopus and cokles. Despite not being so fat and adhering little to the noodles, it transferred a decent amount of taste to them.

Noodles: Thick, wich a kind of square-ish section, very mochi mochi.

Meat: Some slabs of meting chashu, not bad.

Toppings: Some thin rectangular menma, mild, salty and very soft. And here again as in Toka, the key ingredient is the yuzu koshio. You also get a sudachi that you can press in the broth for some zing. Finally, there were two sheets of nori (not the gigantic one I had in the mother shop, alas), which harmonized very well with the broth.

Soup wari: It brought some more herbal taste, and even a kind of buttery texture.

No surprise here, it was very similar to the one I tried in the Ginza-mother shop. But let's turn to what was the real novelty of the day, the chuka soba. This is a limited edition (gentei / 限定) from this shop, and as the waiter was bringing us the dish, the smell reminded me of something...

Broth: A strong niboshi shoyu broth, with a kind of pungent and roasted taste enhanced by square onion bits. Hmm, I’ve seen that somewhere else...

Noodles: Very yellow and a bit too soft for my taste.

Meat: Two small slices of a quite good chashu - very firm, this fits with my impression of déjà-vu...

Egg: Half a very well cooked egg, on the hard side.

Toppings: Some menma and nori sheets, the same as in the shio tsukemen - what a beautiful harmony between those nori and the roasty broth...

...and then, the illumination came: of course, this bowl is a copycat of Nagi's ramen! All the key components are present: the roasted niboshi-shoyu broth, the squared negi (although a bit less punchy than at Nagi), the firm meat… There are some minor changes, but Nagi's soul is there. Well, Nagi's ramen is a wonderful bowl, one of my favorite in Japan, so one cannot get really wrong by copying it. But I would recommend to go to the original - even more perfect, and in a great setting! - rather than to the copy...

More info on ramendb.

Tōka (Tōkyō-to, Shinjuku-ku)

塩つけ麺 灯花
しおつけめん とうか
Shio Tsukemen Touka

Shio tsukemen: 16 / 20
(淡麗塩つけ麺)

As I was making my way towards Toka, I was a bit concerned to eat another shio tsukemen three hours after my first of the day, and five hours before the last... thus, I was happy when I arrived to discover that you could choose your tsukemen in all variations, including a very simple version without chashu and egg. That’s what I need for now!

Broth: A salty broth that tastes like chicken, less fatty than at Momonoki. I cannot say it gave a tremendous amount of taste to the noodles though.

Noodles: Pleasant noodles, less curly and maybe harder than at Momonoki.

Meat: I ordered the version without meat, but there were two small slices of chashu in the broth, relatively firm and salty, not unpleasant.

Toppings: The noodles were sprinkled with stripes of nori, which gave a nice twist to the mix of noodles and broth. Some thin and salty menma. And finally, the touch that made all the difference: some yuzu koshio (kind of spicy yuzu paste) on the side of the noodles-bowl, that you can put on your noodles after you dipped them in the broth. Delicious!

Soup wari: A very well crafted soup wari gave a more cloudy, starchy structure to the bowl (feels kind of like they had added some potato flour), with the addition of some kind of ‘rice krispies’ (that remained crispy even in the soup!).

The base of this dish was very essentialized, but had many little twists that made it worthwhile of attention. The yuzukoshio was a great addition for sure - seriously, it must have been the greatest invention of humanity since the wheel (I cannot say 'sliced bread' - seriously, who wants to buy his bread already sliced?)... It really gave the extra punch that sometimes lack in shio tsukemen.

If you are on a diet and want ramen, that may be a good place to go. As a note, this ramen joint must be the smallest one I’ve ever been to: five seats around the counter, that’s it - and you barely have any room to slide the door behind you when you want to leave. But it was a convivial configuration, and the choregraphy of the chef preparing meticulously the ingredients of each bowl made a great show.

More info on ramendb.

Choboichi (Kobe, Chūō-ku)

ちょぼいち 

Tori paitan: 16 / 20

This small ramen joint is an offshot of a restaurant specialized in chicken, and opened recently in February 2014 for the 5th season of Sannomiya station's ramen road. Very naturally, they specialize in a chicken broth.

Broth: Assari chicken broth with sesame seeds, which tastes a bit like a tonkotsu. Quite pleasant – it’s a nice change from the usual kotteri chicken broth. Moreover, you get yuzushio that you can add to the bowl for a delicious twist to the taste!

Meat: A few small, firm slices of pleasant chashu. It had the usual shape but tasted differently, could it be chicken chashu ? Also, there were a couple of meatballs, much better-tasting and with a crunchier consistency than the regular tasteless meatballs.

Noodles: Curly and OK cooking, not very firm, but not too soft.

Toppings: Some negi.

Shoyu ramen: 13 / 20

One week later, I came back and tried their shoyu ramen.

Broth: Classical shoyu, not unpleasant but a bit too salty.

Noodles: Thin and katame.

Meat: Good firm chashu, slightly sweet.

Toppings: Some green negi, a slice of kamiboko. Some thick menma with a classical mild taste, not so fibrous.

Although it was not unpleasant, this bowl was much more unremarkable than the tori paitan, except for its quality chashu. But I’m rarely excited by classical shoyu broth, so if you’re a fan, you might give it a try.

In any case, it is a good place for a tori paitan, conveniently located in sannomioya station and open during the whole afternoon (it closes relatively early though).

More information on ramendb.