Sunday, March 11, 2007

a different kind of ramen

After a long hiatus, back to one of the three themes for this blog: ramen!

めん徳 二代目 つじ田(mentoku nidaime tsujita) is a shop located in 小川町(Ogawamachi) near 新御茶ノ水(Shin Ochanomizu) in Tokyo.

This may be the best ramen I've ever tasted. It's completely different from anything I've had before. The specialty is the つけ面(tsukemen) for 780 yen, where the noodles are served separately from the soup and you dip the noodles in the soup before slurping them up.

You squeeze the little slice of lime over the cold noodles and then gather a bunch up to dip into the surprising soup. The lime makes it a little tangy; a shocking flavor for ramen, but it's absolutely delicious. The tanginess is refreshing amidst the typical salty, oily yumminess. I can't even recall the flavor properly; it's not like tonkotsu or soy sauce or salt ramen. From reading other reviews it appears to be a mix of three types of soup (the reviewer called it triple soup-like). My friend liked the noodles in particular, but I found the soup and the meltingly tender pork the real winners. The pork comes in rectangular slices and is very tasty. I neglected to take pictures of the pork this time, but I will be back!

7 comments:

sayaka said...

this ramen was very tasty and i came back this place today with my husband actually! ramen was still yummy and we found チャーシュー丼 was... oh my god!!

kuri* said...

Wow, now that's an endorsement! I have to try that next time :D

Anonymous said...

this looks and sounds yummy can I have one please?

kuri* said...

Wish I could send it! You'll have to come visit.

Anonymous said...

ooh that does look good, and i'm not really a ramen person.

Pooh Bear said...

yummy, I am sick of the Ryowa Ramen near Mt. View lately... have transitioned to Vietnamese Pho lately...

(still so envious of your life in JP =)

kuri* said...

skunk: definitely worth a try if it's not too far out of your way!

winifred: ryowa's not bad, but the pho is much better! I miss the pho :( Haven't been able to find a good place here. Good Thai food available though. You have to come here for ramen :D