Laurent Fintoni

Hikari Shokudou (ひかり食堂), Ehime, March 2013. 

I’m currently staying with my friend in Shikoku, in a small city that’s kind of in the middle of nowhere - though it still rocks some pretty mean looking industrial chimneys and landscapes. 

He offered to take me to this local spot they’d recently discovered. He said it was a little out of the way. Turns out he meant a 30 minute plus drive along the coast amid dilapidated industrial estates and sleepy villages. At the end of it is a small cabin, with a sign saying chuka soba, and the shop name not even visible until you actually go to the side of the cabin and clock it written in a small font. Who needs publicity or access when you have word of mouth? It was a saturday and there was a queue. People driving from all over the area for a bowl. Clearly this was serious business. 

The inside resembled a mini izakaya of sorts, with some counter spots around the kitchen, on another wall and a very small set of tables on a tatami. Think this might have been my first ramen on a tatami actually. The menu is kept simple, as with most chuka soba spots. Three shio bowls (including a tsukemen), and three koteri bowls. The latter holds their speciality, the hikari ramen. Couple of sides, including a chashu gohan bowl and that’s about it. 

Despite the heat and feeling like a thick broth would be overkill I went for the hikarai ramen (the brown soup in the pictures above). The soup reminded me of Ippudo, so thick that it resembles a consome almost. Flavour wise it’s a mix of pork broth, shio / umami and fish, which the chef pulls off by thickening the soup to the point where the flavours make sense. Couldn’t quite figure out how he’d thickened it but I’ll admit he pulls it off. The chashu was pretty fatty and the pickles a good touch while the men was standard for a chuka soba place. Only problem being it was so piping hot I burnt my tongue. The chashu gohan side is ideal, you can just pour soup on it for a double whammy of porky goodness.

My friends had the standary shio and the tsukemen, which seemed to have some thicker noodles which looked amazing but I forgot to try them. Definitely worth hunting down is for some reason you happen to be near the area. 

Hatsune, Nishi-Ogikubo, March 2013.

Someone told me about Hatsune shortly after arriving back this year, saying it was apparently one of the better spots in Nishi Ogikubo. Finding it on the Time Out website seemed to confirm that it was worth a trip.

As with the pineapple ramen spot (which is literally one minute round the corner) I missed it the first time I went looking, only to spot it the next day with about 10 or more people waiting patiently outside. I returned on a quiet mid-week lunch hoping it would mean little waiting, which more or less worked as I only had 3 people before me and the turn around is fairly quick. 

Hatsune is tiny, literally. It’s on a corner of an old building, and probably takes up something like 20 sqm at a push. Once you get near it you can actually smell the broth, a striking but not pungent pork and shoyu mix. The chef looks like a monk, dressed entirely in white with a shaved head. His appearance and gentle cooking manner only enhanced the whole zen vibe of the place. It’s also very quiet, the only sounds that of the radio piping in one corner and people slurping noodles. Once in a while quiet (by Japanese standard) irashai’s and thank you’s from the chef and his assistant break the spell. There are only six seats, the decor is bare and the menu is equally simple: tan men, chashu men, moyashi men and wan tan men, plus one or two combinations. 

It’s a chuka soba style place, so basically leaning more towards the original Chinese end of the ramen spectrum. Despite reading about the tan men being the speciality I went for a bowl of cha shu men. It was as zen a bowl and ramen experience I’ve ever had. Fully balanced flavours between pork broth and shoyu, simple cold chashu, and some of the best noodles I’ve had in that thin, instant style. The men was light but deceptively filling and the broth was just on the right side of fatty so as not to induce food coma a-la Jirou. Also spotted was the wok-fried moyashi men which looked pretty good actually, a huge portion of beans (and maybe some cabbage) over the soup. 

At one point I caught the assistant, an elderly woman, staring through me in an unsettling way at which point someone outside shouted the name of the place on his phone making her turn to the chef before they both smiled and shrugged. 

I’ll be back, and not just the ramen. Like a bubble of serene eating. 

Hokkaido Ramen, Shibuya, March 2013

This is a spot in Shibuya I’ve visited regularly ever since first living in Japan. It’s round the corner from 109, on one of the main streets next door to the Yoshinoya (peep the google maps link as I always forget to get the name).

It’s one of those fairly simple joints (think it might even be a chain), a variety of broths (tonkotsu, miso etc…) done in a Hokkaido style aka thick as it comes.

The noodles and chashu aren’t much to write home about, but they do sets with gyoza, it’s quick and the soup’s real tasty all of which amounts to it being one of the better places in this part of town when I’m craving a bowl. 

Papapapapine, Nishi Ogikubo, March 2013

Was looking for ramen spots around my current neighbourhood when I stumbled across this place, catalogued in the Ramen Adventures blog. A ramen shop that does everything with pineapple? Where do I sign up? 

When I first sought it out I must have still been jetlagged as I walked past it twice before spotting it the next day. 

Stopped by in the afternoon today on a hungover stomach. Ordered the Pineapple Tsukemen, my friend had the normal ramen. 

As for flavour well… it’s a shio ramen with pineapple juice. What the Ramen Adventures blog didn’t mention is that it also comes with a sprinkling of saffron and freshly ground, coarse black pepper. The balance of flavours between the harsh, spicy pepper and the sweet pineapple is quite something, especially when you chuck in shio broth into the mix with its fishy aftertaste. The chashu was thick and tasty, stripes of fat running through it. Noodles in my tsukemen were a little sticky unfortunately but the soup and overall experience was so pleasant it didn’t matter. The friend I roped into going with me hates ramen and he loved it. 

And it should pointed out I’ve never been a fan of the pineapple thing on anything other than fruit salads or desserts. 

Beyond recommended. Probably one of the best gourmet ramen I’ve ever had. 

Tomuchan, Setagaya, March 2013 

Driving back from Dommune session. We stopped at this place entirely randomly as I was famished. Good thing then that it once more reinforced the theory that the gulliest looking ramen fronts harbour some of the best bowls in the land. 

I had the Miso Tomuchan Ramen with wan tan, negi and extra chashu (top pic and details). The soup is Tonkoku, which if memory serves me is a local Tokyo version of Tonkotsu, basically a lot grittier than the white broth from the south, and not a million miles from Jiro, though the latter still has the fattiest broth I’ve found in the city. 

The miso mixed with Tonkoku offers a nice balance of fat with a salty twang. The chashu was probably my favourite thing: warm and marinated in shoyu (which I’ve done at home before to great result), not too thin either. And when he meant extra he clearly did not joke. The negi was finely sliced and covered the bowl, adding some crunch and freshness. The wan tan was also very good, with a couple floating in the soup. The noodles were at first my least favourite element, being that I like them thick, but as I hit halfway through the bowl I realised that they were just right. Any thicker would have been overkill with everything else. 

My friend had the standard Miso Tonkoku you can see above. 

At 2am the spot offered an interesting mix of late night characters congregated around a dirty, run down kitchen square. Young guys rocking mohawkes, smoking and talking. A drunk salary man who let out a genuine cry of surprise upon being handed his bowl and an old couple that walked in and clearly knew what they were doing with their order. 

Not the easiest place to get to but if you can, it’s worth it. 

PS: I couldn’t finish it. 

Menya Hatsugai, Ogikubo, March 2013.

Back in the ramen motherland. Returned to this spot in Ogikubo, which I think I posted about before. It’s located on the south side of the station about 2 mins from the exit going straight south. They do this amazing curry/tonkotsu tsukemen (main picture). Still spot on two years later. 

Men, chashu and soup are all equally refined and quality. The men is crinkly and thick, the chashu is brushed with a flame before serving to make it crisp and the soup is thick and rich, with the flavours balanced nicely enough. 

I ended up getting the warm noodles by mistake (jetlag still in effect) which added a strange flavour dimension as they’re served in a fish stock. 

The non tsukemen picture is my friend’s bowl, which was like a tan tan men, but way better. 

Ogikubo, April 2011. 

Forget the name of the spot, mainly because I didn’t post those photos after taking them and instead waited a year to do so. Went looking on Google Maps thinking that would solve it and wouldn’t you know it there are two massive trucks in front of the shop on Street View #fail.

Anyways this is the approximate address (to roughly one block either side) and the spot is this hole in the wall type joint with a counter big enough to accommodate a max of ten people or so. 

They do a Tonkotsu tsukemen which I’ve never seen done anywhere else. That’s only half the story though, the men (noodles) are also among the best I’ve had in town - thick, crinkly and moreish. Here’s a photo to back it up. The soup is also good, a perfectly balanced Tonkotsu broth which is fatty and yet works as a dipping soup, flavoured with what appeared to be negi among others (it was over a year ago, I’ve honestly forgot). 

If you’re in Ogikubo you simply need to go there. The portions are also pretty huge with prices around Y1000 for the bowl you see pictured above. 

Fun fact - I ate that bowl a couple hours before getting on the plane back to Europe. 

So yeah I’ve not posted anything on here in forever. Will try and change that ahead of a 2-month trip back to the motherland which should yield mucho ramen and equally mucho records. 

For now you can check a guest appearance from yours truly on NTS Radio for the New Jerusalem show which includes a selection of records bought during trips to Japan including OST for Captain Harlock, Toshinori Kondo mixed by Bill Laswell and that Sega Game Music vol.1 I posted a while back. 

Listen back and download 

Might even throw in a ramen picture next because fuck it. 

Fufu Ramen, Koenji, March 2011.

Grabbed a bowl of Fufu’s always excellent パーコらーめん on my way back to Koenji on a cold March night. I first discovered Fufu when I was working in Hibarigaoka in 2007 and loved the fact that you could alway sit in there for hours slowly going through your food while reading the mangas available.

The パーコ ramen is basically an add-on to any of their standard bowls (tonkotsu, shoyu and miso) of freshly sliced pork tonkatsu! I had the shoyu this time, with side of gyoza. The ramen at Fufu is nothing amazing, but it’s cheap and tasty and like I said one of the more hospitable ramen chains if you need to kill some time.

Ramen Dai, Koenji, March 2011.

Popped into Ramen Dai one night with Audace. Few things had caught my eye about this chain since I’d returned this time - they had similar yellow signs to Ramen Jiro, they boasted of garlic and overall it just felt like a direct attempt at cashing in on Jiro’s popularity.

Going into the Koenji branch only confirmed this - similar machines, similar ordering system (whereby you can ask for extra garlic, veg or fat on your ramen) and a bowl that was very similar in look and taste to Jiro. I’d say that Dai is a lot easier to handle than Jiro though - it doesn’t pierce through you as much as say a bowl from Jiro Ogikubo.

Broth is good, nicely balanced between the overpowering fat, shoyu and garlic while the chashu definitely holds its own in terms of firmness and taste. Wish there’d been more cabbage in the moyashi though. If you can’t get a bowl of Jiro than Dai is a good second option and one I definitely need to revisit.

Constance Towers - Inorganic Beat - 1987

Taken from volume 2 of the Taito Game Music vinyl series, this is an arrangement based on the soundtrack for Darius boss scene 2 - YT embed below.

Like most video game vinyl, Taito Game Music vol.2 is amazing for a number of reasons - the artwork (including screenshots of the boss levels), the concept (this volume is boss level music only), and the soundtrack itself which in most cases has aged really well.

I can’t find a good copy of the original ‘Inorganic Beat’ track but will post audio soon as I can - I’m shipping all the records back from Japan today.

The rest of side B includes covers by Zuntata, Taito’s own Sound Team who are apparently quite famous for doing live arrangements/versions of classic video game soundtracks. Side A features music from boss scenes 1 to 7 as well as the boss clear music and credits.

Kagetsu Ramen, Arashi veggie ramen, April 2011

Accidental guest post by Hello Liza. This year’s installment is “good this year. Salty and peppery, lots of vegetables. Nice! It is more pho-ish than ramen. Green noodles are cool. Veg gyoza a bit bland though”.

Arigatou!

Shoyu/Fish Tsukemen, Shibuya, April 2011.

Stumbled on this place at 7am in a rather drunk state (hence the slight blur on the picture) after Gas Panic turned out to be closed - let’s not even get to why I was trying to get into Gas Panic at 7am.

This is a few doors up from Gas Panic coming from Shibuya Hachiko exit. There are two ramen shops next to each other. It could have been the booze/tiredness but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, this was by far one of the best tsukemen I’ve found. Great balanced broth, with just enough hints of dashi coming through the shoyu. Amazing men - perfect al dente, wriggly noodles. And really decent chashu and egg. Drunken win.

Naniwa Express - Empty Corners - 1984

Picked this one up in Disk Union in Ochanomizu a couple weeks ago based entirely on the title and cover. Turns out they were a fairly famous 80s band in Japan dabbling in jazz fusion and pop rock.

Empty Corners is the jam though, and it’s driving me mad because I can’t remember the original track it versions. Youtube version below is live.

No discogs info - released in 1984 on CBS/Sony, Japanese press.

Miso Kare ramen, Kyoto, March 2011.

Found this banging Kare ramen spot nearby the Tintin museum/shop (oh yes there is one), they do all sorts of Kare ramen and the lunch deal includes ramen + side of kare. Great broth and decent chashu as well.

Space Harrier - Lakeside Memory - 1986

Taken from the vinyl version of ‘Sega Game Music vol.1’ which features all O.S.Ts for Outrun, Space Harrier and Alex Kid. This track is one of my favourites, some dubby 8-bit business that’s aged perfectly.

Discogs info

As far as I know there’s only one volume that ever made it to wax. Youtube below of the track in question.

Shoyu Ramen, りょう花ラーメン, Kawanoe, Shikoku, March 2011.

Found this spot near Tatsuki’s new home in Kawanoe. Pretty banging shoyu broth but the chashu was really the highlight, mouth melting business.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Tibetan Dance - 1984

Taken from the LP version of 音楽図鑑 which I found today in Disk Union for peanuts. The vinyl I found also includes a 12” bonus disc that has ‘Tibetan Dance (Version)’ on it, which is even better. Those claps are real funky. Sakamoto is a badman.

Discogs info

Youtube below of a live version from around release time. Will post an mp3 of the version once I can.

Kumamoto ramen, Ramen Museum, Shin-Yokohama, March 2011.

Another guest post by Andy. Fourth stop on the ramen museum 9 mini-ramen-in-one-session-tour.

Awesome miso tonkotsu with nutty undertones. That ramen murdered shit and the whole experience nearly finished me off. Nine mini ramen in one sitting is possibly not recommended.

PS: Laurent gave up at mini ramen number five.