ramen by shoe

updatin'

2007-05-07T11:57:00.001+09:00

shoe been a wanderin', back round agin. lotsa bowls in the pipes lads, hang tite.

in vivid color!

2007-05-07T11:50:00.000+09:00

let it flow, let yerself go..

2007-04-01T22:46:00.000+09:00

a kinda chilly spring fridaye nite oot in the mitaka, slobby party people breakin off the work for some grub n suds, some OLs wanderin home, gaddam wind just won't lay up.

shoe parked it outta the way in the ichien, spotted a week or so before. mom n pop place, kindly old folks runnin a slow show, radio on the swimmin' competition, some OL type slowly workin' away on a bowl. lotsa homemade signs for all the menu shtuff, little too bright for the shoe, but radiating "homey".

shoe went for the "ichien", only 470 yen, wotta deal. pop went to work on the pans, mom offered up a selection o' newspapers. shoe just settled in, zoned oot for a bit, then got to work on the bowl when it came, in its own good time.

nothing out of place here, mildish shoyuu, the egg underperformed, the chashew overperformed. lotsa men-ma. noodles of the yellowish and generic variety, nothin' wrong wit that in a bowl like this.

shoe gots up to leave, an mom, seein' that shoe snapped a piccie, asked "do you like ramen?" to which shoe replied like a wee grade sixling, "yes! very much!"

three rockin' chairs for the ichien. innat sweet?

up in yer crawl space..

2007-03-08T15:01:00.000+09:00

near shoe hovel, the ganzo strait outta hokkaido sits. 'tis a tiny place, wit barely enough room to get yer elbows up onna counter. shoe hit this place up for some lunchin'.

shoe was a-ready to git the miso, seein' as it was a hokkaido B an all, but then he changed his mind.. ganzo is soo small, >how small is it?<, it's soo small that shoe hadta go ootside to change his mind YOK YOK HARRR. ahh.. well there wan't any miso left actually but neva mind, ASS.

so shoe hit the loaded shoyuu, an' the boogers runnin the pans got busier. they wuz all a-shufflin' round the closet, gettin in and oot of each other's way, slappin it all together. ya kinda gets the feelin' theyre makin' it up as they go along, but 'oo knows?

not much to say about the B itself, fellas. curly yellow noodlin', wee bit too much moyashi, nabad egg. everythin standard issue, not too flavafull, not too bland, went down ay-yight. thats two B's in a row now!

three frontier outposts for the ganzo.

a quickie

2007-03-06T09:52:00.000+09:00

Shoe turned right, when he oughta shoulda turned left. he walked a ways, searching, yearnin'. the call had come, an it was sayin' "get some food in yerself, quicklike." no time for gettin' all a sit down an loiterin', but yet too much time to just grab one o they dodgy sang-wiches from the conbini. whats a poor shoe ta do?

set hisself up wit a hakata B, thats what. the marukin, in the kiba. this was a flash grab an dash bowl, which is pretty easy to do wit the skinny noodles n all. as far as hakata bowls go, it was in the upper meh range, not exactly dy-namic or a-mazin. shoe did sqeak in a kaedama none-the-less, jus cos.

three fillin' stations for the marukin.

end it all.

2007-02-27T21:59:00.000+09:00

sensuous. (sen-shoo-ush) adj. : Relating to, suggestive of, or appealing to sense gratification

hooly shee-it shoe has run inta the Bowl of the YEAR. JIRO, in the motherfuckin' sengawa, laid shoe the shit oot wit a mauling crosscut. here's how it happened..

shoe had his eye on this joint, what wit all they boogers always hangin oot the front, trying to get in and all like they wanted to eat. an so it came ta be that shoe had the chance to give it a go.. an lucky ass shoe he wuz cuz they was only one skinny sweaty booger in front o shoe in the line.

then a voice come a boomin' from the shoppe, "ANY OOMORI COONTS OOT THERE?" he says.. 'NAYE!' shoe squeaked. wtf?

shoe had a looksee at the vendin machine options. we gots the ramen, the pork-in ramen, then a mad combo o' increasiningly ree-dickulus volumes o pork n noodles. shoe went for the modest ramen, pork IN. shoe then squirted up to the counter, the joint reekin o pepper n garlick. two hardworkin' muthas were rockin the pans, scoopin out great PILES o noodles and MOUNDS of moyashi n fixins.

jiro is a workin' man's paradise. word to wise, the bowls are MONSTER. "garlick?" the hardworkin' mutha asked. naye. shoe's B when it came was big, but it was teeny compared to the skinny sweaty booger next to him. THAT bowl was a quibbly jibbly mass o noodles n porky shtuff. jiro is all about they noodles, likes. an you gets plenty o' them. thick as udon, and tastee as fuck. soup? what the fuck is that? shoe snapped a quick piccie, an dived in. by the time shoe got near the end o the B, the SSB next to 'im had just got the noodles down to the bowl-line. volume ex-po-nential, like. oh, an the pork? massive, fellas, massive. like as in shoe gots a whole block o the shtuff all to hisself. five or six slabs, thick as a ciggie case, bigger than yo mama's brown dime.

it took a while, but shoe got outta there in one piece, juice dribblin down his chin, a snotty nose an stretch marks on his belt. he then cracked oot three great farts to the delight o the small phalanx o punters a-waitin outside (seemed like nite o the livin' dead during the bowl, with people all slowly accumulatin', peering in the windows.)

three giant mass-o-humanity towers wit freakin' tentacles n' shit inna middle o a crackin' thunderstorm for the jiro. ROCK \m/

nanairo

2007-02-14T13:53:00.000+09:00

shoe has been minin' the kichijoji for some time now, so it was a refresshin' break to get a bowl in another town for a change.

here we gots a fine fine bowl in the mitaka, the nanairo. it's always got some boogers linin' up out the front, an it was no diff the nite shoe pulled up wit the shoe-rocket.

small, but friendly, the dudes at nanairo are pretty quiet, runnin the show like swiss automatons. shoe got in a great bowl, nice egg, thick n mellow, an the onions onna top didnt even bug the shoe all that much, despite the mephitic lurk

three rainbows n unicorns for nanairo. whee!

sluggin it

2007-02-14T13:39:00.000+09:00

last week shoe had a late nite, an was lookin to get in a quick bowl before headin back to shoe hovel. there it was, the tenka-ippin. shoe had never evar set foot in the tenka-ippin. tenka-ippins are everywhere, an up ta now shoe has turned his nose up at 'em, but this time he broke down an went in for a fix.

two choices, the kotteri or assari. shoe went kotteri, natch, but didnae expect just how freakin' thick this shit was.

yea gods! pure snotty glop! dorodoro all the way it was. flavourwise it wasnt too bad, but the sloppy muck was the only thing that shoe had on his wee mind..

a cheeky beer an a plate o' salty chahan later, shoe was a-filled up to brim, goop levels proper.

three unknown comics for this B, wotta hoot!

right outta bangkok

2007-01-30T13:18:00.000+09:00

thee shadyswamp graced shoe wit some snappy summer duds.. the wiggid wee ramen tee

perty snappy eh?

partee wit the bear

2007-01-29T12:14:00.001+09:00

born on a mountaintop in kichijoo-ji
killed a bear when twas only three..

shoe was a-hosting the shadyswamp, an spent a loong time wanderin', lookin for a good bowl on the recommendation o' one o' the natives, the hifumi. alas, shoe failed an settled for a bowl at ajigen kumamatsuri..

on a nice wintry day, the bigass bowl o miso was a welcome sight. ajigen's bowl looks mighty fine, an when youre a lookin at the bowl yer a thinkin, "man, this B is goin DOWN!"

shoe hit it, hard. slocked that B down fastlike. gone in a flash. twas a big bowl, an much like wrasslin bears, shoe was a sweatin' afterwards.. soup box standard, thick n curly noodles, passable chahsew an egg, an the wee onion shavings onna top didnae matter much..

so what to say aboot the B overall? well, it looked good, it filled the shoe up, did what it needed ta, no questions asked..

three blow up dollies for the ajigen kumamatusri

this is hard core

2007-01-19T12:47:00.000+09:00

ya heerd it here 17th, boogers! there is a new ramen era upon us..

shoe's required readin for the month is in. an damn, shoe is soo tiny in they ramen universe, likes.

have a look at these ramen mofo blogs. we gots the マーコさん　blog, wit 251 bowls for 2006.

next up is あまさん, lookin' at 303 Bs.

rank UP - 小○さん(first spotted by the TNS), a crazy-ass 333 Bs in 2006.

but then we gots ramen bo-log champ しらすさん wit 455 stoopid Bs for 2006 alone! dat be 5-6 Bs a day, peeps!

shoe has his work cut oot for him, love.

steee-rike!

2007-01-19T12:10:00.000+09:00

tora tora tora. shoe wandered in on a less-than chilly nite, kichijoji it was. the ninki-nanba-wan was the ninniku genkotsu, so shoe figgered that this was a gonna be a stank mouf spec-tacle, wit tora bringin the flavour. but it wan't so, HARUMPF.

first off, the bird at the counter was all a smirky like, not botherin' to aks the shoe what kinda noodle hardness he wanted..naff! woteva. jus' bring the B, an stand back.

k, tora's not that good, fellas. ya gots yer weak-ass soup, for one. lookit that piccie there, in all its grayness.. jus' none o that UMAMI. they gots some sorta extra juice onna counter so that ya can flavour it up, what's up wit that? it said a couple o' loops over the bowl. shoe did that, an then it turned into salt-city. gee-yad. the noodles were pretty inoffensive, an the chashew was middlin', but it was the egg that got the shoe's hackles up in arms.. some shitty egg, boogers! like they just boiled the mutherfucker right thru! wheres the flavour, tora?

shoe got hisself outta there, wit another smirk from the bird behind the counter kickin' him onna ass out inta the street.

three pongs for a two dimensional bowl. bully!

shippin' in 2007

2007-01-16T22:01:00.000+09:00

the hatsu-'men for 2007, the menzo in the kichijoji. shoe hit hit this B a week ago, he had a bowl comin to him an his eye was on the menzo for the couple o weeks befo'.

menzo kinda looks like the ramen joint that yer bestest bud set up all on his lonesome, likes, wit the mellow in-teer-ior an the homey hip-hop on the pipes. nice n chilled, but 'nary a booger in sight slurpin' on the counter.. hmm.. had shoe chosen poorly?

well, they say hunger is the best sauce, an shoe had plenny of the sauce. but it was the smell that threw the works into overdrive.. the smell! waow, 'twas a good one, all kinda tart n almost cheese-ly, like some powdry cheese, but not quite. anyhoo, it was workin'.

shoe went for the shoyuu over the miso, chashew version wit the egg onna top. great egg. the soup was all a heavy n mellow, which kinda fit the inside. that smell? just wasn't in the bowl for some reason, but that didnae matter too much.

apparently the menzo's got a twin sista on the south side, a light one wit the assari soup. interestin' that they split the soup between the shoppes like that, good one, mezo.

three macrame wall hangins for the menzo.

the shoe is not alone

2006-12-29T21:30:00.000+09:00

trawlin through they nets, shoe tripped over a grreat great site dedicated to the ramen. the rameniac is lookin to roll all over the place, wit some neat-O ratings an some heavy hittin bowls to boot.

it's flash, hit it bitches!

bubuka

2006-12-29T10:32:00.000+09:00

wotta betta way to celebrate the chee-rist!mas than a good hot bowl fulla noodles. thass what the shoe did for his xmas cheer.

enter the bubuka in the kichijoji. shoe had been casing the joint for a coupla weeks, an it seemed there was always a line out the front, usually a good sign..wella wella wella iffin you didnt believe it, the line was a wee short when shoe came a callin', an he only hadta wait aboot 10 minutes to get the goods.

bubuka does a good bowl o the heavy stuff, lotsa oil for your oil needs, an a real good soup that just keeps getttin better the lower ya go. noice jibbly chashew to boot.

there is some sorta soupless ramen that bubuka does, wit the em-phasis on the oil.. shoe will be a hittin that some other day.

three 5-ton stalwarts for the bubuka. yikes!

rahmens.

2006-12-26T13:07:00.000+09:00

funnaye vid by the rahmens.

'tain't the ramen, like, but close..

a new hope..

2006-12-20T14:23:00.000+09:00

awrite, so shoe was a suckin' the hind teat on the ramen front, but it shall change mofo's! the shoebox has been moved agin, and so wit that, shoe has nudged closer to a ramen hotbed, the kichijoo-ji. preliminary wanderings reveals a whole whack-O-ramens, just a waitin for the shoe treatment.

shoe snuck into the fukusui to kick the shit off, an' scarfed down a bowlful o dark. mmm! nabad, a decent start, wit the egg being the star o the show. some other bowls on the rack there look interestin', so shoe may be back to dip a toe in once again.

three fiery phoenixes for the fukusui, shoe shall survive!

smell that? the deadness

2006-12-20T13:55:00.000+09:00

k, so shoe been ramen-lite these days. wanderin to foreign lands, scoopin' bout the lay o the land, but not gettin' pulled into the shops, likesay.

this is one o the bowls in the pipes that shoe lookin' through the files found, and lo, had not reported on! bad shoe..

a month or so back shoe hit a shoppe in the kiba, not a ramen hotbed, but you takes what you can gets.. the mujinzou, hot n gloppy.

shoe hit the tonkotsu option, cuz he didn't know any better. sub-par, wit a gimmick onna noodles, some sortof HEALTH! noodle, rockin they chemicals from some sorta persimmon extract. PERSIMMON! harumpf.

shoe later found out that the negi-ramen in this joint is supposedta be the shit in the mujinzou, an mebbe iffn he ever feels the need to hit it, he'll hit IT.

anyhoo, three tin stars for the mujinzou

tha ラーメン博物館 - round 2!

2006-11-21T15:25:00.000+09:00

with the day off, an a trip to the yokohama in the works, shoe was a looking forward to gettin back to that holyland, the ramen musee-um.
they be rotatin' the ramens in the joint yasee, an so it was loong overdue for a run.

shoe took a good long time to consider the options: 8 mofo bowls on the list, where to start? what to include? what to skip? shee-it. shoe breifly considered knocking off 5 bowls, but he cain't eat likes he used to, so tackled three instead.

so,ya just knew that there had to be a hard pipe-hittin' tonkotsu in the works somewhere, an shoe got two in the end. first up was the komurasaki, from kumamoto. now this all means the garlickk, an the po-tential for mephitic lurk. the bowl was surprisingly light for a tonkotsu, an the garlick, yea of the roasted chip variety, was spot-on. nice start...

next up was a heavyweight tonkotsu from fukuoka, the fukuchan. shoe was leanin' to get an all-round experience, an perhaps go for one of the shoyuu bowls, but in the end he had to go with the most appealin' overall ramens, an it just so happened that the tonkotsu fit the bill.

the perfect noodles, of course for a kyushuu ramen, are the ones you can lace your shoes wit, an the fukuchan had the noodles rockin well. great thick soup, solid solid solid.

so wit two tonkotsus down, shoe slipped in a cheeky beer an had a stroll, just to get the room in for the last bowl, the ryushan-hai. yeah, a nice little fishy bowl wit a dollop o miso onna top to round things off, likes.

well, manoman if this wasnt the man o the match in the joint! right away shoe digs into the soup an it's like BAAM!! flavour the likes of which shoe hada neva evah had before. yea gods, whatta bowl! from the tohoku of all places! then the miso went to work. hot hot hot, started mixin' an meltin' into things, stuff happened, the bowl changed character. now it was an outta control monster, the friendly little seafood taste all morphed an clawin', bitin' spittin' fire! a jekyll n hyde bowl if ever shoe saw one. terrific.

three shots o heroin for the ramen musee-um. shoe will be back!

fujin

2006-11-14T09:07:00.000+09:00

shoe had a date wit that suckin' black hole that is the immigra-shun office in the shinagawa. after wrasslin' the bear, shoe had to get a bowl in his system. shinagawa? why, the shinatatsu, a no brainer! yes? NO! bindere, dundat likes, shoe says.

time to kick it on the other side o the street where the fujin lies. shoe had always passed it by the by on the way to the shinatatsu, but now was the time. lunch rush, shoe waded in..

and got stuck at the end of the bar wit the hired help sloppin the bowls an throwing mad cabbage around. some chashew-men, box standard puleeze shoe says..

an box standard was what the shoe gots. basic shoyuu, wit some gloppy wakame an some sortof jibbly but sortof not jibbly chashew. old schooley like.

three swinglines for the fujin, sure to be favoured by civ-ill servants everywheres..

shoukai 'men

2006-11-12T08:46:00.000+09:00

ole shoe had a spate o guests in the last little while, an' he had to come up with the perfect bowls to do some ole intro-duction to that many faceted diamond we likes to call the world o ramen.

first, the shady swamp lurched inta town, here for a good time, not a long time, but wit a hunger for the ramen, likes. hm! thinks shoe, where cans we gets a bowl o' kinda light ooltra tasty shio? why, the SANTOUKA.

that was frikkin' too easy. crowd pleaser all round. next!

next up was a wee lost soul from the north, stranded oot in the sticks, wit only three days to see the shit. an so, shoe took one o those days to roll through the golden triangle o' harajuku, omotesando an the BOO.

now this poor lad had a never even heard of the ramen! what is UP wit that? shoe had to start from scratch, like explainin' the oogly derivative stuff like 'ichiban nooodles' n other shite. . "so it's like a soup then?" Hm! the ramen is soo much more than a soup, laddy!

anyhoo, where to? this was a puzzler. best to go wit someting not too fancy, yet not too basic. as show was chewin this cud, he spotted a good as any joint - the hashibayan! old schooley kyushu tonkotsu, wit some jibbly.

shoe was wantin to check out the masamune anyway, which he passed on last time. noice!

so there ya have it. two fer two satisfied boogers leavin the island happy as clams.

three welcomes to der fantasy islands.. enjoy!

backloggin'

2006-10-30T21:56:00.000+09:00

yeereaah! ahh the countryside. . . shoe was a frollickin' around the mount tskuba a whiles back, all drained from major drinkin' an bballin' the nite befo'. low on the chemicals, shoe was a happy puppy to see the ichiban-tei an all its promise o ramen goodliness..

now iffn it really lived upta its billin', the 'ole ichiban wouldabeen a ramen fairyland in which shoe woulda wanted ta neva evah leave. as it turned oot tho', the joint was high on the quantity, an a little lackin' on the quality.

shoe sucked down a loaded bowl, burstin' wit gimmicks. an the mild-ish hot miso was a spee-icy break, at least the soup had soms flava. other than that, meh.

three junk drawers for the ichiban-tei. try again, fellas!

okaay..

2006-10-30T14:02:00.000+09:00

awrite, so shoe gots this thang runnin' again. a few swift kicks in the junk an' she be back to normal..sortof.

keep tuned!

wtf?

2006-10-24T22:37:00.000+09:00

sumethin, shoe knows not what, went all buggy-like on the ole bo-log... box-standard fer the now til shoe can cobble together a new look..

an some more raamen to come, boogers!

nanashi redux

2006-09-29T13:13:00.000+09:00

big n breezy in the ueno, nanashi was the place for a hungry rolling shoe. it had been a long time since shoe last hit nanashi, an he didnt even remember it at first, til the bowl was placed in front of him. there they were -- the beans! "ah-HA, so there's a nanashi in ueno!" shoe mused before stickin' his mug in the mix.

rollickin' good tonkotsu, wit a ring o' roasted garlick dancin' around the top o' the bowl. shoe gots some extra nori (thats the seaweed for ya dummies) an the EGG worked well this time round. an the beans, the green green beans added a little somethin', perty good if a little unorthodoxxx.

an thar she blew..

three jolly greens for the nanashi

BOOM!

2006-09-27T21:36:00.000+09:00

MONSTER.

thats all that needs to be said of tha nantsu-tei.

usually there's a lineup of a hunnerd boogers long gummin' up the works at shinatatsu in shinagawa, but not last nite. the rain came. shoe gots in, gots sorted in ten minutes an' got to smankin'. the djay was poundin' the hard metal to boot, an' shoe was phuckin that bowl up! \m/

this was all that wuz left in the end..

three chacs, the rain god, for nantsu-tei

the bowl for when it hurts..

2006-09-26T15:55:00.000+09:00

shoe was fresh from defeat onna bball court, whipped, salty n sweaty, drained n gone gone gone... wanderin' without a clue in the 'boo, lookin' to lick the wounds. a good bowl was in order.

an so shoe wandered a far an wide, waay wayy up centa-gai til he found the place he knew he had ta be: the hashibayan from kyushu. a little outta the way, the djay spinnin' some fresh-ass festival wax.

shoe needed a whole lotta consolin', an so a big bowl was in order. he went for tha tonkotsu-shio, along with the monster topping set.
an twenny minutes later shoe was onna top o the world again. the wiggid-awesome toppings an a scoop or two o the hot shtuff, plus a tongfull o gin-JA did it, baybee.

an the noodles? fuggedabaoutit. perfection.

shoe's gonna haveta hit this joint again to get the ninki-numba-wan masumune

three loaded salarymens for loaded hashibayan.

back in bid'ness

2006-09-18T21:32:00.000+09:00

awrite, so here we are on the cusP o' autumn, an' shoe's thoughts turn to the rramen an' the cold cold times ahead, the endless tedium o' running from one train to another, ramblin' through slushy streets o fog an sleet, waitin', waitin' for a hot coffee to ward off the cold, the bitter cold, an' all tha..PHUCK!

that's for laters. this is the now, an' its still kinda warm n stuff. shoe had some time to burn in the 'boo, so decided to ramble a bit an' knock off one o the many new ramen joints he been spotting the last few months.

one at a time. this one is half new to the ole bolog here. the kamado, in collaboration with some phuck off trendy shoppe called kookai (umlats!). forget aboot the kookai, its the kamado we be talkin bout. this is a bowl, solid as gold, an workin' the style, hard. the sign on the door says it all,
kamado.

three icy hot stuntaz for kamado/kookai

last cheeky bowl

2006-08-17T22:19:00.000+09:00

shoe hooked up wit the greener side of life for some lunching, an' hit the revamped yotteco in the ultraman shoutengai. revamped, or so shoe thought. yotteco just got bigger, is all. no mind, shoe was a hungry lad, havin' skipped out on the breakky this morn..

anyhoo, shoe been here, done that befo', so was a lookin for some-ting a little challengin'. walkin throo the streets today was like walkin' at the bottom o' a pool, OF SWEAT. gaddam hawt an wet.

so naturally shoe went for the hottest, sweatiest bowl goin', the tonkotsu RED.

lookit that bowl! aint it pretty? the colours, man! first pass through the soup an shoe was a chokin' and a sputterin', reaching for that cool, cool water. a few more spoonfulls in an shoe was immersed, chugging through the bowl. the peanutty oil n chiles was a nice combo, if not quite as subtle as the men shounin wunderbowl, an the noodles be a little on the weak-ass limpy thin side for shoe's liking. but what a pretty bowl!

three tibetan yaks for the yotteco red. cool us down love!

they likes the shoe, they really do!

2006-08-17T11:15:00.000+09:00

add another coupla readers to the ole bo-log here... the fine folks at Tokyofoodcast 'ave given shoe a peek.

up to seven! cheers fellas!

new digs..again

2006-08-16T16:35:00.000+09:00

wella wella wella, yet anudda design.. whaddayatinK?

and another kick at this cat..

2006-08-15T17:54:00.000+09:00

man, when that hunger hits, ya gots to act. and act shoe did. the higomons, word!

shoe tries hard, rreal hard to give all you peoples of the internet a fresh, fly new ramen *each*and*every*day*, but man, sometimes you gots to go back. back to the good bowls, the good places, the ones that matter..the ones you stand up for and say, 'yes, this is a ramen that deserves a second bowl'. well, higomons is one o' those bowls..shoe was in shinagawa and it was deemed good

that and nantsu-tei next door had a line of seven thousand japanese salarymen waitin' for the good stuff. shoe likes his shit, but he ain't a dummy.

and so the higomons. the repeat. the second time round. still as good.

three second place contestants inna beauty contest for the higomons. location, location, location!

cain't give it up..

2006-08-15T17:29:00.000+09:00

k, shoe hit this place again...yep.

yep.

three deads or alives for MISOICHI

shoe's birfday bowl..

2006-07-24T10:56:00.000+09:00

shoe had a food-centric birthday the other week. usually shoe likes to do some-ting a little different from the drag, an this year the hi-lite was the food. first a KUA`AINA burger in the kamakura in tha afternoon, an then a noice local bowl here . round it off wit a bee-ah an a hammock onna balcony and you gots the makings of a not bad day. woof.

Drink A Six Pack And Then You Play Some Ball

2006-07-24T10:25:00.000+09:00

Shoe has a bball thingy goin on these days, the ex-er-cise n all that, innit. anyhoo, shoe caught up wit that tonari-no-shibafu fella for some hoops n whatnot recently.

Q. so, you gots a pretty intense sporting activity aheads of you, an you wanta be kinda light and twinkley-toed onna court. You are kinda hungry an you wanta grab some foodstuff before THE BIG GAME. do you:

a.) sit down to a light high-carb meal
b.) dig down on a big plate o' fruit
c.) suck down a big greasy bowl o ramen, wit the egg

shoe went for c.) Now the temomi here, in the chitosefunabashi can be a bit of an imposing bowl under these conditions, but shoe was locked into it, this is the ramen afterall. the standard came, but wit a whole whack o onion, raw! to boot onna top. Shoe did a sneaky onion shuffle an wiped them under the table. we gots yer basic shoyuu here folks, nothin' more to see.

shoe was a praying mantis on the court, iffn you wanted ta know..

three giant lead balls for the temomi.

Shoe's Been Going Nuts Gettin' All Cooped Up..

2006-07-24T10:09:00.000+09:00

So Shoe is back from parts unknown, wanderin this way an that, not really going anywhere, but right oot of it, eh..

AAannyhoo, a big ole bowl show sucked down a loong time ago here in tha winter has made a return to the page. lookit the makotoya, this time the red, cos the shoe likes his vari-a-tion.

iffn you get the kaedama at makotoya, youse can watch the guy bouncin' the noodles on his seive befo' he gives it to ya.

by all accounts the makotoya is a good bowl, pays the bills, keeps it's nose clean, an doesn't let ya down. the red was ay-yight, but iffn its a gonna be yer first time, shoe would suggest going for the box-standard ramen first, just to ease yerself inta things..

three ooglymen redbeards for the makotoya red

kawakami

2006-06-19T13:41:00.000+09:00

shoe was careful to approach downwind, so as not to disturb the natives. his scent was masked by the smell of deisel and garlick. imagine, actually getting a glimpse of them close up at feeding time! shoe had been in the area for a couple of weeks, adopting the same manner of dress and making sure to accesorize correctly: white shirt, black tie, sensible shoes, tote-bag. shoe forgot his glasses, but perhaps the subjects would be too busy feeding to take notice.

shoe took a deep breath before entering; would his cover be blown? short of constructing a blind of some sort, shoe was at a loss at how to approach any other way.

inside, all seemed to be going well. the television, locked onto world cup coverage and fund scandals, had them all transfixed on one point. shoe chose a corner and sat back. 'yes? food?', an english voice. foiled! the service were on guard, and almost alerted shoe's presence to the room. a quick 'ramen' in the language shoe had carefully studied for ten years seemed to mollify her. smooth, shoe, smooth. now just sit back and act like you belong.

the bowl was taking quite a while, and with a break in the telly, the natives started to chat amongst themselves. maybe shoe was going to pull this off after all! glances here and there were to be expected, but shoe just took off his tie an' pretended to fuck around with his cell phone, a tool that is widely used in these parts.

now, the moment of truth. the bowl, and the pic to snap. timing was everything. >ku-lick!< the faux shutter went off. got it! some haggard old codger looked over, but was too buggered to do anything about it. now, to the bowl! so this is what salarymen eat..

the bowl: wanky noodles an lots of them in a weak ass nondescript broth. shoe ate up quicklike an got the smank outta there, the pictographic evidence in his hot little hands..

three monkeys smoking for the kawakami. useless!

now dat's more like it!

2006-06-07T23:16:00.000+09:00

down an oot in the ichigaya, shoe was rolling thru wit a full head an' a empty stomach. perfect time for a bowl, eh.. here comes the menya no shono.

shoe had a good whiff when he gots in the joint, an' fishy indeed it was. the fish base broth aint usually what shoe goes a-seeking for, but it was lunchtime an the place looked respectable-like. more smoove jazz (what is it wit ramen joints and jazz anyway?), an some young hotshots behind the counter taking orders.

shoe went for ramen, straight up, although the ninki namba wan (thats top o the pops for you dummies oot there) was the loaded. anyhoo, the bowl comes in asari or kotteri (again, thats lightor heavy for ya dum-dums), wit shoe takin the low road.

they bring the fish, hard. This one's goin down in the books as one o the most original ramens that the shoe has evar gulped down. in the ichigaya, menya no shono is wiggid-like. the broth was soo fishy it was almost, how you say, sour. an normally you be hearin' the words 'sour fish' together an you aint likin' it, right? but, maing, this bowl had a little bit o' some-ting innit. shoe didnae even remember the noodles or the toppins or the nekkid titties in the newspaper o the old mens in the joint. the bowl, the bowl was the thing.

ya know that feelin' when you be diggin down on some katsuo-bushi an' you get a big glob, or wad of it between yer knashers, an a wee bitty bit o juice comes oot? yeah, shoe knows it too. well, thats sorta kinda the thing we be looking at here, fellas. ah shee-it, just hit it an y'all see.

three knuckle dusters wit spikes onna top for the menya no shono. momma said knock you oot.

m'lord, your clothes!

2006-06-05T13:23:00.000+09:00

wanderin' far an wide in the setagaya along the nogawa crick, shoe had his attention drawn to a legend in the ramen, the takechan. it'd been a while since shoe had hit a legendary bowl, an even tho' he'd already et, he figgered this was a good a chance as any to get some.

shoe wiggled in jus' before the rush, got a counterseat, an waited. takechan is one o those places with the line, the boogers from far an wide lookin to get theirs. well, we'll see what all the fuss is aboot!

mebbe shoe had a runny nose. or perhaps shoe was full an wasn't feelin' it. or possibly it was just that the ramen fairy had the day off there or somethin. man, shoe really wanted to like takechan, an all signs were pointin' in the right direction, but takechan just wan't all that. now shoe ain't sayin' burn the building down an kill the master for slingin' slop at the folks, but this is a heavy hitter in the ramen world, fellas, like we talkin' a top three in tokyo or top ten in japang kinda bowl!

there was just little or no flavor in this bowl. some two finger thick chashew made up for things a bit, an some noice thick noodles were a good touch, but shoe cain't see the logic. shoe thinks this is one o' those old school bowls that the boogers can say, "oh now this, this here is real tokyo ramen". the whole fishy base thing goin on, simplicity in the look an all that. well bully for takechan!

an what's wit the lame logo? shoe knows its all about the bowl, but c'mon! take-chan be ugly.

three false idols for the ramen gawds o' takechan.

under the bridge

2006-06-04T06:57:00.001+09:00

Shoe had passed the chiyomatsu in the shibuya plenty o times, but always promised hisself that he would hit it 'next time' he was in town.. well, the other day turned oot to be the next time. shoe tucked into the joint under the bridge just offa the hachiko amusement zone.

shoe took this bowl down fastlike. an it was the kinda bowl that could go down fastlike. pretty light, no fuss, kinda on the shinasoba tip, mediochre egg n chashew combo did its bit an then got the fook outta town.

if yer in a press an needs to get oot of the shibuya crunch for a wee bowl, you could do better down the street, but for a quick fixin' the chiyomatsu will do. location location location!

three bunnies wit pancakes onna head for the chiyomatsu. jus' because.

bird trouble

2006-05-31T12:41:00.000+09:00

>sigh<

shoe be lookin' through 'oos trawling on the nets, wherefore theys a comin' from, an what theys likes to be lookin' at here on the 'ole bo-log. an what is it that draws the boogers in? this bird!

now, jun is de-lovely n all, an shoe don't want to be discouragin' the prOn-o beaters oot there, but it 'taint the ramen youse love, izzit?

shoe is ta blame, tho. he linked to some racy pic o jun back in the day onna topic o the japanese birds. O! what traffic we weave!

anyhoo, dig in. an when yer full, stay for a bowl or two.

hige

2006-05-31T12:19:00.000+09:00

Shoe was doin' some calibration checks, an noticed that sodium, salt, lard an oil levels were kinda low, must be time for a fillup. shoe was a wee rocked from the night previous, an so it meant a run on a greasy lunch, an fastlike. Tha hige, another local-ish joint in the setagaya, just down the street from shoe hovel, would be the fix.

the master o the joint seem'd a hassled man, what with demandin' customers askin all sorts o stoopid questions bout this n that, an demanding things n whatnot. poor master also had a hard time cuttin' shoe's egg in two with a string. well, its one thing to be all harried n worried from the demands o runnin' a ramen joint, but shoe'll be fucked if someone goan be messin' wit his egg! shoe was *this* close to gettin the hump, but stood down when the apprentice stepped in with a fresh egg.

the bowl. shoyuu light n unremarkable, tasty but not memorable. nice chashew. ditto for the shio version.

three droopy mustaches for 'hige'.

kurofune

2006-05-22T13:40:00.000+09:00

ok, shoe back in the game, takin' the rock to the hole.

here's the kurofune, the black ship's best. shoe cased the joint oot in his magick ramen book, an' hit the joint in the komae expectin'. kurofune has won some sort o' telebi-champion stuff, so they's got the braggin' goin on .. and for the most part they ain't just shooting their moufs off.

shoe went for the shoyuu, with some chashew and the egg. kurofune has one o those soups wit the globby bits o' fat swimmin' on top, so's you gots to be careful not to die from drinkin' too much of it, lest your arteries turn into long pointy things that break real easy.. cos they're brittle (ok, so shoe's not up on the metaphors today..) anyhoo, the broth be pretty mild, an the chashew is interestin' in that it's cold, but still has the jibbly. pretty good noodles to boot, and a solid egg round oot the bowl. some unfortunate moyashi in the works however, which are tricksey things that make ya think they be more noodles in the bowl than there really is..

here be the miso version, soup na bad!

three perry's shippin' the shoyuu for the kurofune.

ramen chanpon by shoe?

2006-05-21T10:35:00.000+09:00

'tis been a while for 'ole shoe on the ramen front. a whole month away from the goodness! shoe gonna ease back into it gently like, starting with some-ting that aint even ramen. enter the chanpon, a nagasaki dee-lite that all you boogers out there should be huntin' down..

chanpon is japanese for 'shit-mix', or in udder words, a whole lotta vegetables n seafood n pork n noodles n whatever else is at hand to slap into the bowl. the result is bafflingly consistent in taste an quality, some-ting the shoe could never get right in his experimentation wit makin' his own chanpon in the secret shoe lab.

Ringerhut is a chain o' middle o' the road chanpon joints, scattered all throughout nagasaki an kyushu at large. now, shoe aint sayin' it's the slop, but there are better chanpon joints to be a visitin' before you makes up yer mind on whether the chanpon is the right bowl for you. as it seems to be the only source o' chanpon in fair tokyo, well, you takes what you cans.

another use for chanpon (the word) is for when you see one of those hopeless slobs at the izakaya sloggin' down beers an nihonshu an shochu an chuhais an wine, a sheeit-mix iffn there ever was one.. avoid the chanpon in this context, friends!

three t-rexes riding sperm whales battling giant squids for the ringer hut. talk about shit mix!

recovery ramen

2006-04-22T21:48:00.000+09:00

yeah, so shoe was feelin' kinda rotten today. like as in a soggy, foggy sack o guts. the last tonkotsu fix had faded, an' the drugs can only do so much. shoe found hisself back in the shibuya. hmmm..

usually shoe likes to dig down on a burger or some other greasy junk when hungover, but today the ramen was going to pull shoe though. shoe cobbled together a kooky plan; 'maybe, just maybe, a thick, nutrient-filled broth of fat and meat will do the trick' shoe thought to hisself as he rumbled down the road, jumpin' into the first ramen joint he laid eyes on.

the ajinotokedai, a sapporo joint on the centa-dori in the 'boo. thick gloppy tonkotsu, wit some o the most dee-lish chashew shoe has shoveled down in some time. it rode the line between shweet n salty, man it was wiggid. after a bowl like this, shoe was a-ready for anything; shuckin' corn, fightin' dogs, pullin' loads, whatever. in the end shoe wandered the 'boo a bit more an bought a couple o books. but man, he was ready for ANYTHING.

a before/after ramen two-shot

pluggin'

2006-04-22T20:32:00.000+09:00

shoe was a mess last night. runnin' round town, paintin' it brown, dinae even have time to cram food in his guff. it was like, WAM straight to the beer, of which shoe downed several varieties. so after sloggin' n smokin', shoe stumbled outta the watering hole in the 'boo and went in search o the ramen. no fussin' no hummin an hawin, BAM, innit like. and so the HAKATA.

shoe been down this way befo'. shlorked down the first bowl, an then shlaarked down the kaedama. woof. that was the end of it. ended up tippin' the big ass bowl o sesame seeds onna counter, giving the peeps a show an a good laugh at the clumsy moose let loose.

three shlobby dogs for the hakata

ramen o the rich n famous...sort of

2006-04-18T22:24:00.000+09:00

the previous ramen on this ole bolog here was lucky to get a mention. shoe had actually been casing this joint, the akasaka, an had it all wrong when he stepped inta the uglymens place. poor show, shoe. anyhoo, here's the akasaka.

now the akasaka is a perty famous joint, wit all kindsa talentos n sumo wrasslers n sundry 'big shit in j-land' peeps stopping by the main joint in akasaka. the walls are lined wit pics n signatures, and it's just like you gots good ole takanohana there, eatin' a bowl an jawin' away about chanko nabe or slapping poles or whatever sumo guys go on about. shoe was there yonks ago, an spied some comedienne an her attendants way back in the day. oot here in the hachimanyama, it is a different tale. nay prestigious boogers round here, just shoe an the salarymens.

but like y'all care about fame. "let's hear about the bowl, ass!" ya scream. well, muh pretties, akasaka ain't one o' those all flash an no bowl palces. first off, its a pretty bowl. nice balance o colours n toppings, rich lustrous soup n all that junk. shoe gots a tonkotsu mix, and woof! wotta thick ass broth! do not be drinkin this one down all the way, fellas. taste was old school, kinda on that gravy-ish tip at times if you're not paying attention. noodles of the thick n yellow variety. the noodle scooper/flipper/drainer guy was all over the fundamentals, he had skills.

to top it off, the aji-tsuke egg (thats a flavoured egg for ya dummies oot there) was nice n runny like a egg oughta be.

three mortimer mouses for the hachimanyama akasaka. just that one step removed from the big time.

you want a show and dance, or do you want the ramen, ass?

2006-04-16T09:17:00.000+09:00

shoe stepped inta another local-type joint, late afternoonish, definitely late lunchy time. in the hachimanyama, the hachiman ramen was just the tonkotsu fix shoe was lookin' for.

pretty casual joint, one step removed from the nameless faceless joints ya see dotting the cityscape. no fevered 'irrrrashhaimaSE!!s' that you be hearing from the more self-important places or barked orders n stuff. just a 'whaddelitbeman' kindof vibe coming from the two boogers running the pans (looked like shoe interrupted a conversation.) shoe went for the 'ramen', seein' as the house specialty was choked with onions and more onions. anyhoo, the porky one got to work fixin the bowl an' the beardly weirdly went about grindin' meat for the gyouza.

the bowl was passable, it's hard to phuck up tonkotsu really. nice hosomen, an' shoe slapped a little benishouga onna top to give it that 'i'm in hakata' joie de vivre. minus points for the wakame an moyashi toppings, but that's just a peccadillo o' the hachiman. servicable, no fuss, journeyman ramen.

three uglymen no-name wrasslers for the hachiman.

the gauntlet is thrown down..

2006-04-02T09:04:00.000+09:00

shoe hit the new joint at the soshigaya-ookura eki, just down the street from the spanky new ultraman statue.

the master at kantarou is a kindly soul. kantarou's soup is supposed ta be real hot, wit varying degrees of capsicum. shoe aks-ed for the mid range of the bat, but was warned gently that the soup was already purty hot as is and so mebbe the chuu wasn't the way to go.

scurvy dog! did the master know who he was dealing wit? shoe let it go at that, an conceded the reg'lar.

good toppings here. some nice soboro (thats the ground up meat sthuff for ya dummies oot there) and an onsen egg that melted into the works. kantarou is on the korean tip, wit junk like namuru an kimchee up for grabs as toppings. the soup- hot? well, iffn yer goin ta be a baybee about things, then yeah, it was kinda hot. but shoe done slurped that shit down! an finished off the works wit a mini rice dumped in the extra soup, king koopa stylee.

master checked in halfway thru the bowl to see if we was allright. damn straight, chump! shoe be back for the hot shit when ya bring it! master was also nice enough to give shoe a candy to suck on an a pack o tissues for the ride home. swell!

three runny noses for the kantarou

and when you have nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire

2006-03-30T08:24:00.000+09:00

shoe was hungry. the ramen academy was there. he slipped in, missing the rain by minutes. the long escalator ride served to sharpen the hunger. "damn, hurry this shit up," he thought.

kiriya was the appointed shoppe this eve. the vending machine was the solo guardian of the counter. shoe's choices were simple, but impatience made each choice a struggle. shoe ordered shoyuu, with an egg and a beer. a down payment on a heart attack, happily made. curtains parted, the counter was laid bare.

inside, the crew was working with submarine efficiency and economy of space. a young man, wet towel artfully wrapped over his brow, was manning pans that farted flame and steam. the grizzled skipper ran the show from the back, confident his men were in top form. orders were barked, and the chorus of the crew revealed their single, unspoiled thought: "the order must go through."

the mug of beer was the first to arrive. shoe took two long draughts, and couldn't hide the 'aaah' that came with the satifaction of a brew well-met. shoe studied the room carefully. festive posters of hakodate seemed the only adornment here, a clue to the origin of the bowl to come. 'a-ha!' shoe thought, 'a ramen from hakodate!' It meant nothing. hunger was the only motive for thought now.

the bowl arrived. the beer had not dulled the edge of the hunger. one last look before the attack. dark, murky shoyuu obscuring thin yellow noodles. the eggs inviting, three they be. and then the eyes moved to the chashew. great scott! had men devised such a treat in idle hours of amusement? no, this was the work of the destroyer, a thing of which when men perceived, they forsook their loves and went into the abyss.

shoe left that night knowing it was not kiriya itself that had sated him so, it was the knowledge that ramen, that shining beacon in the night, would always be there for him, be it his darkest hour or his moment of glory.

ajirou's noodle.

2006-03-19T09:29:00.000+09:00

shoe walked inta ajirou's noodle in the aoyama on a windy afternoon, lookin' to get a good fill.

ajirou is kinda sufferin' from an identity crisis. when yer oot in the street an perusin' the menu, it looks like some fly stylee place. then ya gets in and things change a bit. it's just a wee counter, no frills, yet the master must be on the design tip, cos ya gots yer minimal hip design elements tryin' hard to not be noticed. but the oyagi rockin' the pots ain't fooling anyone, ajirou.

anyhoo, to the bowl. frikkin' awesome noodles. fatty, straight, tastylike. nice mild shoyuu broth, good egg. chashew ain't stellar, but ain't disappointing. it's the noodles, ass.

three farmers for ajirou. can't be frontin' the stylee on this fellas

a walk in tha park

2006-03-19T09:18:00.000+09:00

shoe had a wander thru the park, lookin' at all the pretty plum trees in full bloom. there he spied a ramen stand, wit a bunch of oldy's hanging around, looking for trouble.

shoe didn't want any o that, just some tonkotsu. no name, no frills tonkotsu homemade by some grannys in the back.

there she is, fellas.

three plain ole cardboard boxes for the park 'men. plain, functional, works like it should.

betsu-betsu

2006-03-12T12:59:00.000+09:00

shoe was rolling thru old haunts in nakano, an when one is in nakano, one cain't leave until one has had one's fill of ramen. shoe wasn't all that hungry, but rulez is rulez.

enter the sakuranbo. shoe was looking for a quick fix, not too worried about hitting a big bowl, an open to somethin different. sakuranbo specializes in tsuke-men, where ya gots yer noodles here,

an dip 'em in yer soup here.
now the noodles were real thick n cold, an so the overall effect was to chill the broth by the time it got inta yer gob. dependin on how hot ya likes things, the tsukemen might not be for ya. a good dunkin' is in order to get the flavas from the broth.

an the soup, pretty damn strong. too strong to drink outright, just have a wee spoonful now an then. shoe as usual gots the de-lovely egg, an there was even some wee tasty chunks o chashew in the mix.

shoe aint really down with the tsukemen, but if ya gots to have it, the sakuranbo is the way ta go.

the shio ramen here is yer basic santouka shio, seein' as theyre all sista joints. if ya puss oot on the tsukemen, the shio is there to cover yer ass.

three siegfried and roys for the sakuranbo. some things should never be broken up.

marutake

2006-03-10T10:21:00.000+09:00

another hard core bowl from the ramen academy in the musashi-urawa. this is the marutake's hometown bowl, a miso.

man, this has gots to be one o the best miso's shoe's evar had. shoe aint down wit the miso so much, an one of his maxims is 'it shall not be sweet, nor shall it be hot'. marutake neither be. the broth is a good mix o the best flavas o the miso, yet packs a garlick wallop. nice.

an real good noodles here. yellow, thick, wit a flava that is distinct from the broth. the chashew more than held its own to boot. the only beef shoe 's got wit this bowl is the moyashi. waay too much that got hopelessly mixed up wit the remnants o noodles, denyin' shoe the satisfaction.

three golgo 13's, for a bowl that sniped shoe in the guts.

tuesdays at the academy..

2006-03-01T13:43:00.000+09:00

Shoe gets all lumpy inside riding the saikyo-sen oot to the musashi-urawa these tuesdays cos it means another great bowl going DOWN. the ramen academy is rocking solid.

Ok, next on the agenda we gots yet another great ramen from kyushu, this time the yamagoya. shoe decided to knock down the 'mukashi', which looked to be the joint's box-standard. you know the score, its tonkotsu, its hosomen, fuggedaboudit.

bonus points goin out for that egg ya see there. an egg like this really goes a long way to making a bowl just a little *special*, cos every mo'fo gots their own flavor.

an' half points for the shavings o' roasted garlick sprinkles onna top o the works. while it did give the bowl a kick, the mephitic lurk factor was threatenin' to give shoe a nassty case o the stankmouf.

rating came to shoe whilst thinkin' of eggs..

ramenhouse rock

2006-02-24T16:10:00.000+09:00

yeah, erubisu in the shinjuku. now wit a loaded name like that, you'd be expectin' ta see the king in everything.. well, 'taint so here. but a solid bowl erubisu be.

shoe gots the loaded version, with the egg an all. oniony topping left to a minimum, a wee too much moyashi, but a good chicken broth, clear wit no strong flavas dominatin' anything. nice hosomen, an the egg had something just a little extra rockin' it, must be the king there..

chashew above average, an the layer o' lipid floaties wasn't too distracting.

no hunka-hunka burnin' love ta be seen in the joint! ya think that the boogers coulda thought up some sortof gimmick. oh well, the bowl speaks for itself.

shoe gonna give this one three tortelvises. not really the king, but good enough for a one-off.

back ta school

2006-02-21T22:22:00.000+09:00

shoes wanderins've taken him all the way ta DA saitama- usually a place where good times go ta die. but not today fellas. shoes got hisself a whole new whack o tasties to mow thru. enta THE RAMEN ACADEMY

first on the block, a rock solid hakata honey from the genya. lookit those lervly chashew petals surrounding that shweet shweet tonkotsu nectar. an noodles ya could lace yer booties wit, so thin n so hard. shoe in his snotty haste forgot ta get the boiled egg on the side! o well next time innit.

shoe charted six, mebbe seven joints in the hallowed halls, definitely enough ta power him thru til spring- woop woop

three hawt coeds fer genya in the academy- let classes commence!

let's slay winter.

2006-02-16T14:47:00.000+09:00

hot damn. shoe was all a-snivelin', wanderin down the road thinkin aboot how de-lovely warm it was the other day an why the fuck cain't it be like that from now on and waa waa waa... back to this chilly-ass shit an shoe not likin' it.

well, fuck that noise! shoe headed down to makotoya in the hachimanyama, an immersed hisself in the clouds o steam risin' from within. ahh..

makotoya hits on all cylinders. creamy, thick tonkotsu/shoyuu mix, egg in place, some short thick-ass noodles and heaps o toppings. ROWLF! shoe also had the headfones rawkin oot to DFA 1979, an when he got out o the joint, he gave the winter gods the big phat bird. take that you shitty cold spirits!

ramen is the shoe's sword and shield. three forks in ole man winter!

newz.

2006-02-15T22:17:00.000+09:00

shoe in a bit o a ramen lull. "wtf shoe?" y'all be saying.. shoe hears ya. keep yer panties on ya turly curds!

there's a whole lotta ramen comin down the tubes, all in good time. shoe was doin' all sortsa entertainin' n junk a while back, an between shippin his carcass of ta kyoto n all over the tokyo, he had some time to school some punk on what's what in the ramenverse.

shoe hit some o his best joints in a span o a week n a half. some were legendary bowls, some were shoe's secret bowls, an some were just 'too phucking hungry n lazy to crawl off to a fly joint' bowls. but theys were all hard pipe hittin' bowls, to be sure.

so, 'spanky the wonder newbie' will be droppin' in wit the commentary, hopefully some time this frikkin' month. yummy!

in the meantime, here are some gawdawful portraits o nekkid blimpos seen in an onsen.. mad props to sarita, wiggid baybee!

phonkee-men

2006-02-01T10:45:00.000+09:00

bonten in the shibuya. damn, thats a bowl an a half. great jibbly chashew an a rich broth. wit some extra meat iffn ya don't get enough from the chashew.

now, enough about the bowl. the inhouse deejay wuz rockin' the room wit the k-tel disco, creating some unholy fusion of ramen an' phat 70s vibes.

bwam-chikky-bwam bwamm

three platform shoes for the bonten.

lord of illusions!

2006-02-01T09:49:00.000+09:00

k, a hearty >clink< for the new year from shoe... a month too late but man! wotta year shoe gots in store for ya. there's a whole lotta ramen backed up in shoestore.. it'll all come oot in a grand splooge sooner or later..

right. the hatsu-ramen for 2006. a kee-yo-to ramen called the red-devil. shoe wasn't planning to hit this joint or anyting, just wandering on a chilly rainy night, buzzed n looking fer some good eats. but then the devil, sweet charmer she is, ensnared poor ole shoe wit a beguiling photo of the loaded ramen delights in store.. shoe lost all reason an just scampered in.. 'ooo lookit tha toppings!' shoe was squealing..

giddy.

but then the bowl came. little less than advertised, but still lookin' fine. a taste o the noodles... hmm. limp. the soup. na bad, but the letdown had already set in. the monster loads o' spicy shit? shoe was envisionin' a grand spectacle o choking nose wipin' slurpy escapads, but it turned oot to be nuthin' stronger than paprika..

some decent chashew an some more beer pulled this one up a bit again, but gaddam shoe wuz lookin' at the pictures an then the bowl, and .. arrr..

here's the chashew-men version..

fillin', but the devil did done shoe in wit the visions o sinful ramen heaven..

three sultry she-devils for the aka-oni.

wanderin' again

2006-01-17T07:43:00.000+09:00

shoe all done his travels now, time to gets back to bid'ness, as they say..

this is menchanko-tei, via the lovely island of oahu. shoe stepped outta hawaii an inta hakata for an hour to savor a faithful hakata tonkotsu. nice noodles, just like home.

here's the shoyuu

menchanko-tei twas so convincin that shoe was out tha door an' had to be reminded to leave a tip.. bad shoe!

anyhoo, three pineapples fer a hawaiian ramen refuge.

the stuff that warms yer booty..

2005-12-30T14:17:00.000+09:00

the last ramen o the year. perhaps. shoe been gone a while, to places where it wan't so damn chilly. when he got home to the shoebox, he was a shakin' and a shiverin' like no one's business. layers upon layers o blankets an hours spent under a hot shower wasn't doin' the trick, so shoe hauled his ragged carcass down to the nearest ramen joint in the 'hood.

enter daidai. some fishy type broth (if that's your sortof thing), a great half-boiled egg, an chashew that looked like rashers o' bacon. a big ass steamin' bowl o' "welcome home".

shoe is plenty warm now, get the shitty winter over with already!

three potbelly stoves for the daidai.

good golly miss molly!!

2005-11-25T23:35:00.000+09:00

shoe hit the ramen jackpot wit not one not two not three but FOUR! count 'em four wikkid awesome ramens in the naka-meguro..

kamachidou. this aint a ramen joint, fellas. it's an unholy union of fook-off trendy izakaya an concept ramen lab, with a lot o good shochu thrown in to boot. shoe didn't even know what hit him by the end of it all..

things started of slow. as in NO ramen. just some tasty dishes, thrown out one by one in one o those free for all grab-the-odd-numbered-extra-tidbit-when-noone's-lookin' kinda affairs.. luckily they were pretty light so shoe didnt get all cementy-guts.. the biirus were a-flowin however..

then, the time came. a call to bring on the ramen!

k, first off, there was this lovely here..

shoe kinda remembers it as a shio base, with some wild yuzu-koshu (thats some wiggid citrus peppa shtuff for ya dummies oot there) flava zippin' through the works..

then this beaut.

a sister to the first one, of sorts. light and fairy, ran wit the angels..shoe only got a couple o slurps in on this one..

then a heavy hittin' miso. shoe ran his stink-mouth off on the miso a while back, and has to eat a bit o crow after munchin' on this bowl..

woof!

finally, shoe arm wrestled everyone at the table for the right to get a bowl to hisself. a baffling array o toppings shoe aint never seen were there for the plucking..look at this fucking menu!

shoe got this booger here. don't be askin why shoe got what he did, cos shoe don't know either.

now, shoe ordered some special toppings, for this bowl, some deep fried garlick and of course, the chahsew... the bowl came an shoe took a big-ass bite outta the pork. shweet dirty elvis what a sugary treat! but it wan't over, no sir. THE REAL TOPPINGS came on a side dishy thingy...

shoe passed oot for a few moments, then upon waking bukkaked them straight inta the bowl an gobbled the works down.

oh yeah, there was a lot of shochu involved as well. shoe would really like to give a compleat account o all the junk for y'all, but well..

shoe is a mess. ratin' is obvious..

holiday ramen

2005-11-23T23:57:00.000+09:00

some shitty roadside ramen from a soba place in the middle of hakone. shoe oughta shoulda known betta thatn to tangle with some limp ass noodles in a weak shoyuu broth wit some lame-O chashew thrown hastily on top, 't get the punters out' in a hurry. ..

hakone was nice, by the way...

three wrong ways for the shitty hakone ramen.

the fix.

2005-11-18T12:34:00.000+09:00

oooh, it'd been a while for ole shoe, an he needed a good fix o the sweet sweet ramen. in the tamachi, azabu had the goods.

azabu is just some old stylee counter place. the counter comes upta yer tits, so you can get your gob right in the bowl. no fancy junk, a great little bowl of pure shoyuu ramen. shoe gobbled down a side dish o salty chahan, some great endless kimchi moyashi, an washed it down wit a bit o asahi. the essence of the ramen experience. aww yeah..

ratin to come..

seven little piggies..

2005-10-28T16:23:00.000+09:00

some decent shoyuu under the bridge from nanahiki no kobuta in the hachimanyama. this bowl was kinda like a nondescript guy you see on some beer commerical on tv. he kinda looks like your brother in law, or wait, he sorta reminds you of the assistant at the butchers, or hey, no, yeah, he's the dude who you saw on that bus ride that one time.

can't place the bowl exactly. anyhoo, three faceless whatchamacallits fer the piggies..

they say hunger is the best sauce..

2005-10-26T23:39:00.000+09:00

damn, its gettin chilly in the machi...

well well well, lookit here. the tonkotsu-miso from fukurou in the tamachi. hmmm..

tiny place, sorta packed, shoe had a look at the osusume ramen on the ole coin op. "miso-tonkotsu negi". hm. only hittin' a one fer three on the ramen sweet spot scale.. shoe went for the 'miso-tonkotsu chashew' ride instead.

dude behind the counter mustve gotten his signals crossed, cos shoe was presented with not only one, but two kindsa onions heaped upon heaps on top o the works. the mephitic lurk factor was just waay too much for shoe to choke down. shoe did a sneaky onion shuffle an wiped em under the table, where they wouldn't bother no one no more..

a few slurps n chomps later an this bowl was toast. real oily soup, with the tonkotsu comin in for a late rally over the sorta hot reddish miso.. shoe was doing some fancy spoonin' to seive out all those stray stands o onions. all told, a middling to fair bowl. but shoe aint done yet..

shoe likes to style hisself as an equal-opportunity ramen fancier, but man, the miso just aint pullin its weight. when it aint too salty, its all too sweety or all peanuty-buttery in yer face. the miso is the red-headed stepchild o the ramen family. now you knows you gots all those "day GOOS-ti-boos nohn est dis-poo-TAHN-dem" assholes out there who figure that just cos they from hokkaido means that miso deserves some cred, but ya know in yer heart o hearts that it just aint so.

cmon, miso lahvers, show us what you gots. shoe is throwin down the gauntlet here. lets see some ramen's ramen from you boogers.

three reds for fukurou...

crazee eggy ice!

2005-10-18T18:59:00.001+09:00

k, this was trippin shoe oot big time. it's ice cream in a balloon type thingy.

here's the thing here..full of icey-goodness. nice 'lil rubber band attached to keep it on yer finger..

then what ya gots to do is nip off the tip here..

an teh icecream just comes out in a wee dribble. you suck the egg until the elasticity in the balloon splonks the last bit inta yer gob..

this is the shrunken b'loon once the gig is up.

so fer all yer oral fixation needs, gofer the tamago aisu!

safe n snuggly...

2005-10-06T23:17:00.000+09:00

the safe bet. the sure thing. the can't miss. shoe went for all o this with nagahama in the asagaya. and a kaidama to boot. with the special tonkotsu sauce on top.

three locks for the nagahama, grand kyushu styleee. 'nuff said.

now, shoe was pretty happy wit this bowl, being the tonkotsu and having a praawper kyushu lineage n all.. but somethin' was a naggin' him. just down the street stood another ramen joint, a fucking NEGi-ramen joint.

shoe looked at the poster. negi. lots of it. all through the bowl. green onions, taunting shoe. 'can you handle all this negi, big boy?' it said to shoe. shoe stared some more. thats a lot o negi. shoe dont like the negi. does shoe fear the negi? is this too much of a bowl for the shoe to take? shoe shied away, and took solace in the tonkotsu...

shoe's back in the asagaya next week. will shoe quail? tune in next time, kiddies.

umeiya

2005-10-03T15:10:00.000+09:00

umeiya is one phonky joint. shoe stepped in to hear the big-beat stylings of Bentley Rythym Ace, ahh shweetums. mostly trendy boogers lining the counters, pretty slick. whaddaya ex'pects for aoyama, man?

so now, yer all expectin' shoe to get nasty on umeiya, sayin' junk like, "Oh, why cain't they make that ramens like they used-ta-ta??" but no dice. the 'kyushu yatai' flava was right on the money, an shoe would be hard pressed to say this was an imposter iffn the lights were oot. truly worthy of a spot somewhere near hakata..

umeiya is like some biig shiny pretty robot. all fly an cool lookin' on the outside, but its got archie andrew's jalopy chuggin' away for a heart. that means its good. an hands down the best dj to boot.

three swish! for swish umeiya.

suica

2005-10-02T00:33:00.000+09:00

suica was a tricky bowl to figger out. in the asagaya, under the tracks, prime location, but strangely quiet. unsettling. what has suica gots to hide, shoe asks?

it sure aint their chashew! kee-rap. now as soon as shoe laid into that, he was all ready to write suica off. noodles too much on the processed side,soup a wee too clear, no punch. even an interestin' variation on the soft-boiled egg (white half-cooked as well! who'da thunk it) wasn't going to save suica.

but then the bowl turned. shoe dunno what black magick took hold o that bowl, but the bowl turned. somehow the soup started gettin', well, sorta tasty! things were mixin', junk was coolin', it was confusing for a bit.

now, we ain't talkin' transmogrification of soup into the flesh n blood o the true savior or anything. just a subtle change in the bowl, enough to upgrade it from meagre, to passable. comparable to findin' out that the gum ya stepped in came off in one nice scrape offa yer boot.

three shrugs for suica, woteva!

new digs.. again.

2005-10-02T00:17:00.000+09:00

looks like itsa been a whole year witout the shoe tinkerin' wit the works!! whaddaya think, fellas?

that's just nice..

2005-10-01T08:23:00.000+09:00

in the tamachi, kagemaru is a real solid bowl o rich shoyuu. booyah.

eatin at kagemaru was like dating a swell girl after having spent a weekend pokin' a harem of hawt playboy rock groupies. yeh, she's nice n all, but man, the mehm'ries...

three swell girls for kagemaru, shoe is back to earth.

great guns its the fook!!

2005-09-26T21:22:00.000+09:00

so... shoe almost came home empty handed after spending nearly a whole day in the fukuoka without having sampled the ramen. for shame, shoe! however, before hittin' the airport, shoe's handlers were kind enough to excort him on a RAMEN HASHIGO>>!!

first up was the kairyu, a legendary kurume ramen. man, shoe's ears were smokin' as he anticipated this bowl. kairyu aint a pretty joint, the only adornment on the walls are some siggies from a bunch o famous boogers. all shoe had eyes for tho' were the giant steamin' pots being attended to by the ramen acolytes behind the counter.

soup so thick the spoon was standin' to attention. noodles pure kate moss, thin n white. a sliver o nori nestled on top, gently, gently. what can shoe say about the taste!?! no words come from his uglee gob.

just as the shoe was wipin his chin from this wee slice o ramen heaven, his handlers suggested a dash to the next place, the ippudou. shoe dinae know what to think. could he handle two monster bowls in one session? kairyu alone would be enough to sate the shoe for a month...

ippudou. great jibbly chunks o chashew!! this bowl is about as close as a shoe can get to the idea of the tonkotsu-ramen-as-it-is-in-itself. ippudou cheekily claims to be all assari, but don' be fooled, younglings. it's just as belly-bustin' as the kairyu.

here's the red, exxtra shhpicy.

shoe had constructed a list as long as his forearm, contemplatin' for hours what joints he would hit. in the end, he only got two in the books. but wotta two!!

three plato-es ramen-ing for the marvels of the fook!

nags

2005-09-21T23:10:00.000+09:00

many moons ago, shoe dwelled in the kyushu. at the time, shoe was criminally ignorant of all things good aboot the ramen, but he knew champon pretty well. ah champon, that shitmix of piggie, veggie an sea..
RINGER HUT was a favoured joint wit the shoe, can't beat the cheap. just as mickie D's coffee is the defacto platonic ideal o' coffee, so it goes wit the ringer hut an champon. there are fistfuls o joints waay better than the 'hut, but iffn it's champon ya crave in a jiff, you could do worse.

now wit all that buildup, yu'd think that steamin' bowl up there is one o the hut's finest. nah. shoe waited a good long hour to suck this bowl down, overlookin' the grand nagasaki bay. refined n all that, yeah.

another dish that deserves a spot here is the saraudon. when done poorly, it's a sloppy sludge o Elmers trowelled onto a scratchy bird nest. but in the hands o someone who knows a bit about things, it's a quiverin' mass o some unworldy fusion 'twixt crunch an slurp.

yea, shoe did love the nags an all the funky goodness.

three happyfunballs for the champs!

next up, the fukuoka (tremble..)

rockin' it edo stylee..

2005-09-14T23:18:00.000+09:00

in the tamachi, genkotsuya is all old school, and man shoe needed to get back to a good ramen.

the 'ya is just a wee counter, some old jazzy stuff on the wax, some a-guffawin' fatty salarymens. shoe rolled in an plunked down fo' the basic bowl, although the chashew-men looked pretty snazzy.

genkotsuya is one o those places that has to tells ya all about their bowl, with intimate details o the makin' and brewin' painstain'kly scribed in earthy kanji on helpful index cards placed in strategic locations. somethin' to while away the minutes to the eatin', shoe supposes. it's a good bet that the bowl is solid, and so shoe expected nothin less that pure catharsis for the last wreck of a bowl (scroll down a bit)

the soup was heavy and oily, so no way shoe was goin to finish the broth. the presence o onions throughout the bowl was a bit scary, but no harm done overall. nice menma and some goodly thick noodles rounded the works oot. yes, genkotsuya delivered. if you likes it thick n oily (and really who doesn't?) you can't do much better.

three fatties from edo for genkotsuya..

shoe's heart be a-fluutta..

2005-09-13T17:54:00.000+09:00

yeh... shoe is heading down to where all the funky noodle goodness is. the KYUSHUU. the small gold heart o' shoe's ragged sole, the nagasaki. the friggin' fukuoka!

wee!

shoe is constructing a wish list. gaddam.

more fun wit puddin'

2005-09-13T17:38:00.001+09:00

well well, looks like the 'ole oppai puddin' is back!

two smanky versions for y'all...the first, the yokohama bust puddin'

gently fellas! y'ell get an eye poked oot there!

k, then we gots the goth-typey maid thingy from the ghost house at Fuji-Q highland..

shoe likey the engrish. 'a first class cook seasoned these dishes with advanced techniques and highest-class materials. Please enjoy this 'tastiness'.

an finally the money shot.

how do you like this, master?

rant on!

2005-08-25T14:17:00.000+09:00

kriste on a stick was this place evar awful! shoe was rolling thru the hachioji, an wanted to make the most of the opportunity by checking out kyushu ramen sakurajima. immediately upon entering, shoe knew he was in for something bad. sakurajima is one o those forlorn joints that have greasy ole salarymen, grubby ole laborers an grotty ole otaku rolling through every ten seconds for quick shot o grease and a long pull on a ciggie.

it got worse from there. the crummy recommended ramen was facking miso! the place says KYUSHU out the front, buggers! wtf? so shoe, perplexed, thought why not, plugged the machine an got his tix. slumped down next to some lonely soul sucking down a mild seven an slurpin on a kirin. some ancient dragons were slapping some gyouza round while a skinny listless booger fought with a mountain of moyashi.

the bowl came. look at that pic, that weak ass shite. here's how to make your own version of it at home. take some boiling hot water, throw some uncooked spaghetti in the bottom, then throw a double scoop o crunchy peanut butter on top. cover generously with salt, and dont forget the sprouts! make sure theyre extra watery kids, you don't want the flavor of the soup getting in the way.

man, shoe did something he hadnt done in a loong time; he tried to tank the bowl. tanking a bowl happens when ya start applying all the various sauces, oils and spices at yer disposal to change the flavor. shoe tanked the hell outta this bowl. the result? an order of gyouza to get some passable food.

three grotty armpits for sakurajima. boo!

middle o the road.

2005-08-11T14:44:00.000+09:00

a little lunchin' in the chofu brings us homey soramame. on a wee back street, shoe munched on some real bland ramen. not bad, but not good either. mumf.

here's da shio version, tasted like moyashi all the way down..

shoe's gonna give this three pairs of beige kakhis...

daruma no me

2005-08-11T14:37:00.000+09:00

a repeat, in the akihabara. smoove jazz contrasts wit the guys in the back yelping 'welcome!' 'one order up!' 'OK!' ' an all that..

obvious ranking for dis one..

ookuraya

2005-08-05T08:39:00.000+09:00

shoe took a wee trip to nakano to knock off another joint. enter the ookuraya, on the strip.

nice, thick tonkotsu base, and that sweet chashew that is just a wee bit burnt on the outside. the always pop'lar half boiled egg done right, an' a cheeky free glass o beer for lunch.. careful when getting down to the end of the bowl, as the free-range onions may cause undue mephitic lurk.

shoe has lately been on a futo-men trip. choosing the thickness of the noodle is an important factor in how a bowl goes down, and shoe wants to see how the other half lives, for a while.

anyhoo, three rocks for rock solid ookuraya

greasy, greasy

2005-07-29T09:55:00.000+09:00

shoe went back to the wee ramen street in meguro, lookin for a good noontime fix. shoe didnt count on getting it all in fatty globules coating his esophagus.

hope tries to pass isself off as a mild-mannered bowl, with the shops havin' a woodsy interior, kinda stylish, all that lot. but don't be fooled! the black heart of hope is the seething, grubby juice of the fascist nation.

this bowl is a serious contender for the 'gots to get me a heart-attack quick like' crown. massive doses o fatty tissue, an you can even choose how big your down-payment on that heart attack will be. shoe went for 'futsuu', which was enough for any mortal to handle. shoe even gambled wit his life an got an egg thrown in the mix.

now don't be gettin' shoe all wrong here, the bowl isn't awful or anything. in fact, it's got a good base, an the noodles can hold their own. just make sure you gots your life insurance all sorted oot befo' ya go, or just get the assari version.

iffn you want to see the real face o hope, just head down to sendagaya an eat at the standin' ramen stall there. all the taxi drivers in tokyo hit that joint at all hours of the day, with heavin' baskets o sliced raw onion for the sloppy masses.

three grease patties for hope, may da lord have mercy on yer soul

u-ru-to-ra-men!

2005-07-24T19:04:00.000+09:00

damn, a good bowl! koton-men in the setagaya, on the ultraman shoutengai. ultra kotteri, phat-ass shorty noodles, goes well with the nori, and some noice jibbly chashew to top it all.

for those who been wit shoe since waay back, y'all remember the aka-daigo, one o the first ramens to put shoe on the path to ramen appreciation. alas, it is no more, and shoe has been looking ever since to have a weepy bowl that comes close..

well, this one comes pretty damm close. AND... he spied some good ole pork-blocky goodness lurking amongst the toppings on the master's counter... this will demand a return trip.

shoe's gonna give this one three ultramans, the only thing this ramen didn't do was spray frikkin' laser beams

tokyo nature preserve

2005-07-22T16:20:00.000+09:00

ahh the great indoors..

shoe, where ya been, dogg?

2005-07-22T16:04:00.000+09:00

ahhh yesh, even in foreign lands, there is the goodness o ramen to be had..

yea, shoe is back from the thailand, where the beaches were beachy, the jungles jungley, an the massages .. pleasant.

ay-yight. the ramen. last nite in the bangkok, shoe sampled a bit o some displaced homegrown. nothing that would be out of place in shinjuku, to be sure. a bit o' the mephitic lurk, but after days an days o garlick attacks from the local cuisine, nothin' the shoe noticed later. other versions on the menu were simply clogged wit the negi, or waaay too hot to be believed. shoe chose wisely, and ended up with a solid, filling bowl.

shoe's poo is solid again, the holiday is over.

mind the wee ones..

2005-06-27T16:14:00.000+09:00

yeh so one day shoe in his wanderin's noticed a weird sign warnin' people to look oot for kids runnin' out in the street. then another one, an another an so on..

anyhoo, shoe collected a bunch, jus for no reason. here's the junk..

some twerpy kids..

some kreepy kids..

olde skool..

an a wee one aboot to get pasted royally...

careful oot there!

poppoya

2005-06-18T10:01:00.000+09:00

shoe was in one of tokyo's OBC's (office bird central) in the kachidoki, wanderin' through the strip, oglin'.. and then caught a sight o' poppoya.

now, poppoya has a good thick n mellow shoyuu broth, on the heavy side, and some wee chashew that ain't too bad. but it's what the noodles bring to the bowl is what's goin to decide the fate of poppoya.

back in the day, many moons ago, shoe was jus' a stripling wit no concept of how to slurp a noodle proper-like. he'd a wander in to some joint, and refuse ta make that gaddam awful sloopy noise, an eat his noodles jus like spaghetti, all quiet like..

later, shoe started to act like the natives, and made a few stabs at gettin' noodles in his gob jus like he saw on tv. he made a few newbie mistakes..

wrappin' yer lips all tight around the noodles, so that when ya slurp, not only do ya squeegee the juice offa the noodles, ya whip the noodle tips round in evar contracting concentric circles, providin' the neighbouring patrons wit a wee ramen shower.

openin' yer manky gob too much, thereby inhaling scalding hot ramen broth an any wanderin' bits o topping along wit some noodles.

pinching off the noodles mid-slurp, leaving an unsightly mess o' sloppy noodle ends lurching in the bowl.

shoe's got his technique down and everythin'( he don't be ticklin' or nothin...) anyhoo, the nub o the story is poppoya presents a challenge for any veteran noodle-eatin' mother. the noodles are thick as fuck. and hard. and curly. its that combination that make 'em really hard to slurp wit any sorta command.

they're good, jus' hard to eat.. shoe sprayed his crossword an' got a con-de-scen-din' sorta grin from a salaryman type, but the tables were turned when he splatted the window wit his attempt.

so yeh, get on yer game an hit poppoya sometime..

mephitic lurk

2005-06-10T17:45:00.000+09:00

from the basics of wine tasting;

The impression the wine leaves in the mouth following swallowing or spitting is referred to as the finish or aftertaste. These characteristics are often different from those detected on the palate while swirling the wine in your mouth.

shoe's gonna coin a new phrase here to describe finish in terms o the ramen. this comes about from having to deal with monster stank breaf for the last three hours cos shoe ate that onion-choked monster ya see above.. >ahem<

mephitic lurk

-the inherent quality of a ramen that imbues the breath of the eater with fetid undertones of rank garlick or onion

shoe's gonna go on a 5 point scale. this one ranks

four stinkbugs outta five. phuckin' onion overload!!

gettin a little nipply in here..

2005-06-10T00:06:00.000+09:00

spotted at the don-ki ..you too can have beauty nipple!

shoe actually had a wee debate wit some friends at the local denny's when some bird walked by presumably sportin' a couple o these. lotsa neck-cranin' an sneaky peeks over the coffee counter...

poppa comes thru

2005-06-06T14:50:00.000+09:00

shoe wuz bikin' home on a hot afternoon, and decided to have a cheeky lil ramen on the way. a wee mom n pop kinda place, nondescript, empty. ah well, woteva, its kinda late anyway.. shoe slumped in, not expecting much, not seeing much that would change his mind.. just a couple o tired old folks doin some cleaning n junk..

shio looked to be the best bet on this hot day, shio it was.. the order went thru and all went back to cleaning... hmmm.. going to be crapola! shoe was sharpening his critic's knife..

well, no go! the bowl was assembled, and then the ole man behind the counter handed it to shoe an smiled.. 'here ya go' kinda like.. things changed for the better as shoe hit the bowl, a respectable shio, no letdowns, surprises or messes. no crummy aftertaste, no overwhelimin' influx of one flavor, no weird combinations o toppings.. just simple.

yeh, so whats the point? when ya head into no-name places like this (on a sort of hill in the sengawa area) it really is a crapshoot. shoe rolled a hard 4 this time, may not be so lucky the next..

ラーメン占い！

2005-06-04T11:01:00.000+09:00

shoe was a wanderin' on the nets, an came across the ramen uranai, where boogers can find their true ramen souls. shoe took the what ramen type are ya? test.

shoe is..

冷やし中華ラーメン人間さんです！　

or hiyachu-kun, for short.

shoe also took the what degree of ramen-likey-ness are ya? test.. the envelope pleeze...

貴方は７２％です。

あなたはラーメンがかなり大好きな人間です！
とりあえず今から１杯ラーメンを食べに行くのがいいでしょう。
おいしいラーメン屋さんを見つけるまで食べつづけましょう。
ラーメンの食べすぎで太らないように注意しましょうね！
　おいしいラーメン屋さんを見つけたら教えて下さいね！！

so, shoe's got a ways ta go to bring up the 'ole score there...

anyhoo, have a look round, enjoy...

mild n' wild - paradoxical ramen

2005-06-03T16:34:00.000+09:00

how can somethin so hot be so mild? a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery...shoe's wee brain is spinnin' tryin to contemplate things. the tan-tan men at men shounin (previously visited) rocks, solid.

get some o' dat

2005-06-01T18:59:00.000+09:00

shoe store spotted at the hachioji.. tee hee snee

arashi

2005-06-01T14:53:00.000+09:00

smank dab on the kanpachi -dori in setagaya, arashi is of the 'the more garlick the better the bowl' school. that and loads of fat. something just not right with this bowl. paper thin chashew and a weak egg just served to underscore junk. it wa'nt bad, but just wa'nt all that great either.

haad gei!

2005-05-28T20:04:00.000+09:00

well well, just when ya think ya were used to seein everyting on the jappo tv, along comes the haad gei...

"this haad gei loves the little children!"

he's been a corner on baku-ten, a saturday evening variety show featurin a bunch o junk. this week, haad gei is trying to convince a bunch o kids to eat their most hated foods...the PIMAN! green peppah for ya dummies oot there..

here's haad gei rockin up to a kid..

an here he is shakin his junk for the kid

here's haad gei playin wit the kiddies in the jungle gym..

an here is haad gei tryin to drive the bad piman vibes outta a kid..

haad gei got the ghetto blaster out an got the kids singin a song and dancin'.. the lyrics? GEI! GEI! GEI! GEI! GEI!

a little bit later, haad gei cooked up a delicious peanut butter, green pepper an bacon onigiri, and the kid was a convert!

"HAAD GEI COOKING!"

yea, yep.

rabbit, rabbit

2005-05-27T16:14:00.000+09:00

yea, a shinasoba from usagi-tei .. kinda lonely lil' place, either a radio or tv on in the background, chillled oot for a friday afternoon.

the soup was soupy, the noodles, noodly, chashew like chashew. some onion doing its thang, floppy ole nori, menn..mma. no surprises all round. what made the bowl was the extra 'erbs..

ah, fridaye afternoons, sun goin' down..

yotteco

2005-05-25T21:55:00.000+09:00

shoe was on the way to the suupa, an needed some lunch on the way. shoe had had an eye on a ramen joint near the suupa for some time, and the time was ripe to pounce. alas! it was closed. so shoe headed down the street an found yo! teco instead.

a mix o tonkotsu an shoyuu, the yotteco delivered, no surprises. hilite o the bowl was the chashew, some sweet sweet thin slices o piggy goodness. hurrah for da chashew!

an heres a look at the chanpon-men. not real chanpon mind you (shoe'll school y'all on what chanpon is aboot someday, kiddies..), jus' a load o veggies in a peanuty-oily broth. na bad.

seiya

2005-05-20T18:19:00.000+09:00

it'd been too long.. shoe needed a tonkotsu fix. enter the seiya. shoe went for the chashew-men, plunked down at the counter, and the Great Wait started. not a hell of a lot happens at seiya. usually you see ramen guys behind the counter in a whirl o action, dollops o this, chunks o that flyin places, lotsa whoopin' an great slashing movements all over the place. the two dudes at seiya however stood there like great stone moais. every other minute, one of them would take a wee noodle an rub it tenderly. then, when the signal came, ske-bam! in a quick, tightly scripted flow of action, all the shit went down and the bowl was placed in front o shoe for the eatin'.

the bowl. great gloppy tonkotsu with thick yellow noodles. average chashew an a healthy dose o nori made for a pretty good fix.

iffn you hit the chitosekarasuyama shoppe, you'll see some wiggid sideburn action to boot, always entertainin.