A bowl of joy

Ramen. In the west we get it all wrong. Even at so-called 'authentic' Japanese restraunts its not the same. Sure you can get okay ramen noodles and broth in a bowl but the experience here is different. 

People revere ramen here. Every ramen place - from the cheapest machine token fast booth ramen to high end table service place - has its speciality. And in every case its executed with the same care and attention that I mentioned in my previous post. 

So you don't need to spend a lot of money to have amazing Ramen. In fact its hard to spend a lot of money on ramen. usually it lands between 800 and 1300 yen per bowl, most often towards the lower end.

We tried out a new place. it was actually a location Luke and I used to visit when I lived here. Previously called XXX or, as I would refer to it 'Volcano Ramen' (the kanji of the name was a mountain and fire combined to make up the work 'Volcano'). We went there back in 2009 when it first opened and it quickly became one of our favourite spots. but since then, it has closed, reopened, changed hands, become a cow tongue restaurant (Gyutan or cow tongue is a local speciality which I've not had the opportunity to have this visit. next time!). most recently it was a family restaurant (and quite a good one apparantly)

But it just reopened as a ramen place once again, with new ownership and menu, so it was highly appropriate for my visit that we check it out. Kinda strange Deja vu for us trying this place for the first time... again!

We were not disappointed. I had a 'spicy micro shrimp' ramen with a thick broth and miso that tasted very similar to Laksa - and laksa is the king of all noodle dishes. so I was pleased as punch We also had a couple of additional 'onsen' eggs (soft/hard yolks) and some friend chicken pieces to go along with it.

Came to about 1000yen per bowl. And there it is. You just can't get ramen this good, this cheap in the west. its always more than that. and its never done this good (or this fast). So, like Sushi, another thing to treasure when I visit.