_valerian

5/29/2007

no way OH YES WAY

Filed under: japan, eating — John @ 10:48 pm

Maybe you have been eating on something and thought:
“you know, this is pretty good, but it would be even better with cheese”.

Indeed! And so I will share with you the Secret to a good Okonomiyaki: Get cheese as a topping. It makes everything better.

But. What. About. Ramen. ?.

More specifically, what about Tonkotsu ramen? Despite the fact that it is the Best Kind of Ramen, it too can be made even tastier WITH THE INCLUSION OF CHEESE:

cheeseramen.jpg

元祖マルキュー味噌チーズラーメン (900円)

Last weekend in Ebisu I stopped in Tsukumo Ramen (website has Noise) and found something great that one might write poetry about, the kind of poems that furthers the expression of the human condition*. They make their own cheese and then they shred it over your soup, wearing red t-shirts with jeans as they do this. The cheese gets all melty and sinks (with the corn). So unlike regular ramen eating, where you finish off the experience by trying your best to get those slipperly noodle parts out the bottom of the bowl (and mostly just get onions or bean sprouts) at Tsukumo you are rewarded with the noodle-parts PLUS globs of cheese. You can’t lose.

They have three shops- one in Hokkaido, one in Ebisu, and one in Tsudanuma in Chiba(!). What’s that Kanagawa? You might be the prefecture neighboring Tokyo that has all the class and money and taste, but do you have any shops offering CHEESE RAMEN? No, you don’t. Japan’s New Jersey, Chiba, does.

Or is it Saitama that is Japan’s New Jersey?

Go to one of those shops and taste the sensation (I would suck at writing copy as a job)

cheeseramendone.jpg

FANTASTIC

*Here is that poem (a Haiku):

HOLY CRAP ITS CHEESE
THE RAMEN HEAT MELTED IT
STRAIGHT INTO OUR HEART(S)

3 Comments »

  1. everything tastes better with cheese. everything! (maybe except icecream)

    Comment by rachael — 5/29/2007 @ 11:56 pm

  2. Cheese is the natural friend of wine..
    wine is one of my best friends..
    yet not necessarily the best friend of my paunch.

    I would guess Chiba is the New Jersy of Tokyo
    while Saitama.. the upper New York state??

    take care,
    charles pflanz.

    Comment by 茶ー理ぃ  フランツ — 5/31/2007 @ 3:49 pm

  3. john, i’ve just written your name in my death note.

    Comment by mike — 6/5/2007 @ 5:03 am

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