I got to Tokyo around 11, and even though I had a lunch appointment at 1, I still needed a little palate-warmer first -_- so I headed straight to Ginza. The plan was to finally try a top-notch shio ramen specialist I’d failed to get into last time.
This is roughly what the place looks like.
It’s in the first basement of the Kotsu Kaikan building right by Yurakucho Station in Ginza. It’s a really tiny place, and it’s always packed.
The old man was hard at work making the ramen.
It reminded me of PvsZ (Plants vs. Zombies)… he looked like three peas to the arm and it would fall right off… I was really glad I got to eat here this time.
Hyottoko chashu-men
I dithered over what to order, but since I’d come all this way I went for the chashu-men. It comes with three big slices of chashu. I’d meant this as a light warm-up, but chashu-men doesn’t really qualify as a light warm-up, does it..
The noodles are excellent
They’re cooked just perfectly, with a bit of bite left in them that suits the light, clear shio broth really well. Usually as a cook gets older his stamina drops and the noodles get a bit hit-or-miss, so I wondered how he manages to nail it like this.
Big slices of chashu
Three of these.. It’s around noon right now, and I’ve got a lunch appointment at 1..
Honestly, by my standards the chashu was a little dry. But if it had been more strongly flavored, I think it would have spoiled the clean taste of the broth. It felt like the chashu, the noodles and the broth had all been tuned to the limit to make one finished bowl of ramen. It may sound grandiose, but I could feel real craftsmanship in that one bowl.
Take AFURI’s ramen, which a lot of people love: the noodles, the broth and the chashu are each trendy and tasty on their own, so there’s nothing to fault, but they don’t come together, and the bowl isn’t reaching for anything in particular. Hyottoko’s ramen, by comparison, has a seamless unity to it, which makes it a fine standalone Japanese dish.
Then again, ramen is a cheap, high-calorie food with a bit of a junk-food streak to begin with, so part of me wonders what the point is of pushing its flavor to the limit. Seen that way, AFURI is plenty of fun as a ramen, and Hyottoko’s holds its own too. Which one’s better is really down to personal taste, I think.
After that I wandered around Ginza and did a bit of shopping. These days you can buy most things by mail order or at the local supermarket, so if you’re going to shop all the way out in Tokyo, Ginza is the place. It’s full of unusual stuff.
Scored Le Gall butter at Qu’il fait bon!
I bought Le Gall butter at Qu’il fait bon, the place famous for its fruit tarts. It’s said to rival Echire, so I was too curious not to buy it. My tasting notes on this butter will go up later in my write-up of the 2chef meetup. The short version: it’s neck and neck with Echire, and the Isigny I had at Pierre Gagnaire is a notch below both.
The entrance to Qu’il fait bon
It doesn’t seem as popular as it used to be, but it’s still selling delicious cakes. I’d have liked to take some home as omiyage, but I didn’t trust myself to carry cakes without wrecking them, so I gave up for now.
Next up: Itoya!
My ballpoint pen broke recently and I was thinking about trying a different one, but after seeing the prices.. I decided to just get my old one fixed.
The Apple Store in Ginza
There are plenty of places selling Apple gear besides Ginza, but here you can play with the new products as much as you like, so I always drop in whenever I’m in Ginza. I tried the new nano.. hmm.. it’d probably work fine as a watch. But I already have the iPad/iPhone lineup, so I didn’t really need it..
The Armani building
I went back to buy Armani chocolates. The shop that used to be on Naka-dori has relocated to Ginza. I bought some chocolates and they gave me a small gift to mark the move. But I’ve already lost it..
So with a quick bit of shopping done and the ramen digested, I moved on to my next appointment. Ah.. though I’m not so sure it was actually digested..