Nakaya is a place I dropped by once before and promised myself I’d come back to properly.

The place

The kitchen

The table

Simple.

Water

There’s ice frozen right inside the pitcher, which is a nice idea. It was blazing hot around here, so a cold glass really hit the spot.

Shoyu soba (soy-sauce ramen)

There was a special soba with everything piled on, but this time I deliberately went with the basic bowl so I could order a side as well. And honestly, this place does chashu really well. The low-temperature-cooked chashu made from Daisen chicken, a prized Japanese poultry brand, was one of the best I’ve ever had. The broth was beautifully done too.

Makanai chashu don (the staff-meal chashu rice bowl)

This one is so good you’d regret not ordering it, and unlike the chashu in the ramen it has a lovely seared, smoky flavour.

The set looked like this

Inside

Extra noodles are free.

That kind of service is really nice. No wonder the place is so popular. That said, by my standards the noodles were a touch firm, so next time I’ll ask for them cooked a little softer.

The menu

The ticket machine

This is a seriously high-level ramen shop, and the queue outside makes complete sense. If it were in Tokyo you’d probably have to line up for an hour just to get in. The provinces really are something.

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