I was strolling right through the middle of Ginza when I ran into an event for Toyama Black ramen. Toyama Black is a somewhat extreme style of regional ramen, and I had my eye on it because it has been doing well at the ramen contests held recently. There is one specialist shop over in Ikebukuro, but I did not have time to go all that way, so I thought I would take this chance to try it and got in line.
This is roughly the kind of place they sell it from..
They were selling it in the plaza in front of the Sanseido bookstore. Once I had finished eating I went into Sanseido, browsed the food books for a while and came away with one.
Toyama Black ramen
The line was pretty long, so I think I waited about ten minutes. It is called black, apparently, because the broth is completely black, and one taste tells you this is a flavour with serious impact. If I had to put it in Korean terms (and I do not mean this badly), it tasted like Chapagetti with a lot of extra broth and chilli powder stirred in. Maybe because I love Chapagetti so much, I found this ramen delicious too. I liked that it is cleaner and punchier right from birth.
The noodles
A good thickness, with a decent chew. They carry the power of that black soup really well.
My impression after the first mouthful was: this is pure junk food. To hell with your health, if it tastes good it wins.
Junk Garage was another shop in this style. These days it seems you have to go either full B-grade or full high-end to be popular. The overall level of ramen keeps climbing, so that is probably the only way left to stand out. Anyway, it looks like I am already hooked on this ramen. Next time I make it to Japan I absolutely have to visit the original shop.