After a bowl of Inaniwa udon, I headed straight to the Koenji Station area to meet some friends. Nothing special to talk about, really, just an excuse to eat together. Rent is cheap around here and it has good connections to Shinjuku, so lots of young people live in the area. It’s an old neighborhood with zero cultural facilities to speak of, but thanks to that, it has a ton of ramen shops. The place we went to that day was Etsuzan (Mensobo Etsuzan), a tsukemen specialist. It’s an affiliate of Mutekiya, the famous ramen shop in Ikebukuro. Taste aside, the nice thing about this place is that a large serving of noodles costs the same as a regular. Since I’d already eaten one bowl, I really didn’t need to go large, but my friends said they’d finish any leftover noodles, so I ordered the large.
The storefront
It’s not far from Koenji Station. If you look closely, the sign says a large serving is the same price. But here a regular is about 400 g and a large about 600 g, so you’re better off ordering a sensible amount.
Jasmine tea concentrate
I’d never seen anything like this before, so I took a picture. It’s jasmine tea you dilute with water.
The tsukemen soup
As you’d expect from a Mutekiya affiliate, it’s a rich tonkotsu. When I ate at Mutekiya before, I thought it was really not for me, way too greasy and harsh, but having the same soup as tsukemen, I thought, okay, this is pretty decent.
The large serving of noodles
I think I ate about 250 g and left the rest. The noodles were cooked well and had a nice springy bite. If the Inaniwa udon I’d just had was the refined taste, this is the tough, working-class taste. I’d like to come back and eat here once in a while, but it’s a bit too tough to come every day ^_^ There are so many ramen shops around here that next time I’ll have to try a different one. Oh… and I’d like to try the ramen in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro too…