I know, I know this sounds weird and I said I would do this later, but since I had some time to kill before the bus to the Airport I decided to get this off my mind while it is still fresh in my stomach. Ramen, most in the western world know it only as Cup-O-Noodles, Instant Ramen, whatever, In Asia it is a food to be taken very serious.

Noodles in soup of various flavors. Miso, Shioyu (Soy Sauce) are the most favorite choices. The Bamboo shoots, Egg, Corn, Chashyu (Pork slices) seaweed all layed over a bed of noodles and covered in the sauce. A delicious make up of flavors and textures. Even the bowl is serious business. A wide bowl that is deep but not too deep. Some are ridged on the bottom to assist when stirring the sauce.

As sure as there are many types, flavors of ramen, there are also many different ways to eat it. I for example like to eat the chashyu with the noodles first then mix everything else in the soup and savor the sauce so to speak. It even helps when you are provided with a bamboo ladle to assist scanning through the sauce for bits of corn or bamboo shoots.

Part of the business of ramen shops is to develop a unique flavor, style ambiance whatever to lure more customers to your shop than others. Upper scale means ramen restaurants that provide seating and allow socialization. Others are purely for the business lunch crowd where you eat standing up and as fast as possible. Then there are the ones in between that are just so damn popular that you feel the pressure to get in, sit, enjoy what you can and get out because the line is getting longer out the door. This was the case with us last night.

Servin' them Up 

Last night took me back to a place that put an interesting twist on Ramen. Cheese. For anyone who enjoys a good Miso flavored Ramen, I know you are moaning in disgust. To be honest, so did I when I first heard about it. But then my adventurous pallet took over and I gave it a shot.The environment of this restaurant was quite pleasant given the fact that there was a line at the door to get in and the seating was quite crowded. There were about 3 or 4 floor staff who took orders at the door and delivered food to the table when you sit down. They have some ancient system that seems to work for them even though to the untrained eye it looks like pure chaos.

The counter is where they serve up the grub. Also on the counter behind a plexiglass barrier is a massive electric cheese grater. That is what people come here for. The Cheese Ramen. They seem to take some kind of Hokkaido cheese which has a mild flavor to it and grind it over a nice miso ramen that is steaming hot. The look of it resembles a mound of snow or parmesian cheese. The shot below is what I had ordered. Soft boiled Japanese egg at 12'o clock in the bowl. Side of Chya-shu at 2'o clock. Bowl of grilled garlic down at 5'o clock. All destined to end up in the bowl. But the first priority is to some how figure out what to do with the big white mound of cheese.

Cheese Ramen Sky Shot 

I figured out that the best thing to do would be to spread it out across the ramen. What this does is it creates a melted film of cheese on top of the ramen keeping it all nice and hot under the surface. From there, I lay out the various side ordered bits and pieces. I let it all sit and the flavors mix around, before diving the hashi (Chop stix) into the middle of it all and mixing everything together. OMG It was soooooooooo good. Of course, there is the down side that it all is not the most healthy of meals given the grease and oil that is developed as a result of the pork and everything else, but as an occasional treat. Cheese ramen rocks. Ramen LanternRamen Lantern  If you are ever in Tokyo head over to Ebisu at the corner of Meiji Dori and Komozawa Dori and walk up the hill a bit on Komozawa Dori to the following lantern. When you get to it, you have arrived. Head on in and order up the 900 yen bowl of cheese ramen, your mouth will never hold it against you.Oh and for the record, this is what was left after I took on the challenge.