Enjoy Ramen: 江戸前煮干中華そばきみはん

特性江戸前煮干中華そば醤油 - Special Niboshi Shoyu Ramen, ￥900

Yet another trip to a northern Tokyo ramen shop in the shitamachi area of Uguisudani, this time to fulfil another craving for niboshi ramen which, after eating at nagi and tomita shokudo, I'm experiencing a lot lately. The full title of Kimihan starts with edo mae, Tokyo style. This is usually reserved for sushi and references the old name of Tokyo (Edo) and the fact that the fish were caught in the area around Tokyo Bay. In saying that, I'm pretty sure that these particular fish weren't since Tokyo Bay probably doesn't have the purest water I've come across.

With 'TEAM 102' emblazoned across their backs, you might have guessed that this store has some kind of connection to the famous Tetsu in Sendagi. And you'd be right... The signs around the shop confirm that they studied how to make tsukemen under the tutelage of Mr. Tetsu himself. This doesn't necessarily mean that the kitchen doesn't occasionally have some minor deficiencies.

Of course, with the cooler weather in Tokyo, the ramen was pretty much a no-brainer.

The special part, tokusei, in the title essentially means that your ramen will have a little more of everything and in this case it seemed like a lot more of everything. In this case it was 4 slices of chashu, a couple of wontons and an egg cooked to near perfection.

From the very first slurp of the soup the powerful taste of yuzu was evident, along with some small pieces of yuzu peel here and there. At first, this was a nice surprise and quite intriguing, but as the voluminous bowl went on it was perhaps a little too much yuzu for one day. Not surprisingly, I guess, it ended up tasting a little like tsukemen... Which isn't of course a bad thing.