牛骨らぁ麺 マタドール - Matador, Kita Senju

贅沢焼き牛らぁ麺しょうゆ - Zeitaku Shouyu Beef Ramen, ￥1000

    As I may have mentioned a few posts back, one of the popular ramen movements of 2011 or 2012 was gyuukotsu or beef-bone ramen, and leading in the popularity stakes has been Kita Senju's Matador. As you can see, they may have been expecting a few more customers but we were lucky enough to not have to wait and went straight in. My first trip here over 6 months ago wasn't so lucky and they had already run out of soup for the day.
　　Being a somewhat famous ramen shop I couldn't help but go for the zeitaku shouyu (extravagant soy sauce) which comes at the rather extravagant price of ￥1000! There is also a shio one.

    There it is! I'd been waiting a long time for this one - gyuukotsu isn't so popular or even very well-known - and was curious to see how the pick of the bunch lined up against the more traditional flavours. It was pretty good. A definite level above the other gyuukotsu I had tried. There was an interesting egg in there somewhere, and some wild-looking menma, but the best touch was the shredded roast beef which would latch on to your chopsticks and would be floating around in your soup to the last drop.

    A good one. As I'm not much of a traditionalist I can see the place for this style of ramen, but I think that most people are not completely willing to accept it as more than a gimmick. Maybe we're still waiting for the next big thing in the ramen world to come along.

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空海 - Kukai, Itou

ラーメン - Ramen

    The aptly-named dish here at Kukai may describe the food, but it doesn't give you much of an insight to the experience of eating here. Upon entering I felt as though I had walked into someones house, with the TV in the corner surrounded by some old women sitting on some plastic outdoor furniture puffing away on their cigarettes. But it was a pretty friendly atmosphere.
    It actually seemed a pretty good gauge to the rest of Itou on the Izu Peninsula as it's a town that, while still a tourist destination (mainly for its hot springs), has seemingly passed it's glory days. Anyway, to the ramen...

    Not too memorable, but having travelled to some of the best in Tokyo that is to be expected. Just a standard shoyu type bowl. However, if you ever find yourself craving some ramen while in Itou this could be the place to go.

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