Aoha Ramen (2006-12-21)
I lost count the number of times Aoha's ramen in Nakano (
)
being voted the top five tasty ramen in Japan. There have been
surveys conducted by ramen aficionados, gourmet magazines, special TV
food shows and food critics which put Aoha on the top three ramen shops
amongst thousands of entries.Whenever KL and I walked past the tiny shop, there's always a long
line of people outside waiting their turn for a bowl of Aoha's famous
Chukasoba ramen. We'd love to have tried then, but waiting an
hour for a meal is not our thing.
Then last month we were in Nakano and wandered past the shop and saw
it open and almost empty! Although the shop says opening hours
are 10:30 till sold out, it was operational at 10:15 am when we were
there. We saw two other customers eating ramen at the counter and
without much hesitation, we jumped right in.
The shop is very small with about twelve counter seats. I saw
five people working behind the counter which included two cooks, two
persons cutting up things and a lady taking orders. KL and I both
ordered the Chukasoba and the noodles only took three minutes to arrive.
One look at my bowl and it spelled disappointment. The noodles
were lukewarm, a significant point-deducting element. The usual
run-of-the-mill
toppings were floating on the thick greasy soup. They
included a
paper-thin slice of soft "chasui" (boiled pork), a slice of kamaboko
(boiled then sliced fish paste), a few shards of stewed bamboo shoots
and a piece of nori. The noodles were too thick and too al dente
(verging on undercooked) for
my liking, I prefer thin noodles and a softer bite. The soup
tasted of pork bones and dried squid which reminded me of the soup my
mom used to make when I was little. It was passable, not great.
Even if the shop were to locate closer to home than what it is now
in Nakano, I wouldn't bother going back. I can think of better
places to spend $6 on a bowl of ramen. So much for all the hype
and "best this" and "best that" surveys.
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