Ok, how about a little break from the present day? Let’s go back to Japan where we ate this meal a year ago today!
On our first day in Tokyo last spring, we decided to go to Tokyo Station where we could go to the Travelers store and to the post office in Kitte (a shopping center just across the street from the station.) We visit Kitte almost every trip (I’ve talked about it before here.) because the post office usually has the best stamp and merchandise selection. And in the mall area, there’s a great tenugui store. (I should probably talk about my little seasonal tenugui collection sometime!)
We knew we wanted some kind of noodles for lunch. One of Tokyo’s most famous ramen places is at Tokyo Station but like last time, the line was too long for us to wait. So, Naoto asked the woman working at Travelers if she had any recommendations and she pointed us back to Kitte for tsukemen. (If you don’t know what tsukemen is, this post might help! It’s similar to ramen except the noodles are served separately and cold and they are dipped in the thick soup broth. To me, they are the perfect way to eat a ramen-like meal in the summer!) Naoto looooves taking recommendations from people, so we decided to take her suggestion and go to Matsudo Tomita Memban.
When we got there, the shop wasn’t open yet, so we debated about getting in line, but we did. Fortunately, we were second in and beat the huge rush of people who lined up behind us! Unfortunately, we were second in line behind some know-it-all from New York who tried to impart his Japanese traveling knowledge upon us. He was one of those people who talks at you and he just assumed we had never been to Japan before based on…nothing. He had read about this noodle shop in on a travel website and couldn’t stop trying to tell us where else we should go in Tokyo. I checked out of the conversation almost immediately and Naoto did a lot of nodding and smiling. Needless to say, the New Yorker was quite surprised when Naoto started speaking to the chef in Japanese and carrying on a conversation with our server.
We both got tsukemen. In the broth was a slice of char sui (pork), bamboo shoots, fish cake, and seaweed, but you could add on additional toppings. (Naoto got additional toppings and a larger serving!) The noodles were perfect–chewy and delicious and the thick, salty broth clung to them for the perfect bite every time. We were so pleased with our lunch, Naoto went back and thanked the Travelers woman for her recommendation.
I should also mention that this is an English friendly place to visit–you order at a ticket machine that has an English option so no worries about translations. It was all very seamless, even if I didn’t have my own personal translator by my side!
How cute are we in our little slurping noodle bibs?!
It wasn’t until we got back to the hotel that night that we realized how famous the noodle shop was! It’s the Tokyo version of a very popular tsukemen restaurant in Chiba, Chuka Soba Tomita, considered Japan’s #1 ramen shop, where people line up for the tsukemen at 7am! Owner Chef Osamu Tomita trained at Japan’s original Tsukemen restaurant, Taishoken in Tokyo, and he’s featured in the documentary Ramen Heads, which I highly recommend if you like ramen and food journeys. Kitte recruited him for their “ramen street” in the basement of the mall. What a lucky get for them–and for us!
kimberly ah 