Tokyo    ramen    in English    24 by 7     
 

2007-08-11

Hirugao/Shinjuku Gyoenmae
ひるがお/新宿御苑前

 

In the world of Tokyo tsukemen, there aren't many shio-chashu tsukemen places. Not sure why that is, perhaps the shio broth/shiru is too salty for tsukemen when condensed down (tsukemen broths tend to run a little thicker than ramen broths). Normally with chashu tsukemen, chashu (pork) is teamed up with either shoyu, miso or a pork/fish blended broth for the dipping sauce part. Miso broths, especially when they are spicy, can frequently dull the taste of the chashu IMO. You may also, in some cases, receive the pork separately on the noodle plate so that you can eat it as-is or put it into the soup as you desire. So Hirugao as a shio-tsukemen place is really good, a bit out of the ordinary, tucked away on a back street a couple of blocks south from Yasukuni Dori. My favorite thing to do with dead pig is grill it, and that's exactly what they do here for the chashu tsukemen. Grilled slices of Japanese pork at least as good as Yotekko-ya, with just the right amount of fat, cut into small cubes and generously dumped into the dipping sauce. The noodles were well cooked and very slippery, which is good because then it's easier for me to do the tsukemen slurping thing. Japanese ramen aficionados sometimes claim that slurping noodles enhances the flavor a bit, I haven't decided yet whether that applies to me too. Clean and neat inside, not a huge amount of atmosphere but that doesn't matter. Counter for 10 and one table for 2.

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