I woke up surprisingly early this morning and had a mad craving for ramen. Go figure. So I called up Nate to see if there was a place near Koenji that he wanted to try and he immediately responded with Tabi no Tochuu (旅の途中).
I found this ironically fitting since Tabi no Tochuu loosely translates to "in the middle of the journey." And by all means, I am in the middle.
The shop is run solely by this man. I didn't get his name but he is a HUGE Bob Dylan fan. If you don't believe me, make sure you use the restroom. haha.
With only six seats, the place fills up fast so get your order in quick. The standard ramen seen below is a wafu shoyu flavor with a silky feel.
Impressive. There are definitely a lot of flavors in this soup that kicks your sense of taste into overdrive trying to recognize them all.
The noodles are impressive as well. What a great place to rest along this journey.
Nate got the Milk Soup Ramen, which was like a carbonara ramen. It had a uniquely interesting taste. I wouldn't mind going back to try it too.
Afterwards, we had our sights set on the nearest bookstore to pick up the latest Courrier Japon magazine. We had both received a text from Brian saying that this magazine had taken the NY Times article and translated it to Japanese.
Sure enough, there it was.
And there we were. Sweet! Too bad my last day at Ivan Ramen is this Sunday. Oh snap, I just slipped. Haha, I'll explain in my next post.
Brian also stopped by Bassanova tonight while I was working to celebrate with the green curry. That's when he took this goofy pick. I swear, I have no idea who that dork is.
Wow what a long day. And a long post.
Peace out...
I'm hoping that this means you'll be coming back to SoCal soon, so you can post more great reviews of the ramenyas here. I'm also hoping all these references to where you're going means you'll open one up here, preferably around SFV where there's not too many.
ReplyDeleteur withering away! more ramen and add some more chashu to ur diet, pls! :)
ReplyDeleteI think going from coding to food service is somewhat of a large leap.
ReplyDeleteHowever I think when you're part of serving a food product that people are passionate about while bringing smiles to their faces sounds so much more satisfying than someone's website widget compiling properly.
It's one of those things that is very difficult but so much more satisfying than another bump on the payscale.
I'm hoping that you find that sweetspot for yourself and create a product that folks here in Orange County/LA will love because you put love into it.
Also, I'm happy to hear you avoided serious injury from the grease splash.
@Alan W: Haha. Sorry I won't be coming home just yet. I can't leave business unfinished. ;)
ReplyDelete@choisauce: I'm sure that it's possible to add more ramen to my diet. haha.
@Paul: I agree with you completely. Thanks for the comment!
Nice job Keizo with the NY Article!
ReplyDeleteThat milk ramen looks similar to the white ramen at FFT. Was the taste similar?