Jerk it...

Day 332:

GOOD WOOD on a rainy day is like...nevermind. Haha. Anyway, Shuga and I had some time to kill before work so with the rain beginning to fall we decided to go say wassup to Kenta at GOOD WOOD C.R.E.A.M.

Kenta makes some of the best jerk chicken curry in Tokyo. Trust me. The jerk chicken is that good! Hmm...perhaps a GOOD WOOD/Bassanova collabo could happen in the near future...

I mean...the green curry ramen topped with jerk chicken could be magical. Right?

Anyway, Kenta and his reggae/hip-hop crew host a party at Club Bed every first Sunday of the month. Check it out this Sunday if you can!

Meanwhile at Bassanova, Boom showed off his mini-wonton wrapping skills. Hahaha.

And Shuga and Chee-chan were...well...yeah.

And I was just enjoying my umeboshi's (pickled plums).

グリーンカレージャークそば。That has a nice ring to it...

All good things come in pears...

Day 331:

Before I began my 14-hour day of work, I decided to ride along the Kanda River in the opposite direction of what I'm used to and was surprised to see how beautiful it was. With Autumn approaching, I can only imagine how much more beautiful it will get.

Anyway, there's this ramen shop that I've been wanting to go to in Sakurajosui and this was my second attempt at trying it. And my second time being denied. Sigh. So instead, I ended up riding through Shimo-Takaido again and randomly walking into Menya Bushin (麺屋武心).

Blah.

Blah.

Blah.

Last night my friend Hideki brought over some fresh pears. Ahh, there's nothing like a cool, crisp Japanese pear. いただきまぁぁーす！

Sorry about the blah's, but you get the idea. haha.

Instant evolution...

Day 330:

Of all the ramen I eat, I'd probably say that less than 1% is of the instant variety. But that doesn't stop me from buying them when I come across a new one every so often at the convenient store. In fact, over the past 11 months I've started to develop a nice emergency stash of them. Anyhow, it was pouring rain outside when I woke up and my body wasn't willing to move outside of my apt until it was time for work. So, I reached into said stash and pulled out Minoru Sano's new miso ramen. It just came out a couple weeks ago.

I mean, anything with the ramen devil's face on it has to be good right?

Well...it does and it did and it was delicious. It's amazing to see how far instant ramen has evolved since I was a kid.

Even the noodles were stellar.

When I finally did make it to work, what I thought was just ice in our package of lemongrass turned out to be dry ice. I only realized this after picking it up and nearly burning my fingers. haha. Anyway, I love playing with dry ice.

And I love eating ramen.

As if you didn't know already...

And then...

Day 329:

My allergies were acting up so I put my head down as I waited for my ramen at Onya.

And then it came. The bloody ramen tasted much better with hosomen.

And then I ordered a chashu-don. Where's the chashu??

And then I visited my nieces.

And then I ate this pizza-man from 7-Eleven.

And then I ate some green curry soba.

And then watched Shuga eat this tori-tama-miso-dare meshi.

And then watched Shuga make some chinjaorosu.

And then ate some chinjaorosu with noodles.

And then...no more 'and then!'

Plus one more...

Day 328:

I went back to the new Ivan Ramen Plus to try the last bowl on the menu and to say goodbye to Yamamoto-san before he left to go back to Nagoya. Ivan was hard at work and I was starving.

I started off by ordering my own Meatball Tomato Meshi. I really like this dish. In fact, it may be my most favorite item on the menu. Hey Ivan, any chance we'll see a meatball tomato ramen in the near future?

The last bowl I needed to try was the Special Soymilk & Vege Tsukemen.

It's elegant appearance was appeasing.

And the noodles were almost right on.

The tsukedare was different than what I or you would probably be used to, but it's freshness really shined.

I was satisfied.

But it was time to boil some pork!

Ahhh..meat.

How I love thee...

Miso-dare!!

Day 327:

I often wish I had more time (I'm sure we all feel that way sometimes), but I guess what I should be wishing for is a way to manage all the things I want to do in the time available. I guess that would be more realistic. Whatever, I wish I had more time.

Yeah, I went back to Ramen Nakamura just cuz it's one of the local shops that I haven't been to in awhile. The shoyu moyashi ramen is less exciting than the miso moyashi. The noodles are thinner and the taste is blander. You learn a lot by going back to a ramen shop multiple times.

I went into work a little early today to take some pictures for gnavi. One of the shots they wanted was of our counter. It doesn't look like a ramen shop, does it?

Then I went to go prepare some eggs and discovered half the box was broken. It must have been the new delivery guy.

Then I started to play around again with the miso-dare that Yamamoto-san brought. Miso-dare niku meshi!!

Miso-dare mazemen! Yup, that's a fried egg on top. This one was seriously a hit.

Yo bro, I gotta make this one for you.

I was still dreaming about when I got home.

More exposure...

Day 326:

I usually wake up around noon, but today I was so exhausted I slept in until it was time to go to work. So for breakfast I stopped to have some Mabo Ramen. Yum.

The tv crew was back to film some more today. They filmed me making a bowl of green curry and it was a little nerve-racking, but fun nonetheless. I'm sure it won't make the final cut but I can't wait to see it.

Yamamoto-san came in last night and dropped off some miso-dare from Nagoya so we tried it on some gyoza. Wow, that is some good miso-dare. Thanks Yamamoto-san!!

And then...around 2am these customers that are notorious for staying past closing came in and stayed until 4am. That's okay cuz they're cool and they always end up buying us beer. haha.

アイバンラーメン Plus...

Day 325:

After waking up to lightning and thunder way earlier than normal, I looked out my window and it was pouring rain. I wanted to just go back to sleep, but I forced myself to get up. Today was opening day for the new Ivan Ramen Plus and I didn't want to miss it.

Neither did Brian or our new friends Justin and Lukas.

After a quick wassup to the crew, Ivan came over to welcome us and briefly explain his new concept. The most interesting part of the ramen created for this new Plus location is that it contains no meat. No chicken, no pork (aside from a little seabura/back fat of course). The soup is made solely and completely with dashi. Leave it to Ivan to push the boundaries again.

Before I got slurping, it was time to reunite with Yamamoto-san from Nagoya. Remember him? He came to help out Ivan and volunteer his skills for the grand opening. Yo Yamamoto!

Now to the food. There's only one ramen on the menu along with a tsukemen and a mazemen. The Special Ramen (特性ラーメン) was first on my list. I'm not gonna lie. When I first heard about the all-dashi soup, I was skeptical. But knowing Ivan I knew he could pull it off. And he did. This ramen actually blurs the line between ramen and udon. I believe I described it as a 'souped-up' udon broth when Brian first asked me what I thought. Perhaps an udon-broth-with-a-Western/French-influence-only-a-New-Yorker-could-infuse is a better description. Ivan goes all out with a special (and not to mention expensive) shoyu that is used to create the magical tare. Accent that with a little seabura, lemon garlic oil, tomato, and cheese among others and wham, you got Plus.

The hirauchi noodles matched the light assari-kei soup perfectly. Although the traditionalist in me felt like something was missing, this is a high quality ramen that will surely turn heads.

The onsen tamago is also a nice accent. Perfect for this soup.

Next up was the Special 4 Cheese Mazemen (特性４チーズまぜ). I love cheese. So when Ivan first told me he was doing a cheese mazemen at the new shop, I couldn't wait to try it.

I'm not sure how to describe this one. The impact was...well...explosive. People keep describing it as tasting like carbonara, but it goes way beyond that. From the moyashi pickle to the 4 different cheeses to the parsley oil to the onsen tamago and etc., there are a lot of flavors used to massage the senses. It's a bit on the heavier side, but it was great. If I may have one request, scale back a little on the sourness and add more cheese!! Haha...thanks.

As you might think, I was quite full by this time. But Brian on the other hand wanted to try the Special Meatball Tomato Meshi. I took a bite and it was really good.

Brian was...well let's just say he was acting like Brian.

Back at Bassanova it was tom yum paste prep day. Oh how I hate tom yum paste prep day. hahaha..jk...okay maybe not.

But it's all worth it in the end.