The best compliment ever...

Day 736:

Hold on, I'll get to it in a second. After yesterday's ideal day, it didn't turn out to be such an ideal morning. Knowing that I had a lot of things to get done (like blog!), all I could do was appease my hunger. Ramen Tsukumio (らーめん つくみを) in Minamidai is another less-respected shop that only seems to be frequented by locals.

This bowl of Wontonmen was seductively average, but Tsukimio isn't too far from my apt and it's possible that one day I might become a local.

Kakuni Ramen!!

Someday I'll perfect this.

So today I experienced one of the best compliments ever. Derrick, a fan of my blog since before I came to Japan, came in tonight with his girlfriend and explained to me that I was his inspiration. After reading my blog he decided to change his life and go to culinary school to follow his passion. He's currently a chef-in-training at a high-end restaurant in Hong Kong and always waited for this day to meet me. Wow! Money can't buy this type of feeling. Thanks Derrick! You've also inspired me!

Later that night I got a special delivery from the bar next door.

It's a few days early, but I'll take it. Arigato!

Good wood festival...

Day 728:

The manager of Kuragei (らーめん蔵芸中野店), inside Simachu, is an old friend of Shuga's wife and often stops by basa with a case of beer. Since I had some shopping to do, I decided to stop by and pay back the favor.

The ramen here is so-so, but the kakuni is sweet and super tender. The Kakuni Ramen is always the way to go.

And to pay back another favor, Kenta stopped by basa the other night to tell me that Good Wood moved to Shibuya, so the usual crew and I decided to check it out.

It was a festival.

With jerks (still hoping for a jerk chicken GCS collabo)...

And patties...

S***! We missed last train! Oh well, time to grab a bowl. Shibu Hide (らあめん 渋英) is a branch of Hide-Chan Ramen in Shibuya, hence Shibu-Hide.

It's always fun to see all the interesting things that happen at night. Apparently, the real jerks were getting carried out.

Anyway, on to the ramen. Shibu-Hide Ramen with everything on it.

The tonkotsu soup is clean with nothing real special about it.

But it's a late night slurp worth slurping

Right fellas?!

So how should we get home?

Fuku...

Day 674:

There seem to be a lot of shop names with the character 'fuku' (福=good fortune) in them. Anyway, after some good fortune at the gym I found myself craving some Fukuju (福寿) in Sasazuka, but that Fukuju wasn't open (again!). So instead, I remembered Shuga telling me about another Fukuju (福寿) in Minamidai and off I went in search.

I'm pretty sure this Fukuju has some sort of relation to the one in Sasazuka from the same earthen-cemented ramen pots, but this one claims to be number one. (The other just let's you realize it on your own.)

You know...I have a thing for these old, dirty, shoyu ramen shops that contain so much history, but with this bowl...I may think twice before entering another one.

Plain and simple, this Chashumen was a chuukasoba from old...

And the menma appeared to be very old. Very, very old.

Wanting to cleanse my mouth with a bowl I could rely on, I immediately headed for Ichifuku (一福) for a back to back slurp.

Ishida-san, the ever-so-friendly woman owner, was surprised to see me walk through the door. It's been awhile and I apologized to her, but she was very happy to see that I was still in Japan and working towards my goal. In any case, I ordered the shoyu ramen without hesitation.

Garlic chips! That's what they are!!

I've been cleansed. Ishida-san is a sweetheart.

Very lovely...

And she will always graciously thank you for drinking all the soup.

Three bowl day!!!

Fuku..yeah!