A new addtion...

Day 47:

After work, I hopped on the train to Shibuya to meet a friend and pick up the newest addition to the Go Ramen! family. Yup, a new camera. At first I was reluctant to spend so much money, but I'm a sucker for new technology even if it means living off of bread for the next few months. Hopefully now I'll get to take more pictures on the fly to really show off my view of things.


After a few drinks in Shibuya, on my way home I decided to stop by Nandenkanden for tonkotsu ramen.


With an egg.


Mmm...that hit the spot.


By the way, these pics were not taken with the new camera.

Home alone for the holidays...

Day 46:

My brother and his family flew to Los Angeles today for the holidays so I'll be macauley-culking it for the next three weeks (sorry, couldn't resist). I guess I'll be eating kfc alone on Christmas too. haha jk. I do however get a week off beginning the 30th. Speaking of which, check out Ivan's blog for Ivan Ramen's holiday schedule. I would be extremely honored if you came and visited us on Christmas day!

Work was overly slow for a Saturday. I guess everyone is out Christmas shopping. Oh that reminds me. I think I'll go buy myself an early Christmas present tomorrow. I was thinking of this. Yeah I know it's beyond my budget, but I think it'll be worth it. Right?

C'mon shake shake it...

Day 45:

Remember MC Shy-D? Yeah that's what I thought. haha. Anyway, I woke up to some shaking this morning around 6am which turned out to be a 5.3 magnitude earthquake centered 50 miles from Tokyo. It was a good rumble that lasted more than a few seconds, but I'm from California so it wasn't big enough to get me out of bed. The funny thing is, just like what would happen in cali, the news kept talking about how this could trigger "the big one." Hopefully that's not the case. *knocks-on-wood*

As for the rest of my Friday, it was uneventful. I spent most of the morning trying to respond to all of your comments. I gotta stop letting them pile up. So sorry for not responding to them sooner! I'll try to be on top of them from now on. If I have yet to respond to one of yours, just smack me with another one. The afternoon and evening were spent at work. It was slower than usual but my highlight was making four rolls of noodles from start to finish in a little over two hours. Yes, these are the joys of living my ramen dream...

"I have to be honest with you, I know who you are..."

Day 44:

Thursday's are generally my longest day of the week. I leave my house around 8am and don't get back until midnight. You might think that I'm complaining, but I'm not. These are usually the best days because I get to put my ramen cooking hat on! Woohoo! Yeah I'm a dork, but you knew that already.

Anyway, two American guys named Hernan and Dan came in tonight about 30 min before close. (I forgot to ask if I could use their names. I hope they don't mind.) Dan was wearing a shirt that said Southern California so I asked him if they were from LA. And their answer was yes! So we chatted for a bit and I told them where I was from and so forth. Then Hernan says "I have to be honest with you, I already know who you are. I've been following your blog since you took that month-long trip around Japan." Sweet! They were both in Japan on business and decided to make the trek out to Ivan Ramen from Roppongi to say hello, try some bomb ramen, and wish me luck with my dream. Thanks guys for coming in tonight and thanks for all the support! It's times like these that make me feel even better about living my dream.

Bowl after bowl at the Odaiba Ramen Park.

Day 43:

It's my day off!!! I heard that there was a new ramen park in Odaiba so I immediately called up Nate and without hesitation we were off to go check it out. We met up in Shinjuku, then found our way to Shimbashi to hop on the Yurikamome to Daiba Station. The Odaiba Ramen Park is being presented by Fuji Television. Some think it's in response to the recent Tsukemen Event presented by Asahi Television, which by the way yours truly was a part of. Anyway, if you thought my posts have recently been lacking pictures, hopefully this one will make up for it.


We got there exactly when it opened at 11am and the place was practically empty. Of course, this event was being held directly in front of the Fuji TV building, which is directly across the street from the Aqua City mall.


We both skipped breakfast so being hungry was not part of the problem. The hard part was choosing which of the 9 different shops we wanted to eat at. The rundown included:

• R1: スパイスTV どーも☆キニナル！- Apparently this is a Tan Tan Men created by the stars of a popular tv program.
• R2: BeeHive - Presenting their 塩ラーメン (Shio Ramen) "Naminori"
• R3: 麺家 うえだ・サイロック軍団 - A Menya Ueda and Psylocke Gundan collaboration presenting 焦がし醤油らーめん (Kogashi Shoyu Ramen). Could there be X-Men involved?
• R4: 麺劇場　玄瑛 - Mengekijyou Gen-ei presenting 海老香麺 (a shrimp-fragranced ramen).
• R5: キャンパスナイトフジ ｘ 元楽 - A Campus Night Fuji and Genraku collaboration presenting キャンナイ初体験ラーメン (campus night first sexual experience ramen).
• R6: せたが屋 - Setagaya presenting 魚介醤油ラーメン (Gyoukai Shoyu Ramen).
• R7: めん徳二代目つじ田 - Mentoku Nidaime Tsujita presenting 味噌ラーメン (Miso Ramen).
• R8: ミオパン - Miopan presenting ミオパンラーメン (Miopan Ramen).
• R9: 麺や 七彩 - Menya Shichisai presenting 真トマトつけ麺 (Shin Tomato Tsukemen).

I chose to go with Menya Shichisai first. Although they were featuring a Tomato Tsukemen, there was also a Tomato Ramen and that's what I went with.


The guys working there were totally cool and after a 5 minute conversation, it turns out that I live fairly close to their honten. They invited me to check it out and of course I will. I've heard nothing but good things about Shichisai.


I ordered my Tomato Ramen with "high collar" parmesan cheese.


It tasted like a diluted Campbell's Tomato Soup with noodles and a distinct chicken stock in the background. It was unusually good and the cheese made it taste like a soupy-spaghetti. It possibly could've used some ground meat but I still liked it.


Nate chose to go with Mengekijyou Gen-ei and their shrimp-fragranced ramen for round one.


It was remarkably fresh and fragrant with a light さっぱり (sappari) flavor. The braised meat was delicious and the hand-kneaded noodles rocked!


For round two I chose Tsujita and I'm so effing glad I did. From the first sip it was so effing amazing.


The dudes working there weren't as cool as Shichisai, but they were also busier.


Seriously, I think both Nate and I were both blown away by Tsujita's Miso Ramen.


Even their noodles really represented the classic Sapporo chew quite well. This definitely calls for a trip to their honten!


Round two for Nate was Menya Ueda and Psylocke Gundan collabo. Beware of old lady with blowtorch! Haha. She's the owner of Menya Ueda.


The Kogashi Shoyu Ramen was intriguingly interesting. The shoyu flavor was mildly deep with that obvious burnt taste, but I also felt it was lacking something. I'm not saying that it was bad, but it definitely could've been better. I expect a little more from a mama holding two blow torches!


The third round for the both of us decided to be BeeHive's Shio Ramen. Hands down, BeeHive had the cutest workers. Haha, but you wanted to know about their ramen right?


It was clean and refreshing, but I'm not sure if I'd ever make the trip to Chiba to try it again. I wasn't really diggin' the noodles either.


Nate ordered his with the Roast Tomato topping. It altered the flavor of the soup just a tad in the positive direction. I'd definitely go with the tomato topping next time.


After three bowls each, it was time to rest and take a nice stroll around the area. Nate pointed this out, but if you look closely at the picture below, it contains the fake liberty bell, the fake statue of liberty, the fake brooklyn bridge, and the fake eiffel tower all in one shot. Haha.


Regardless, it was a great view.


Inside Aqua City mall we came across this great store. I went to the museum on the right and Nate went to the one on the left. Somehow we ended up in the same darn spot.


Then we decided to chill on the cush couches of Starbucks. Dang we were full!


After an hour or so, we were staring at numerous disco balls and wondering what the...


Then we somehow managed to make it up to Saikyo Raakoku, the ramen park within the Aqua City Mall, for some more ramen.


Werd...


We weren't sure which one to try so we just went for a mini bowl at the leftmost shop, Gokuichi. Apparently the dude who owns this place has been gaining popularity in recent months.


Black Tonkotsu Ramen is their claim to fame. It looks good but can it live up to the hype?


Reluctantly, that would be a no. I wanted this ramen to be good but unfortunately it was the biggest disappointment of the day. Oh well, there's always next time.


Nate was so distraught that he kept playing this game over and over again wondering why he couldn't win anything. Haha j/k.


What a day...please don't wake me...