No competition...

Day 356:

With the rain starting to fall, I was running out of time before work and decided to just hop into our nearby competitor Kyushu Ichiban (九州一番).

All of our customers say that Bassanova has the best tonkotsu ramen on the block.

I couldn't agree more. Ichiban's ramen has a stink to it like no other. And it's not the good stink either.

Back at work I tried one of the noodle samples we got from the expo. Unsure of how long to cook it, two minutes sounded about right. They were alright, but they tasted a little too instant.

Negi meshi!

The Tokyo Ramen Show is coming!! From 11/3~11/7, 10am~8pm at Komazawa Olympic Park. Coincidentally 11/3 will mark my 365th day in Tokyo. Won't you come celebrate with me???!!!

Fulfilling a promise...

Day 355:

A few days ago when I met Tsuijita-san, he had asked me if I'd ever eaten at his shop. Aside from the superb bowl of miso ramen I tried at the Odaiba ramen park last year, I truthfully said no. But I made a promise to do so in the coming days and since I had the late shift tonight, I made the 40 min trek out to Ochanomizu. Mentoku Nidaime Tsujita (めん徳二代目つじ田) is pretty much on the opposite end of the Marunouchi Subway Line from me so I had to calculate my time wisely. When I arrived there was a line of about ten people but it moved really fast.

Within minutes I was seated in front of this. I always wondered why Tsujita was so popular. And now I know why. The ramen is crazy good!! The first sip literally gave me goosebumps. And the last sip...well we'll get to that.

The noodles are from who else but Mikawaya Seimen and they seriously go well with this soup.

Like every great bowl, the last sip was better than the first. So if you happen to be in Orange County this weekend, you can check out Tsujita in Costa Mesa at Mitsuwa's Umaimono Gourmet Fair. I suggest that you do! And if you happen to see Tsujita-san there, please tell him I said hello.

Oh yeah, my nieces came into Bassanova yesterday and drew me some pictures. They sure do know how to make me happy.

Real happy!

Are you happy?

Hide and seek...from Tokyo to New York...

Day 354:

Remember when Yamashita-san from Yamachan visited Bassanova? Well, at that time he had told me to go visit Ramen Hide (ラーメン屋 秀) aka Hide-chan ramen because he was working with them to open a shop in New York. Well, the New York shop has been open for a few months now and apparently it's been getting a lot of hype.

So today, I decided to meet my bro for lunch since his office was nearby.

Bro got the Aburi Torotama Chashu Men. I'll let him tell you what he thought in the comments.

I got the Hakata Dontaku Mori, basically their ramen with everything on it.

I liked it, but it was very heavy. The soup was actually lacking a little flavor too. The noodles weren't bad.

As I'm sure my bro will explain, the torotama wasn't very torotama. haha.

Back at basa we decided to make use of the yakiniku tare we got from the Ichiryu boss.

Holy namabaranikuwoyakibaniyaitachashu that was good! Anyway...

You guys are in for a treat! This is my first ever collabo post. My good friend Eva aka vitamineva went to go check out the new Hide-chan ramen in New York today and this is what she writes:

"The ramen was pretty good, though I don't think it deserves the title of best ramen in NYC. The tonkotsu is very rich, almost creamy."

"The noodles were cooked al dente and the ramen was perfectly seasoned. I really liked the green onions as it cut through the richness of the broth and added some freshness. The cha siu didn't particularly wow me and I actually ended up adding the pickled ginger to the dish because I felt like the ramen lacked a little something. I kind of wish I didn't order the egg because it wasn't all that great. Overall it was good but I wasn't that impressed with it. I kept drinking the broth though because it was really good."

"The Spicy Hakata Ramen was pretty disappointing. My friends who ordered it weren't very impressed with the dish. One said that it wasn't worth the $10. All they did was add chili oil to the tonkotsu and it kind of overpowered the tonkotsu broth. The taste reminded me of the cheap ramen I used to get in Korea. One friend pointed out that the broth tasted like the instant Korean ramen he eats."

Haha thanks Eva! You are a lot harsher than I am. :) Hopefully I'll get to try the New York Hide-chan someday too.

Cheese wasabi ramen...

Day 353:

As I was researching where to go eat ramen for lunch, I got an email from my director friend momi saying she was craving ramen and wanted to meet up. Perfect timing! And since she was already in Shimokitazawa, wanting shio ramen, I knew just where to take her. Although I'm not very fond of Yajirushi (やじるし) and its owner, he does make a pretty good shio.

But something new on the menu caught my eye....Cheese Wasabi Ramen (チーズわさびらーめん).

So I decided to get the shoyu version. Interesting to say the least...

I actually enjoyed it. The cheese created a subtle creaminess and the wasabi came in the form of a scintillating pinch.

It made me want to add it to our tondaku soba...but I didn't.

Shout out to Jaimie, Rebecca, Calvin, and Jordan for stopping by today. UC represent!

A dream within a dream...

Day 352:

If someone told me when I woke up today that I'd meet several famous ramen chefs and one of my idols, I probably would have laughed and gone back to sleep. But as it turned out, I didn't have time to sleep. I needed to be in Yokohama by noon for day 2 of the ramen expo for a special invitation only event. For I had an invitation from the President of Sun Noodle himself, Mr. Hidehito Uki. I've actually been looking forward to this day for a very, very long time.

Since I arrived a little early, I decided to head into the expo alone and scope out the grounds to see if anything was different. Luckily, I still had my pass from yesterday (which I was apparently supposed to return) and was able to get in without a problem. My first stop? Back to the Nippon Ramen Association booth! Today's limited edition bowl was being brought to us by Maejima-san from Setagaya.

Wow! I've a had a love/hate relationship with Setagaya in the past, but when Maejima-san is actually doing the cooking he has the ability to make taste buds melt. Wow!

I had a little more time to kill so I decided to check out Yondaime Keisuke's new tsukemen.

If you love shrimp and lobster, you'll love Keisuke. Period. This time he took it a little further with these fettuccine-type noodles. Impressive.

Uki-san arrived just in time and then handed me this VIP pass. Uuuuuh really?? For me?? And then the dream within a dream began...

We walked around the expo and even though I had already seen every booth at least twice, with Uki-san by my side it was like I was walking with ramen royalty. He taught me something new at almost every booth and it gave a whole new meaning to being there.

After walking up an appetite we were ready to eat. (I was actually still a bit full, but I wasn't gonna pass up this bowl.)

I decided to try the ramen from Nagi again cuz I was craving some ginger.

Uki-san ordered the curry udon from Setagaya.

Then as we were finishing up our bowls, famous ramen chefs just started showing up. Mr. Takehiro Tsujita from Tsujita sat down in front of me and we started talking about his plans to open up a shop in LA next year. Honestly, I didn't recognize him at first and when I finally asked him his name and he told me I almost jumped out of my seat.

Then we got a special delivery of the udon being served at Koujiya from the owner himself.

Mr. Teruhisa Shimizu. He also owns all the Ramen Dai shops.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the chairman of the Nippon Ramen Association Mr. Kenji Chiba of Chibaki-ya. I've met Chiba-san once before back in March of 2009, but I've never had the opportunity to sit across from him and hear him talk. I was speechless...

My body was starting to feel numb, but the day was just getting started. I then followed Uki-san to check out then new factory noodle making machines. Hey, those look familiar!

Then on our way up to the 'social gathering' of famous ramen people, I got to meet the vice-chairman of the Nippon Ramen Association Mr. Hiroshi Nakamura of Daimonji.

Social gathering? With ramen celebrities? Was I really experiencing this?

Mr. Keisuke Takeda of Keisuke. I was so nervous...

Mr. Ramen himself, Tsukasa Maejima of Setagaya. Still nervous...

My idol, Mr. Hiroshi Oosaki of ラーメンバンク. I can't move my legs...

Okay the beer has started to flow. This is Mizutani-san, a friend of Uki-san. She owns a ramen shop in Saitama and she's the best at getting tons of free samples that would normally cost a lot. Thanks to her I got to lug 6 kilos of salt home. haha.

She wanted me to post a picture of her and Keisuke on my blog. I gladly oblige. Keisuke was awesome by the way. He came over to talk to us and explained how he got into ramen from being a classically trained French chef. Plain and simple it was because he loves ramen. And shrimp. Makes perfect sense.

I couldn't believe it. It felt so surreal. To even be breathing the same air as these people felt crazy. That's Nakamoto-san of Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto on stage with Maejima-san and Oosaki-san. Crazy!

Uki-san, I can't thank you enough. For you to help me live this dream cannot be put into words. You are awesome!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

At some point, I think I stopped breathing...