Enjoying Tokushima style ramen at Menou, Tokushima Eki-mae

People who love ramen probably know that it started out as a chinese import (think of your favourite old time chicken mami) but it has been so reinvented and innovated by the Japanese that it is now a part of their culinary repertoire. 

I am not a ramen "otaku" or even a ramen-atic but I do enjoy a bowl or two whenever I am in Japan. 

I also try to sample different kinds of ramen particularly those that are specific to a certain place.

Jay and I were in Tokushima City last month to walk a portion of the Shikoku 88 Temple pilgrimage. Our plane arrived late at night and after checking in to the hotel, we set out in search of dinner.

As we wandered around the quiet streets looking for a place to eat,  I saw a restaurant with a 

long queue.   Of course it was a ramen place. What else would be open and still  attract crowds at 

that late hour?

But we were starving and in no mood to wait so we ended up in a 24 hour curry place with no lines.  

"I shall return",  I vowed to myself. 

A few nights later we visited the place again  and this time, the ramen gods were on our side 

as there was no queue at all.  The place is called Menou and it serves Tokushima-style ramen. 

Like any ramen shop, whether it is a small place or a famous nationwide chain,  Menou has a 

vending machine from which you place your order and pay.  It's an efficient process and easy to
use, even without an english translation, the photos of the food are enough to go by. 

The minute we sat down at our table, a queue magically formed outside.  There were about 10 people in line.  We got in -- just in time.

First on the table was my perfectly cold glass of nama (draft) beer.  I had ordered gyoza, which 

goes perfectly well with beer but perhaps the beer would be gone by the time the food arrived.

Menou is not that small, some famous ramen places have just one counter around an open kitchen.

There were a few tables and two counters where diners went about the serious business of enjoying their ramen.  No small talk, no boozy laughter --  a ramen restaurant is not an izakaya -- you slurp your noodles, knock back your beer and leave.  There's a hungry horde waiting outside.

As I mentioned, ramen joints are foreigner friendly.  You don't  need to know how to read Japanese

to understand the pictographic signs -- this one says that for 100 yen you can have an extra serving of noodles.  And you can even order different kinds.   Ramen tip : ordering extra noodles is called kae-dama.  

Aside from gyoza,  ramen restaurants also have rice on the menu -- ordered on its own to be eaten with your noodles (carbs on carbs!)   or topped with chashu, and eaten as a side dish.  

We tried Menou's chashu gohan and found the chashu slightly sweeter, darker and sliced thicker than most.  Aside from the slices of chashu, there were thin strips of simmered pork belly (see it on the topmost part of the photo above)  It looked (and tasted) like bacon!

And here is Tokushima-style ramen -- recommended as one of the top ten local foods to try in Shikoku.   Tokushima ramen has a slightly thick, hearty and pork-y broth.  It's almost like
tonkotsu but  instead of a milky white colour, the broth is dark brown. This is from the special
soy sauce that is mixed with the pork bone broth. 

We had Menou's classic chashu ramen --  it came with five generous, thick cut slices of chashu, 

strips of chewy menma  or dried bamboo shoots and a sprinkle of sliced green onions.

Tokushima-style ramen is quite oishii!  Because the broth is so rich, thick and a bit salty,  a
bowl of plain rice would be the perfect thing to temper the ramen's strong taste. 

The surprise of the evening was Menou's gyoza because the filling tasted so much like
Lucban longganiza!  Because Jay is from Quezon, we found it quite funny but the
gyoza was oh so good ... 

sumimasen, biiru o ippai kudasai!