About ... SPOONS

Not Boomz but Spoons.

For those who went to Santouka, did you notice that the spoon has this L-shaped dent between the handle and the caved-in part?



You can actually do this with the spoon!



I'm sure all of us have this experience of dropping a spoon into the bowl of noodles.
The shape of this spoon is one of the ingenious ways of the Japanese to prevent that from happening.

Googled around a little and found this interesting ramen-spoon!

It was created by a Japanese ramen chain in Nagoya, as an eco-friendly utensil for customers to be able to eat the noodles (with the forky part) and drink the soup using just this one, thereby cutting down on the use of wooden chopsticks.

Amazingly, its featured in the MoMA Store in Tokyo! Each costs 1050 yen.

But some bloggers who tried it was complaining how difficult it is to scoop up the ramen with it.

The market rate of a bowl of ramen

Just read an interesting article (in Japanese...) about the market rate of a bowl of ramen in Japan.

According to the article, in a "retail price survey" published by the Japanese department of statistics in May 2009, an average bowl of ramen in Japan costs 588yen (about S$9). Comparing that to the average price of a plate of curry rice (755 yen, about S$11.5) and a sushi set (1358yen, about S$20.7), it is a cuisine with high cost performance.

Because the data might be skewed by the cheaper ramen chains, the author did another survey from a directory of the recommended ramen stores. The average came up to 754yen (S$11.5). As expected, it is higher than he average.

Some ramen industry insider in Japan said that the market rate of a bowl of ramen in Japan is usually pegged to the flagdown fare of a taxi. The flagdown fare is 710yen (S$10.8) now, proving the theory right!

Being a ramen walker in Singapore, I've done up the Singapore figures too.

With 8 data points of the ramen places that I've been too, the average price of the "non-chain" ramen store is S$11.4 for the most basic bowl of ramen.

This is almost the same as that for Japan! What a coincidence.
But the flagdown fare for the taxis in Singapore is S$2.8... so a bowl of ramen is about 4 times that.

With the higher manpower cost in Japan, I guess we are paying a slight premium if the ramen costs the same here compared to Japan.

But interestingly, if we peg it to the wonton mee / ban mian at hawker center, we can draw the Singapore version of the analogy too! I have not done a proper research but I think the average price is about $3.

An interesting discovery for today.

Jiro Ramen (ラーメン二郎)

Want to write a little about a type of ramen call Jiro ramen that I ate the other day at Menya Shinchan.

I've heard a lot about a style of ramen call Jiro many times when I was studying in Tokyo, but somehow never tried it. My impression then was that...

It has HUGE servings!

Because I'm not a big eater I dare not venture down that path....
But my big-eater classmate loves it! He was telling me fondly about the long queue of hungry guys lining up for it, and how you can skip a meal after eating one.

Back to Jiro, I did some searching over the net about it after having my first encounter...

Jiro Ramen originated from a ramen stall Ramen Jiro that is located in Mita of Tokyo. Its characteristics are:

1) Its GIANT serving!
2) Uses Shoyu-Tonkotsu Soup Base, and comes with a generous layer of lard on top
3) Uses thick noodles
4) Topped with a pile of fried vegetables (cabbage and bean sprout) and char siew
5) Eaten with chopped garlic

Due to its distinct style, Ramen Jiro has built up for itseful a strong following, with its lovers calling themselves "Jiro-rean" (c.f. Singaporean).

Many stalls under the name Ramen Jiro have also been opened in Tokyo, mainly by fans who love it so much that they want to set up a stall by themselves to spread the goodness. Its really a cult following like Apple!

For the benefit of those visiting Tokyo and would like to try out the real thing, here's where it is.
It is actually just outside the main gate of Keio University, the No.1 private university in Japan.

A normal bowl of ramen costs only 600yen, and a large double char-siew ramen is just 850yen. I'm sure we can get our money worth!

Ramen Jiro - Mita (Original Stall)
2-16-3, Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Nearest Metro station - Mita (三田) on Toei Mita Line (都営三田線)


View Singapore Ramen Map in a larger map

Asahikawa Ramen

Santouka, Aoba, Baikohken.
What is the similarity between these 3 Japanese ramen shops in Singapore?
The answer is, all of them came from Asahikawa (旭川) in Hokkaido!

Located in northern part of Hokkaido, Asahikawa is a city famous for its ramen.
The characteristics of Asahikawa ramen are:

i) Uses a mix of pork bone and fish soup base with soy sauce tare
This is because Asahikawa city is located in a place that it is easy to obtain both ingredients from the mountains and the sea.

ii) The surface of the soup is coated with a layer of oil / lard
This is because the oil will prevent the soup from getting cold, something that people living the cold climate in Hokkaido will need.

iii) Uses chijire noodles with low water content
This is because the noodles will then better take in the soup.

Just like how culture mixes, Asahikawa ramen takes styles beyond the basic characteristics mentioned. For example, Santouka is famous because they were the shop that started selling ramen using Shio tare.

If you are going to Hokkaido and happen to visit Asahikawa, you can visit the following Ramen Village where you can find all the famous ramen brands under one roof!

Asahikawa Ramen Mura
http://www.ramenmura.com/

There are many more styles of ramen to write about.... but whats more important is eating it! Will be going to try out Aoba soon... :P~~~

About Men

Another key part of the ramen is of course the men (めん), meaning noodles.
Please don't get the wrong idea!

Noodles is made from flour, water and egg (common sense?)
There are 2 basic types of noodles - Wavy noodles (Chijire Men, ちぢれめん) and straight noodles (Straight Men, ストレートめん).
Each type of noodle has varying thickness. So you will have for example medium chijire men or fine straight men.

Chijire men, being wavy in nature, is better is picking up the soup as compared to straight noodles. Because of that, it is mostly used in ramen that has soup that are milder, so that the noodle will pick up / absorb more soup for us to feel the taste.

On the other hand, straight men is usually used in ramen with a stronger soup base (e.g. miso, pork bone). Because the soup is already strong, it is sufficient for the noodle to just pick up a little of that.

From the type of noodles used in the ramen, you will be able to guess sometimes which part of Japan it originated from. For example, ramen from Hakata (Kyushu) ususlly uses super fine straight men, and that from Sapporo usually use medium chijire men.

Will write more about the characteristics of the different types of ramen later.

Till then, especially the ladies, enjoy the men!

Ramen Soup = Tare + Soup Base

The soup is one of the most amazing part of Ramen.
There are so many different varieties of it, and the complexity and depth of its taste are what makes it interesting (and delicious!)

In fact, ramen soup usually comprises of 2 components.

1) Tare (タレ) - or the sauce
2) Soup base (スープ)

Ramen soup is made with first putting a scoop of sauce into the bowl, and then adding the soup base into it. The tare and soup base gives the soup its basic flavour that it is categorised as (e.g. Shoyu Ramen, Miso Ramen, etc).

Will go deeper into each component in my subsequent posts.

When you are at a ramen shop next time, you can try to observe how its made!