tokyo food file

Anything good is worth waiting in the rain for…

Kagari certainly is.

 

Notwithstanding the sign over the door, Kagari does not serve buckwheat noodles. It specialises in Shina soba. That's another word for ramen, although it usually implies that it is classier than your standard ramenya fare, and also slightly closer to Chinese noodles.

Whatever, it's a brilliant little place. My column is now up in the Japan Times… Now here are a few more images.

Starting with the tori-paitan-soba. This is served with slices of chicken chashu; Kyoto bamboo shoot (not menma); a sprig of flowering nanohana greens; and as a garnish, kaiware daikon sprouts.

 

The special tsukemen – at Kagari they call it tokusei tsuke-soba – comes with a version of the niboshi broth, plus lots of good stuff on the side. From right to left, that's the aji-tama soft-cooked eggs with beautiful dark orange yolks; bamboo shoot; pork chashu; slices of roast beef; and chicken chashu.

 

And if you think you're still going to be hungry, you can order a bowl of the yaki-gohan – essentially a yaki-onigiri (grilled rice ball) – which currently is being served with a topping of fuki-miso and some mentaiko roe. This comes with dashi in a separate pot, which you pour over it to make chazuke. Absolutely outstanding!

 

Two things about Kagari:

1) The wait. There's no getting around it. Rain or shine, you get in line and wait. The good thing is smokers aren't allowed to light up (Chiyoda-ku rules); the bad thing is there's no shade from the sun or the rain.

2) The menu is all in Japanese. Here's what it looks like, so you can work out your order ahead of time...

One more thing: Kagari is quite hard to find. Here's a map link…

Menya Shichisai: underground in Tokyo Ramen Street

There are many reasons for going to Tokyo Station. Catching a train is only one of them. Ramen is another.

Technically Tokyo Ramen Street is not under the station, but in the underground subnade on the Yaesu side. Same difference, it's definitely worth knowing and spending time in.

 

If you have an hour or so to spare, then get in the line (30 minutes minimum) for Rokurinsha. If you just need to eat and run — which after all is the way ramen is really supposed to be — there's always Menya Shichisai. 

 

The comparison is unnecessary. Shichisai does a very different style of noodle to Rokurinsha — Tokyo miso ramen. Here's a close-up.

Fine noodles, nice rich soup, excellent chashu, melting-good ajitama egg…

 

It's maybe not the best in this alley, but it's still pretty fine. I like the simple clean design too…

 

My one grumble: there's too much choice. Just look at the ticket machine…

[hint for English speakers: you won't go wrong if you just zoom in on the buttons that say TOKYO in capital letters. Those are the ones for Shichisai's classic miso ramen]

 

The places that keep focused on one thing and do it the best they can, they're the ones I seek out — just like Rokurinsha. Actually, you can't help but compare them…

More on Menya Shichisai (their main resto in nakano) on their website here…

And in English here…

Here's the Tabelog page...