Recently, a Ramen restaurant has opened near my apartment. I was eager to try it out, so I took the opportunity by doing a first-time restaurant review on this blog.
The restaurant is called Men-ya Nishi Muku Samurai (麺屋ニシムクサムライ), and it is located near Hatagaya station (Keio New Line). For those who are interested in visiting this restaurant, here is the exact address: 2 Chome-56-1 Hatagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo 151-0072
I ordered a white chicken broth Ramen with additional sliced pork
(Char-Siu Tori Paitan Ramen, チャーシュー鶏白湯ラーメン) and a sliced pork bowl (Char-Siu
don, チャーシュー丼). The price was 1600 yen in total.
First, I had a sip for the Ramen broth, and as I was expecting the
broth was somewhat creamy. Like a Tonkotsu broth (pork-bone broth) but not as
strong flavor as Tonkotsu broth is. Then I tried the noodles. Not too thick,
relatively soft noodles they were but nothing was very special. Now it was the
time to give it a little kick with the other ingredients. First, I scooped the broth
with Ren-Ge (a spoon that is designed specifically for Ramen and other Chinese cuisine)
and put some noodles on top of it. Then picked up some chopped onions, green
onions and fried garlic from the bowl of the Ramen with the chopsticks and
gently sprinkled them on the noodles so that it won’t fall off the Ren-Ge. Slurping
noodles are great too, but I like to make a little bowl of ramen on the Ren-Ge,
since I can taste most of the ingredients in one scoop of Ren-Ge. The taste of fried
garlic gave me the urge to have a bite of the sliced pork, so I followed the
order from my brain before I even chewed the noodles 3-4 times. It was indeed a
great combination. After sending the great pleasure into my stomach, I realized
that I forgot about the baby corn. I took a bite of it, but it was not my
favorite although it was not ruining the Ramen. The sliced pork bowl consisted of
similar ingredients from the Ramen, but rice was underneath the ingredients and
no broth was filling the bowl. Instead, there was little bit of sweet sauce (perhaps
soy-sauce based) on the rice. To be honest, I liked the sliced pork bowl more
than the Ramen.
Considering the taste, price and location, I would rate it 6/10.
The ramen was good, but I prefer more thick and flavorful broth rather than a plain
one, and the baby corn was too mediocre to my taste. Pricewise, I would
consider it expensive too, compared with other Ramen restaurants. Lastly, the
location is not very close from any stations, whereas there are 5 other ramen
restaurants or more within 2 minutes of walk from the Hatagaya station. It was,
however, worth it to give it try.
I very much like the way you describe your particular way of eating the ramen and how you enhanced it through your choice of toppings. It is also good that you made no assumptions about the background knowledge of the reader, kindly explaining the meaning of "Ren-Ge." Another positive aspect of the review is that you show your discernment by not only saying what the positive points of the ramen and restaurant were, but also the negative points...or, at least, aspects that could be improved.
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