すがもラーメン - Sugamo Ramen

 

とん塩ラーメン - Ton Shio Ramen ￥700

    I spent a good 15 months living in Sugamo so I would say I know the area reasonably well, but that didn't really stop me from frequenting the ramen shop that was closest to the station which is clearly not a seedy part of town at all.

                           

      Sugamo Ramen is a little unique among ramen stores in that it is definitely in the 21st century and follows the eco-friendly trend that has been popular in recent years. The ticket machine dispenses reusable plastic tickets rather than anitquated paper ones which you then place in a small plastic container on the counter (unfortunately, the staff usually ask for mine before I have a chance to follow this procedure...) Actually, now that I think of it, I see no reason why paper tickets can't also be re-used. And much like the subway system, everything is conveniently colour-coded.

    Surprisingly for this area of town I didn't see any old ladies (Sugamo is known as "おばあちゃんの原宿" or "Harajuku for old Ladies") inside, but just a couple of younger ones who were chatting away in much the same vein, but they seemed harmless enough. I was more worried about my ramen since I was lucky enough to be seated at the dreaded number 13!

    I opted for the tonkotsu shio ramen which was not the bowl that I tended to get when I was a regular customer but I though it sounded pretty tasty anyway. In retrospect, the tonkotsu shouyu is much better, but this wasn't the first time I had made the same mistake.

   Sugamo Ramen does seem to have a lot going for it. It's close to the station, it has a cool ticket machine, an easy name to remember and amazing looking ramen, but it's good, not great. 

   I asked for just the regular amount of fat (油) but, by looking at the bowl, I was sure they'd given me a really fatty bowl. In the end I just couldn't finish the soup. Maybe next time. 

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