みそ味専門マタドール - Matador Miso, Kita Senju

贅沢濃厚味噌らぁ麺 - Dense Luxury Miso Ramen

   Laziness has prevented me from writing this post in a timely manner, but it hasn't prevented me from subsequent visits to Matador Miso. A spin-off from the lauded Matador, also in Kita Senju, this branch has a completely different menu and offers a seemingly more traditional ramen, but with a modern, matador twist.

   Is that roast beef? In keeping with the beefy theme that the other store has, Matador offers some roast beef chashu with this more expensive, topping-laden bowl alongside the more common minced meat that you usually find with miso ramen. I've actually skipped out on the pricier version the other times I've been and gone with the more simple bowl, which is also a great choice. The renkon (lotus root) is a little different and the tomato really matched the soup.

   Finishing this one to the last drop wasn't even a question. I'm not a big fan of ramens over ￥1000 as a general rule, but I can't see how they could keep this one under, so they'll get a pass there.

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けやき - Keyaki, Sapporo

コーンバター味噌ラーメン - Corn Butter Miso Ramen

   I generally try to avoid writing a second post about the same place, but when you've come all the way to Hokkaido you sometimes have to make exceptions. I hadn't actually planned to go to Keyaki again, but on a subzero New Year's Eve there weren't a great deal of choices. The guys at Keyaki obviously didn't see the new year as a reason to shut up shop and were open until well past midnight. We had arrived at around 8, just early enough to avoid a surge of customers, but not early enough to avoid the queue altogether. Thirty minutes or so in Sapporo seems longer than in Tokyo.

   I went with a different choice to last time and opted for the butter and corn as extra toppings. It didn't make a great deal of difference, to be honest. I think it was all about the warmth of being inside and the hot soup this time. Pretty great ramen. The only criticism I have of this place is that the counter has at least one too many seats - it is doable, but eating with your elbows tucked in isn't the most enjoyable way to demolish a bowl of ramen.

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与ろゐ屋 - Yoroiya, Asakusa

味玉ラーメン - Ajitama Ramen

   The best way to enjoy a bowl of ramen is on an empty stomach. This is especially true if you know that you'll be having a bowl later on - the anticipation can reach fever pitch in that few minutes between placing your order and being presented with that wonderful bowl of glistening unhealthiness. This is exactly how I was feeling the morning I went to Yoroiya, just a stone's throw away from Tokyo's famous Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

   Being in such a well-trodden tourist area it seems to be friendly to non-Japanese speakers so you won't have too much trouble ordering. The problem is that it's not one of the places I would recommend. At the very least I wouldn't get anything with an egg: I'm not sure whether I caught them on a bad day or it's always like this, but the eggs had to be ejected from the bowl. Finished the rest though.

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煮干しそば とみ田 - Niboshi Soba Tomita, Higashi Washinomiya

徳つけ - Virtuous Tsukemen

   This place may or may not look familiar (probably the latter judging from the pageviews) - we've been here before, but that was when it was under a different name, Tenpu. It seems that in the meantime the owners have remained the same but also mixed up the menu. It is now serving a niboshi shoyu ramen. 

  Of course, being warm at the time of year I went and not having done any research on the matter. I chose the toke tsuke, which is what I had last time.

  It may have been a little different from last time. It was still fishy, but also seemed a little sweeter than what I remembered. Either way, they would be silly to mess with this one too much. They're certainly onto a winner here. Soup wari was up there too.

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