H1 the Swan and I have eaten at Sapporo on countless occasions.  That's not to say we find the ramen particularly inspired, but for a lunch option on days when we just wanted to get out of the office, Sapporo was our go to spot.  Although we've been a lot of times, due to the fact we usually end up there during lunch office hours and it's a madhouse in there during those times, I've never actually reviewed the place with pictures or written text.  Well, now's a good time as any to do so (for you, Habboi!).

After the Animal Crossing Launch Event yesterday at Nintendo World, my friends and I were famished.  Just a couple of blocks away, Sapporo made the most sense for a filling, decent yet cheap option for some food.  UI had not been before either but Em and my Imaginary Friend Fred liked their Miso Ramen quite the bit and were willing to go back for that plus the Special Set.

Should You Make Your Own Ramen?

I am of course, not speaking about the pack ramen which you can pull off a shelf in your local supermarket.  Of course you should do that.

What I mean to ask is, should you painstakingly go to a Japanese supermarket and buy noodles - soba, udon or otherwise, buy some soup base and proceed to experiment?

Hey, why not?! We can all boil water, here, right? RIGHT? How bad could it be?

I also ask of you, how hard could it be to throw some veggies and meat in a pot to your own liking for your own specialty ramen? Huh? Sounds like fun to me!

So, The HOchieS last Saturday, did exactly that.

Not being skilled to hand pull our own noodles, we bought some dry pre-packaged soba noodles.

Not really sure what sort of soup base to make, we bought a somen soup base.

Okay...I promise this story gets better and will redeem our venture of not just buying a 75 cent package of Ichiban.

Next, we bought things to add to the pot.  Here's what we got:

Marrow bones, with which to flavour our soup base.

Bok choy for veggies and a lovely green colour along with...

...Mushrooms! Yummy, yummy mushrooms.

Watercress for a good time.

Corn, for a not-so-good time garnish.  Not on my ramen, H1.  Not on mine.

Scallions for a garnish that also does not belong on my ramen.  And thanks.

Some brilliant seaweed. 

Shrimp for yum.

And beef for x2 times the awesome yum.

With our marrow bones boiling away in a water and somen soup base mix, we assembled each bowl of ramen with love.  We boiled the noodles, added veggies to the pot, cooked the meat and shrimp and presto!

Ramen for me.

Ramen for you.

I'll have some ramen if...

...you'll have some too.

Oooo, and let us not forget our Japanese pepper that cost an arm and a leg that you got in ripped off in Osaka for.

Now.

Should you make your own ramen?

Yes.

But please, follow the noodle preparation instructions on the packet.  If it says boil in water for ten minutes, those people probably know what they're talking about.

We boiled ours in our stock and even though the stock was lightly salted, the soba noodles were clearly hella salty causing our food to be almost inedible unless eaten with everything.

It was near perfection, that ramen...

::sigh::

A HOchieS semi-fail? Check.

Defeated? Never!

We'll do this again.

Oh yes we will.

New Adventures....With (A Goblin?) Incident! Part IV: Lunchie Munchies

After leaving Toy Tokyo, we stopped by the Takoyaki stand to buy H1 some takoyaki.  She quite likes it and Beetchie is rather happy to have found a friend to gush over the goodness that is takoyaki.  Beetchie is still under the impression that I don't care much for it but she is mistaken and I might have to call shenanigans on her.

The plan was to buy a batch to go for H1, and then Beetchie's plan was to steal one from H1's batch.

Beetchie would have gotten away with it too, without H1 knowing, if it weren't for me - the pesky frenemy.

We then proceeded to Ippudo for lunch.  I had high hopes for the place having read before hand that pork belly was used in some of the ramen dishes.  I also saw that it was highly rated from a few sources but I have come to learn that sometimes, you just cannot trust the Internet.

I know...take a deep breath.  Sometimes...the Internet lies to you!

With the storefront easy to miss, the loudness of the eating area (which we could not see from the front), the decor, and plentiful Asians - I had more positive vibes going than negatives.

1. Easy to miss while walking around, leading to a shady ramen place? Perfect.
2. Everyone greeting you traditional Japanese style as you enter and leave? Excellent.
3. Lots of Asians in and out of the place? Fantastic! That's a sure sign it's good!
4. Funky decor? Beautiful but...do I sense a little bit of hipsterism/artsy bs? Hmmm...

Truthfully, I was fascinated by it.  It was not going to be a homey, little Japanese place like my most fond memory of our dinner with Japanese business men and the Hattori Hanzo of food.  However, it was beautiful nonetheless, in a New York City sense of sensibility.

On the wall.  I loved it.

And the Verdict?

The Tokyo-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 13

Day 13 - Friday, June 8th

After a not so restful night at the capsule, we ventured off to find the last of our sleeping quarters which was by far our most expensive, traditional quarters.

I wonder if part of the tradition is that you couldn't find that damned Homeikan?!

We got lost... In the hottest day in Tokyo since we'd been there... On practically our last day. It was not fun times but whatever, we managed to get there in one piece and lived to blog about it.

At least it was quite aesthetically pleasing.





We went to Harajuku again so that I could find that coat I wanted. I didn't quite get what I wanted but got something I like. If any of those spots for the Harajuku Girls' becomes available, I'm ready for it.

I also finally found a good capsule machine and it was of Bleach pins! But my ass had to get a damned Mayuri pin. Why wouldn't I? Ugh, that freakin' Mayuri but hey, at least it wasn't Tousen - worst Bleach Character in the Bleach Universe.

We contemplated going to Akihabara to spend our last hours at the arcades and ufo catcher machines but decided that that was money we didn't have. Next time though, when I make it back to Japan with you guys, you can go off and do the touristy things but you'll find us at the UFO catchers.

So we had a quiet evening back in our neighbourhood, where we had a mini-foodie adventure which almost turned out to be a misadventure.

Things We Observed This Day - Volume IX

1. a 5 minute walk to the Japanese is in actuality a 30 minute walk for us. 5 minutes from the train station to Homeikan my ass! Even in the taxi it took about 15 minutes. Those liars.

2. Beetchie noted that everything tastes 'watered-down' in Japan. Especially their beverages. That might be true. I had some cocoa from the vending machine and it was not that impressive. I still drank it like it was good times though. I was thirsty, okay?!

The "OOPS" moment of the Day:

We took off our shoes like good guests before stepping on their wooden floors but we forgot to put on the slippers provided to us. The concierge was quite mortified by our behaviour and hurriedly brought them to us.

The Day's Eats:

1. Korean food. Can you believe the little Japanese girl mixed up my food for me like I was a kid? She may have been appalled by the fact that I wasn't eating it 'Korean style' so she badgered me and mixed my food for me and asked me if I didn't like spicy food. Clearly she doesn't know Trinis. Except for you, TD5, you fake pi you.

Sometimes I enjoy having my food segregated especially when I was trying to keep the raw egg from getting into my bowl. That B. mixed all that up in my rice.

2. Suspect ramen that was black. Beetchie thought maybe it was squid ink that gave it that colour. I just think the way they curried that broth was not very appealing to me. It certainly was better than most curry we had but those curry noodles still got overwhelming. I must be the only crazy to think that though because that little noodle house was very packed, with a line out the door.