Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Beautiful Noodles are only Skin Deep



Last night I was jonesing for noodles. Lucky for me, that's an easy wish to fulfill in this country. Quality noodles on the other hand, are a little more challenging to find. Years ago when we first arrived in Japan, a friend taught me that among the best places to get good, quick eats were the yatai restaurants scattered across the country.

In Japanese yatai literally means “food cart” but often times, it's really more of a temporary structure, like a tent, or shelter, inside of which may be a kitchen or cooking area, and if it's really fancy, a place for customers to eat their food without getting rained or snowed on. It's a broad term that also includes the take-out food vendors, ever-present at any of Japan's many festivals. Either way you look at it, yatai are Japan's answer to carnival fast food, and where in the United States you might get a hot dog from a cart vendor in New York City or a deep-fried Snickers bar-on-a-stick at the Iowa State Fair, the Far Eastern equivalent is more along the lines of grilled chicken on a stick (yakitori) or ramen (noodles) soup.

Raumen Menkui falls squarely into the category of yatai although it has come a long ways since its humble beginnings. It really used to be an honest-to-goodness tent before, a couple years ago the owner constructed a building for his restaurant. But all he did was take the food cart, folding chairs, benches and kitchen appliances and move them onto a concrete foundation with solid walls. When you enter the restaurant, the food cart is still the centre of attention, with seating space all around it. I never tried it when it was still a tent but since a few people have told me about it I thought that it would be a great place to get my noodles on and to write my next review.

The name Menkui Raumen is interesting to begin with. In Japanese, menkui is a pun – the kanji (Chinese characters) that can be used to write this word literally translate to: "noodles", "eat." However a less literal translation of menkui means: attractiveness that is only superficial or physical. A rather strange choice, and yet, rather clever. In addition, before I get a sea of e-mails from the Japanese transliteration pundits, let me point out that I spelled “raumen” the way I did because that is the way the restaurant spells it (both in kana AND in Roman characters). Why? Beats me! I asked a few Japanese co-workers today and they really had no ideas other than perhaps the owner wanted to stand out from the crowd a little and used (what they figured) was maybe a more Chinese pronunciation. The veracity of this claim is unconfirmed.

Walking past the sliding doors, we were greeted by very friendly staff, and told to go ahead and park it anywhere. Initially they were a little taken aback by the fact that we weren't Japanese, but not in a bad way... They were really just trying to figure out whether we would be able to understand the menu which was written only in Japanese script. Had I not assured them that we would in fact be fine and that I could read the menu quite well, I'm sure they would have been most becoming – it seemed as though they were more than ready to give us an adequate oral interpretation of their offerings. I sat down and glanced at the menu which was taped to the wall in front of me.

The décor was reminiscent of a beach shack, with various pieces of driftwood furniture. It looked like they were after a bit of an “Okinawan” look, something I gathered from the Okinawan liquor adorning the counter and a few Okinawan dishes on the menu. More on that later.

“What's your specialty?” I finally asked the man behind the counter in Japanese.

“Take your pick,” he grinned. “All our soups taste the same.”

I chucked to my wife, “Well, at least he's honest.” Indeed, the main soup menu consists of a soy-base with thin noodles, but with various toppings. I figured that instead of the standard “ramen” (¥680) I would have the chashu-men (ramen with sliced pork topping) and Bonnie, being a fan of negi-ramen (julienned green onions) opted for that, for the same price.

The offerings are pretty standard for a shop of this type – bamboo shoot ramen, seaweed ramen (both ¥750), among a few others. In addition, the non-ramen portion of the menu consists of several kinds of “dish” (sara), such as a sliced pork dish (¥400), bamboo shoot dish (¥300), kimchi dish (¥400). I also spotted some roast eggplant for ¥400, and as one might except, this being a somewhat Okinawan-themed place, two varieties of Okinawan Champuru. Champuru in the Okinawan language means “mix” -- perhaps like the English use of the word “stew” and the main ingredient is the name the “mix” is given. In my case, it was so-min (thin noodle) Champuru (¥500).

It took longer for the Champuru to reach us than our soup, but the wait allowing me to get a better feel for the restaurant. Once again, I didn't bring a camera so I had to satisfy myself with the lens from my cellphone. At least it gives a bit of an idea of what the main counter area looks like.


(Yes, the red lantern in this photo DOES say: ra-men in katakana -- but elsewhere they do use the odd spelling of "raumen").

In addition to this, there is a projection TV overhead, and judging by all the Ventforet Kofu paraphernalia and posters, I would imagine that it gets quite busy during soccer games. As far as that goes, I have frequently seen people waiting to get into this place, one of the reasons why I also wanted to try it. Tonight was no exception and about midway through our meal, looking behind me to the entrance, spied three young men waiting for a vacancy. The staff, aside from smiles also wear matching uniforms, consisting of black T-shirts with the restaurant name Menkui printed on the front in white writing, with a slogan in English: “Do you know Menkui?” written in small lettering across the top and an oversize question mark on the back. It looked quite sharp. A photo album containing pictures of all the various kinds of Japanese liquor they had for sale hangs on the wall for perusal and containers of waribashi (disposable chopsticks) are scattered about, containing not the usual, pale bamboo sticks so common everywhere in Asia, but dark, walnut-coloured chopsticks that I haven't yet seen before.

The soup, finally arriving, was quite tasty, the sliced pork, hard-boiled egg, bamboo shoots and seaweed all contributing to the overall flavour. The noodles were a little thinner than I've had in other ramen shops, but certainly no less palatable. True to their promise, Bonnie's soup tasted similar, although in addition to the shredded onion topping, a little bit of red, hot spice and some sesame seeds added variety. When the thin-noodle Champuru arrived, I detected traces of black pepper, ginger and canned tuna in addition to the noodles themselves. At first I didn't care for it much; the overall taste and choice of spices didn't seem to agree with me, and the saltiness was a little much for my taste... Funny thing is, however, the dish seemed to grow on me the more I ate it, and after a few bites I was very much alright with the whole affair. Next time, however, I might try something a bit different.

In the end, the total for two was ¥2,200, we left very well fed as the portions were more than adequate, but no drinks – only two bowls of soup and an order of stir-fried noodles. It's not the best noodle joint in the city, but it is a place to get some soup in some interesting surroundings.

Summary:

The Good: Pretty good food, interesting atmosphere, friendly staff.

The bad: Small place – may have to wait to sit down and order. People queued up at the door are common here. Also, smoking/ashtrays are everywhere. If one or more people are smoking (they were) it's hard to get away from.

Menu: Ramen, various other dishes, including even a salad and some ice-cream deserts, Champuru, draft beer (Asahi -- ¥550), soft drinks ¥200, sake ¥400-600, a few other alcoholic beverages,

Price Range: Food: ¥300-¥850, drinks ¥500 average

Smoking: Yes. Ashtrays everywhere. Don't go if you are allergic to smoke or don't want to get the smell of it on your clothes.

Recommended?: Maybe. But if there were a queue outside, I'd move on to “plan B.”

Details:

Raumen Menkui
Owner: Ken Saito
Tel. 090-7637-0964 / E-mail: menkui.3110@docomo.ne.jp
Address. 2-10-3 Takabatake, Kofu City (almost across from Restaurant Torisumi)
Hours: 18:00-about 25:00; Closed Sundays.
Languages spoken: Japanese only.
Parking: Yes. Plenty.


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