A transparent but rich chicken soup ramen, or rather a unique noodle dish!
I tried "special salt" from "Nara Seimen" in Minami Shinjuku, Tokyo. The transparent but rich chicken soup, whole bamboo shoots, and various char siu are full of charm. It's like ramen, but it's a unique noodle dish that can't be called ramen.
A short walk from Minami-Shinjuku / Yoyogi
The entrance is inconspicuous, but people lined up in front of the shop and I knew immediately.
Kind because there is a menu outside
The location of the shop is a short walk from Minami-Shinjuku Station on the Odakyu Line and Yoyogi Station on the JR Line. It's a counter-only shop with an inconspicuous entrance, but when I visited after noon on weekdays, there were people waiting to enter the shop.
The inside of the store has a calm atmosphere, and the salt and pepper bowl and the pitcher with water are also fashionable. Chopsticks and hand wipes come out of the drawer under the counter.
The salt and pepper container is also fashionable
Chopsticks etc. from the drawer
As for the menu, you can choose from three types of soup: soy sauce, salt, and chicken plain hot water, and the regular version with only bamboo shoots as a topping is 780 yen (tax included, the same applies below). Is 1,380 yen.
The soup is soy sauce, salt, and chicken plain hot water. You can choose between the regular version and the special topping
Choose "special salt"!
I wanted to use the regular version of "salt", but I still want toppings!
This time I ordered the regular version of "salt" for the first time, but the customers on both sides were asking for a special product as they got used to it, and the char siu looked very delicious, so I changed it to a special product afterwards. I had them add toppings on a separate plate.
Stoic if only the regular version "salt"
I asked for it and later got a "special" topping
The soup is clear, but if you scoop it up with a lotus, you can see that there is plenty of chicken stock. When you drink it, it is very rich and has a solid richness and umami that can be made as a single dish with just the soup. According to the explanation of the menu, the dashi stock from Yamanashi prefecture's "Shingen chicken" and Tottori prefecture's "Oyama chicken" from thigh meat, chicken wings, and gala, and the dashi stock from Hokkaido's "Rausu kelp" It is said that they are matched.
The soup is clear but rich. The richness is also strong
The noodles are refreshing and very often entwined in the soup. However, it's not very ramen-like. According to the explanation of the menu, "Kansui", which is an ingredient that generally characterizes ramen, is not used, so it is "an evolution of unique noodles or udon that cannot be called ramen." I'm convinced that it's a very fine and chewy udon noodle.
The noodles are very fine udon noodles that do not use "kansui".
At first glance, bamboo shoots seem to be light nights. However, it is properly salty, has a flavor, and has a pleasant texture, and has sufficient individuality as the leading role of toppings. It is said that it uses "Matake" from Kagoshima prefecture. I noticed it after eating more than half of it crunchy, but this seems to be equivalent to the menma that is generally contained in ramen.
"Matake" from Kagoshima prefecture
There are 3 types of gorgeous char siu that come with you when you order "special".
Grilled chicken char siu!
"Grilled chicken char siu" is made by lightly roasting the breast meat of Shingen chicken from Yamanashi prefecture while keeping it moist by low-temperature cooking so that you can enjoy the aroma and texture. It's juicy, and the first bite is a mouthfeel that doesn't seem like breast meat. The faint smoky scent is also appetizing.
"Roasted pork char siu" is made by grilling the shoulder loin of Miyazaki pork over a charcoal fire to confine the taste and then slowly cooking it at low temperature. This is also a piece that is juicy and you can enjoy the scent of pork.
"Pig Trochar Siu" is a softened pork roast pork from Miyazaki prefecture that has been cooked for a long time. It was a lifetime with a thick boiled pork, and the thickened fat part had a silky texture and a thick umami, which was surprisingly a topping that goes well with chicken-based soup.
Fertilized eggs of flat-bred chickens from Tochigi prefecture
When you bite the egg, you will be surprised at the refreshing lemon color of the yolk. This is a lightly seasoned fertilized egg from Tochigi prefecture's flat-bred chicken. It has an elegant flavor and is more enjoyable when added to a rich chicken broth. The chopped green onions are also "white onions" from Tochigi prefecture, and it was a cup that you can see that they selected and combined famous ingredients from each region.
Nara Seimen No. 2 Kuwano Building, 2-26-2 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo