Friday ramen run

No doubt ramen is one of my favorite dishes here in Japan. Today I tried a new ramen restaurant in the prefecture I work in, Tochigi-Ken, Oyama.

Tochigi is apparently famous for ramen in the kanto area, but sad to say I have yet to come across any spectacular ramen in this region. But then again I haven’t searched hard enough. If you are in Japan and know the Tochigi area, please recommend a spot.

Where did you go?

( あなたは何処に行きましたか？)
( Anata wa doko ni ikimashita ka? )

I went to a ramen restaurant called “ Iokaya”, located near to my work place. I ordered a fish based soup ramen ( the soup is made with fish , no chunks ).

The staff was very friendly ( as they usually are in Japan) she made sure I understood the menu by explaining every thing they had ( In Japanese of course). I got a soy sauce boiled egg as an extra topping thanks to her too.

The verdict

This ramen wasn’t bad, but to me it was nothing special. The good and bad thing about it was that the soup wasn’t heavy. Good because that means less calories, bad because the thicker the soup the tastier.

The noodles were not what I’m used to. I like my ramen noodles thick and stinky! ( ramen lovers know what I’m talking about). I guess because this is Tochigi, they have a special style of noodles or maybe it was specifically because of the ramen I got. The noodles just weren’t appealing to my eyes or taste buds. Again, ok the good side, the noodles not being too think means less bloat. I don’t feel like a truck tyre that needs to be rolled down a hill after I had this ramen. Overall it was ok. I really can’t complain, but I guess I’m used to my thick misou based high calorie ramen.