yummy noodles

Today after my Japanese lesson I wandered up and down a few Shibuya side streets seeking a cheap noodle lunch. Outside this one place I spied a sign advertising meals for 500 yen (less than $5), so I ducked under the plastic curtain, sat down and ordered by pointing at a picture on the menu. Not two minutes later a big bowl was put down in front of me, heaped with ramen swimming in a cream-colored broth and topped with roast pork, a square of dried seaweed, diced green onions and some sort of mushroom. I had had ramen before, of course, but not with this kind of broth and it was delicious. I sat at the counter along with a half dozen or so Japanese men, some young, some older, and most of them also dining solo. Each person had their own supply of add-ins: pots of bright pink pickled ginger bits (yum), a tasty spicy red pepper mixture of some kind, sesame seeds and hard-boiled eggs.

Later that afternoon, when I picked the kids up from their own Japanese lesson (they do it once a week after school), the boys' teacher told me I had been to a Hakata-Tenjin, a chain that specializes in tonkotsu ramen, or Hakata style ramen, a specialty of Kyushu (Japan's third-largest island, southwest of here). He also informed me that 'tonkotsu' means pork bones, as in the pork bones -- and lots of pork fat! -- are used to make the broth. Sigh. I knew such rich creamy goodness was too good to be good for me!

Here's a photo of the place that I took with my phone and emailed to T, who was disturbed by the "cannibal pig" on the sign.