Flying from Europe to Asia, and having watched every last movie available on the on-flight media player in front of me, I watched an episode of Mind of a Chef (because as my sister once put it, there's nothing better than food and television). It was a noodle episode. Specifically, ramen. The host, David Chang of New York's Momofuku restaurants, explored a few of Tokyo's greatest noodle hot spots.
In his rounds, Chang stopped at a restaurant owned by a legend in the noodle world. Kazuo Yamagishi, also known as "the master of ramen", is said to be the inventor of Tsukemen - dipping noodles. Unlike traditional ramen where broth and noodle are combined, tsukemen consists of a strong stock in one bowl, and a pile of thick cold noodles in another. The noodles are dipped into the broth, warming them up and never getting soggy.
My mouth watered. I vowed that if I ever made it to Japan, knowing I never would, the one thing I would do is eat at Yamagishi's tsukemen restaurant.
Then plans changed.
The moment a flight to Japan was purchased, my internet search changed from seeking out the best airline tickets to figuring out where the famed tsukemen restaurant was located.
The search was worth it... both online and by foot, because physically finding it was half the battle.
In our limited Japanese, and the patrons limited English, we managed to order a noodle dish that satisfied a craving I had carried with me for three months, starting when I was 35,000 feet up in the air, half a world away.
In his rounds, Chang stopped at a restaurant owned by a legend in the noodle world. Kazuo Yamagishi, also known as "the master of ramen", is said to be the inventor of Tsukemen - dipping noodles. Unlike traditional ramen where broth and noodle are combined, tsukemen consists of a strong stock in one bowl, and a pile of thick cold noodles in another. The noodles are dipped into the broth, warming them up and never getting soggy.
My mouth watered. I vowed that if I ever made it to Japan, knowing I never would, the one thing I would do is eat at Yamagishi's tsukemen restaurant.
Then plans changed.
The moment a flight to Japan was purchased, my internet search changed from seeking out the best airline tickets to figuring out where the famed tsukemen restaurant was located.
The search was worth it... both online and by foot, because physically finding it was half the battle.
In our limited Japanese, and the patrons limited English, we managed to order a noodle dish that satisfied a craving I had carried with me for three months, starting when I was 35,000 feet up in the air, half a world away.
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| ticketing menu machine |
1 comment:
Now I have a craving, but without even a hope of making it to Japan. Enjoy another bowl for me!
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