Pork Ramen @ Ramen Bankara, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Here it is! The first blog post on my Japanese odyssey.

After an 8 hour flight from KLIA to Narita Airport, and another 1.5 hour train ride from Narita to Shinjuku Station, you bet you would be knackered. Adding to it was the torrential rain, which was kick back from Typhoon 21. The typhoon did temper with the timetable I had for the rest of the week and chilly nights were a constant. Moving around was a real inconvenience, so do bring around an umbrella to mitigate some of it.

Umbrella guarded commuters on tow

But if you are cold and need something warming, my go to remedy would be a hot bowl of noodles. If you have been following the blog for some time, noodles have a  constant presence here. And when in Japan, ramen is up on the menu! The place I picked was out of convenience as it was raining cats and dogs. Ramen Bankara is located near Shinjuku Station and on the way to Kabukicho, the notorious red light district loaded with peddlers and street criers.

This looks friendly enough. The entrance of the shop

The corner where we sat. More patrons flooded the area soon afterwards. 

It looks authentic enough so we went in. The place is warm in a literal sense and the staff is friendly and know some basic English. We picked out 2 different ramen stock bases: shoyu and tonkotsu, which means soy sauce base and pork bone broth base respectively. The shoyu is cheaper (¥650) while the tonkotsu costs ¥900. At that point in time, ¥1000 is RM 40, or USD 10.

The shoyu bowl. Perfection!

The wonderfully filling tonkotsu bowl

Close up of the strong and flavourful broth

And comments on them? It was absolutely fantastic. Being such a chilly day, something meaty, savoury and soupy was what the doctor ordered. The soup is greasy, which is expected, especially the tonkotsu, as marrow is used to make the broth. So for people who are out for a low fat experience, please go elsewhere. And for low carb fans, please go elsewhere as well as the place is very generous with the noodles in store. The soup clings on to the noodles like chocolate from a fondue. It was deeply satisfying, and a little sinful.

Slurp

The porky flavour is definitely more pronounced in the tonkotsu, but the shoyu was deeply flavourful too. The soy sauce has a different flavour profile, which is sweeter and the saltiness comes from the soy sauce and not just from salt.  So I can understand if some people prefer one soup type over the other. The condiments were great as well. Each bowl had a streaky piece of braised pork, seaweed, picked bamboo shoots and scallions. The pork was savoury, fatty and chewy. Bacon lovers will definitely enjoy this meal.

Joy.

There are also other things on the menu like dumplings and other side dishes. But as this is a ramen shop, we decided to just go with the ramen. That would turn out to be a good choice as we muzzled down more food later in the day.


Overall, it was just simply good and a great start to our week in Japan. And I am pleasantly surprised that we have a branch in KL, at Avenue K. I would definitely give it a try and see if it measures up to my Tokyo experience soon. However, do go to a branch in Tokyo first then make the call.


The address of the branch I went to is as follows:


1-17-5 Kabukicho, Shinjuku 160-0021, Tokyo Prefecture