Chuka Soba @ Tora Shokudo, Ropponmatsu, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka

 

This was a bit tricky to write. Not because of how it tasted, but rather what it is. Chuka soba (中華蕎麦) is a unique form of noodle dish that somehow treads into ramen territory but is not. Technically, ramen is a derivative of Chinese noodles. Does La-Mien come to mind? It does not help that chuka soba directly translates from Japanese as "Chinese noodles" as well. So in order to simplify things, I will not categorise this as ramen, but do not be surprised that some people do and the reasons are justified. A bowl of the dish consists of noodles, soup and the usual condiments of meat and eggs. 

Front counter seat, best seat. 

Be that as it may, there is definitely one thing it has in common with ramen, is that I really like it. Well, I like good bowl of noodles in any event. And one place takes it to the next level, and it is Tora Shokudo (とら食堂 ). Being the first time coming here, having the store most famous bowl is the best thing to do. I got myself the classic hand made chuka soba. Yes, your heard me right. This place serves hand made noodles. Despite being such a labour intensive dish, the classic bowl was only for a mere 750 yen. A pretty sweet bargain. 

Unlike most noodle places, this place has a menu!

The turnaround is pretty fast too. My bowl of noodles came in within 5 minutes and it was a glorious sight indeed. To the untrained eye, it does look like a bowl of shoyu ramen. If it was me 4 years ago, I would have made the same mistake too. But once you had good shoyu and then had a taste of this, you can notice the difference. 

Beauty in a bowl

The first difference is the sense of body of the soup. The broth here has a bit of an acidic edge, probably due to the usage of vinegar in the tare. Indirectly, this gives it a deeper and stronger flavour, which punches you right at the teeth with every sip. 

Despite being so dark, it looks so clear. 

This soup has a deeper, richer taste compared to shoyu ramen, which has a more vibrant and distinctive saltiness. Shoyu does literally translate to soy sauce after all. But it should be noted that the soup does use shoyu, although it is not the only flavour profile that was there. The toppings were pretty good too. They were quite basic, being some charshu and a slice of naruto fish cake. There were some bamboo pickles hidden as well underneath the body of noodles. That too strengthened the acidic profile of the overall bowl. 

Look how it glistens! 

But the star maker were the noodles. They were very supple and yet had a good bite to them. It reminded me of freshly hand cur egg linguine. And being hand made, it also means that the noodles had more bumps and curves, compared to the regular machine cut ones. This added more texture and crevices for the soup to stick on. This caused the soup to literally coat the noodles, creating a great slurping experience. Fantastic indeed.

The best endorsement. 

This is a legendary lunch spot in the center of Ropponmatsu and is a favourite for lawyers there, as it is near the Fukuoka Courthouse. So it is no surprise that you will see a line of finely dressed men and women waiting for their turn to enter the premises. In fact, it was a lawyer friend of mine that brought me to this place. Local recommendation at the ground level indeed. So if you would like to have a great bowl during your lunch rush, then the address is as follows:

4 Chome-9-10 Ropponmatsu, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, 810-0044

Irrashaie!