Ramen @ Kanade Chukasoba, Higashi Hie, Fukuoka

 

There is nothing like a good bowl of noodles to comfort a weary soul. And with a Michelin Plate Gourmand endorsement, now this place got me really excited. On top of that, it is on the same street as my apartment! 

A sneak peek inside

Kanade Chukasoba, or Kanade in short is a humble ramen shop which is located in the suburban side of Hakata city. Despite its simple facade, this place packs a serious punch. A former Plate winner, it is not as prolific as Tsuta which once had a Michelin star. However, they do know what they are doing. 

What a good first impression. 

For my first visit (yes there were several), I opted for a safe shio ramen bowl. Despite sounding very ordinary, it clearly was not. The soup was clean and crisp, loaded with chicken flavour and this handsome bowl comes with toppings of a charshu slice, menma bamboo, and a roasted tomato. Yeap, roasted with a cheese topping. it is definitely a bit unusual. But it makes for a great visual. For my first entry, I had it with the optional egg, which was cooked to perfection and was overall, very flavourful. 

Not the most common topping, that is for sure.

Even without the egg, this was absolutely great. The charshu felt more like a sou vide piece of smoked pork than the standard braised roll of meat. The tomato actually gave off some tartness which make the whole bowl more vibrant. And the noodles were very toothsome. Just spectacular. 

Shiny

This is not their real starmaker though, as their main pride and joy is of course their chukasoba, which is an earthy and deep take on the classic noodle dish. Not ramen perse, as it is a noodle class of its own, it does share many similarities. With similar approaches to toppings and noodles, what makes it different is the broth. Chukasoba, which translates to Chinese noodles, has its own distinct flavour which is deep and strong and sometimes sour, due to the use of black vinegar. The clear soup is more intense than the shio ramen, but it was still crisp and refreshing. Still, it will work wonders for anyone who has a noodle itch. 

Oh my goodness!

If you want something really rich and just loaded with decadence, then you would have to come on Tuesdays. As this is the day they serve up boozy creamy chicken ramen. How does it taste? Lets say its a chicken tonkotsu spiked with Japanese sake. It is as rich as it sounds. During this visit, I was incredibly hungry so I asked for all the toppings. Not only was the soup already incredible with a bisque-like texture and a flavour that could even soothe a broken heart, having all the toppings made me incredibly full and left a really satisfied customer. 

If soupless is your sort of thing. 

That is not all though, as this establishment also serves up really good tantanmen, if you are not into soups that day. The mince and chilli mix was superb and was loaded with a healthy amount of szechuan peppercorns and chilli. The mince in the sauce was fresh and had a great bite, despite being well, minced. And once you are done, you can add a bit of clear stock to mix with the excess sauce mix and make a chilli infused soup to clear everything down. 

Another all in bowl. This time it is the chukasoba. Totally loaded!

With such high quality noodles and toppings, and also friendly staff, it is no surprise that this place gets the recognition it deserves. Not to mention that the noodles themselves comes in modest price tags. The shio was for 800 yen, the chuka soba was for 780 yen and the tantanmen is at a modest 830 yen. The creamy chicken stands at 780 yen as well. Prices for toppings depends on your selection, but to put things into perspective, the all-toppings combo stands at 350 yen, and this is for 4 extra charshu, an egg, extra menma, green onions and seaweed. Just a major steal. Note that this will not include the tomato. 

Front of the house. 

If you are ever in this part of town and you love noodles, you will do yourself a disservice not coming here. And if you would like to try Kanade for yourself, then the address is as follows:

2 Chome-8-23 Higashihie, Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, 812-0007