Crab Aburasoba @ Crab Typhoon, Ningyocho, Tokyo

Quaint in its size but big in flavour, Crab Typhoon (crab台風) is located in Tokyo⁠'s Ningyocho neighborhood, which has a special theme of, you guessed it...crab! This ramen joint was once again, a winning recommendation from my good friend Risa. I think at this rate, I might have to create a "Risa top spots list"! You madam, always have great recommendations. 

Classic

Like most ramen places, the selection is pretty specialised. So, you are given the option to have soupy ramen, or soupless ramen also known as aburasoba. Directly translated as "oil-based noodles", it is essentially dry soupless noodles, whereby the dish is lubricated with seasoning oil and certain umami-dense sauces. That's what I ordered for my meal. And via a ticket machine, the old-fashioned way. 

Heavy

On the outset it looks like any standard aburasoba. However, 2 things that set it apart. Firstly is a good heapful of kani-miso. Although it translates as miso from crab, what it really is were minced crab guts and meat. It does not sound very savoury at first but you would not know unless you try. And the second one is the use of seasoned quail eggs, instead of big chicken ones. 

Cute!

So how was this crabby bowl? Pretty good to be honest! The flavour is rather intense, which is not surprising due to the influence of the kani-miso. I won't be surprised if there was scallion oil and pork lard inside the sauce mix sitting at the bottom. The noodles were thick and had a chewy bite to them. The small dainty eggs were flavour bombs. Being such small morsels, they tend to marinade better than standard chicken eggs. As such, the flavour of the seasoning just permeates inside. On the flip side, the fresh onions that were included provided a sharp edge, to balance out all the savoury elements. Balance of aroma, it was. An ironic statement considering onion breath is not something very nice to have. 

Seriously thick

If you like, you can order a bowl of rice to clean up the excess sauce at the bottom. Personally I did order the one with some rice, but realised that the noodles were too much and I abstained it. This tasty bowl stood for 850 yen while you pay 100 yen more for the rice. This was a real blast to have, and it was a really satisfying meal. Of course having good company make things better. So if you are looking for something a bit more unusual in your ramen, or just like good noodles in general, then why not give this place a go? I might return to try the soup-based one. The address is as follows:

1 Chome-9-5 Nihonbashikakigaracho, Chuo City, Tokyo 103-0014

Front of the house.