When You Find a Ramen Shop Chasing Perfection: Menya Itto
Intro
Meow meow, hi everyone! How’s your summer going? Today I’m taking you all along to eat at Menya Itto! When I first ran into it, it honestly looked like a totally un-renovated house, a plain exterior with barely any decoration, kind of understated and not trying to show off. And yet it’s a ramen shop that’s racked up a whole bunch of awards.
By the way, Menya Itto is currently under renovation! So any of you Mc-buddies who want to visit might have to wait a little longer. But visiting my blog? You can do that right now. Below is a link that’s exactly the same as this article, except it somehow gives me the ability to afford my next bowl of ramen. If you’d like to support a 麥噹噹 (Mydondon) you maybe only met today, give the link below a click!
Menya Itto: the details
Menya Itto on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/BrruPLvQpPzi4fY9A
I went at 2:11 in the afternoon, and the moment I stepped inside I noticed how great the natural light was, it gave off this cheerful vibe that swept away the gloom of the whole day in one go.
It doesn’t have that down-to-earth feeling some ramen shops give you, where the owner cooks your noodles right in front of you. Instead, there are individual tables so you can sit face to face and slurp noodles with your friends. Or you can do what I did and eat alone 🥺
The broth and toppings: taste and texture
The ramen arrived less than five minutes after I ordered, so let’s dig right in for you Mc-buddies. They go with thin noodles, which have a slightly floury bite to them, but the texture isn’t bad at all and the firmness is just right, though I think you could ask them to cook the noodles a bit softer. When the pork chashu came out it looked seriously pink, which had me a little worried it had only just been carved off Mama Pig’s mountain. But once I took a bite I realized my nerves were totally unnecessary, it nailed that golden ratio of chashu, half fat and half meat, which gave it a really satisfying chew.
If I had to point out one shortcoming, it’d be that the leaner part of the chashu still tasted a touch dry, but soaking it in the broth makes it so, so much better! I think the first thing everyone should do when eating ramen is remember to dunk the chashu into the broth for a bit, it really does help a lot. The chicken chashu was neither too tough nor too soft, and I think the most genius thing about Itto is how well they handle their meats, all I can do is be impressed, and then impressed some more.
That said, I felt the broth of my rich gyokai (fish-and-seafood) ramen was a tiny bit dead salty. The bamboo shoots and green onions kept the broth from being boring, giving it some variety so it didn’t get cloying, but after eating it for a while it still came across as a bit salty, like that briny fish smell you’d catch at a fish market, except you’re now eating that saltiness. If you don’t drink some water now and then, it covers up the flavors everything else should have, which is a little bit of a shame.
The impression Menya Itto left me with is that everything is done extremely well, everything that should be there is there, even pushing close to a perfect-score quality, the gyokai broth has the gyokai flavor it should have, the chashu looks exactly like chashu should, and even the dining experience is beyond reproach. And yet a ramen shop where everything reaches perfection ends up losing that one standout feature that makes people’s eyes light up. Or maybe you could say that making a bowl of ramen perfect IS its feature.
Menya Itto’s Tokyo chicken rice
Next up, let’s try their Tokyo chicken rice, and when it arrived it completely flipped my worldview. The chicken rice in my head was supposed to be like the chicken rice at other ramen shops, dry white rice topped with heavily seasoned chicken. But this one looked more like ochazuke (rice in tea/broth), which was pretty novel. The whole thing eats lighter and doesn’t feel heavy, and the chicken on top was probably cooked in chicken broth, since it was firmer yet moist rather than dry and tough, simple without being greasy. With chicken broth drizzled over the rice, a bite of white rice with a bite of chicken is just a perfect match. But for a bowl of rice like this the portion really is a bit small, or you could say the price is a bit too high, so it’s only worth ordering once just to try it.
I’m still thinking about where to go next, hit me with your recommendations!