My First Time at Menya Musashi
Where to Find Menya Musashi
Covid cases have been climbing again lately, so everyone please stay safe out there. Today’s ramen spot is Menya Musashi. Here’s the shop info:
Menya Musashi on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/AReEBjZV65TcvR539
I deliberately picked an off-peak time to go. I got to the main branch around 2:15 PM and walked straight in with no wait, then ordered the seafood chicken tsukemen with a flavored egg for NT$280. The price is on the slightly pricey side for what it is. Tsukemen takes a bit longer to make than regular ramen, so I didn’t get mine until about 2:38 PM. The staff did warn me in advance that it would take a while, which gave me time to mentally prepare. On top of that, I noticed they run a lot of promotions, birthday perks and the like. Doesn’t quite feel like the way traditional ramen shops operate, does it?
How the Seafood Chicken Tsukemen Tasted
What I ordered was the seafood chicken tsukemen with a flavored egg. This was my first time trying tsukemen, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I thought the experience was a really good one. First off, the noodles are on the thicker side, and compared to the noodles used for regular ramen these are chewier and soak up more of the dipping broth. You can taste the seafood in the dipping sauce itself, and compared to the broth at Ichinoana there are fewer fish flakes floating around, plus it’s a touch sweet. The bamboo shoots are soft but bite through really easily, and they taste a bit saltier than usual. Dipping them in the sauce before eating adds an extra layer of flavor; the original saltiness gets covered up by the sauce, yet you can still sense it underneath.
The sous vide chicken on its own didn’t really stand out. It isn’t seasoned with strong, heavy spices; it feels more like they went out of their way to preserve the chicken’s natural flavor, which makes it taste a bit dry and stringy when eaten plain. Dip it in the sauce, though, and the dry meat becomes smoother and easier to eat. But after a while it still gets a little rich, and you start to notice that even with a new flavor added, the underlying flaw remains: the chicken itself just isn’t handled particularly well.
The chashu is prepared with black pepper and other spices, so unlike your usual chashu it has a hint of pepper to it. The chashu itself is scarily soft, soft enough that you’d think it hadn’t been heated up at all. At one point I even thought I was eating beef. The chashu is definitely a plus and worth trying. The soft-boiled egg I got was a little overdone, with a few pieces missing that runny, jammy texture, so you could skip it.
Overall, it really is lighter than other tsukemen, but it nails the balance between the seafood and the chicken. Personally I don’t think it’s worth the price; for a student it’s a bit expensive and the portion is still on the small side. You won’t walk away truly stuffed, but it’s not absurdly skimpy either. If you’ve got a little room in your budget, it’s worth a try.