[RAMEN] 旭王 Kyoku-O and ホープ軒 Hope-ken (from April 18, 2002)

Ramen This Week: 旭王 Kyoku-O and ホープ軒 Hope-ken

旭王 Kyoku-O

[Our first guest review! Kekke-san on the miso ramen:]

The men was a few minutes over the preferred al dente, and rather characterless ("traditional" in a bad sense). The miso soup was good, strong presence of miso and fish broth, sprinkled with right dose of shichimi pepper. The absence of moyashi was a definite plus, as I've found them to sweeten and subdue the soup in many an otherwise-good bowl of Hokkaido ramen. Corn, on the other hand, is generally less damaging and Kyokuo had the right amount of it. The egg and charsiu were pretty good, but didn't have their own appeal to rise above the strong soup.

Overall, Kyokuo Miso was a solid above-average ramen, with nothing particularly wrong with it (except maybe the noodle). The flavor of the soup is definitely on the "shikkari" side, which I like; however, it overpowers other moderately flavored ingredients (charsiu, egg, etc.) and the only thing you come out remembering is the soup. Having said that, the soup IS pretty good, and I would go back to try Shio (w/ butter if they offer it) next time I'm in the Oyaji Wonderland [Shimbashi].

[Ditto for the shoyu ramen, although it was very salty.]


ホープ軒 Hope-ken

Like its close cousin at Ramen Jiro, this ramen is crude, unapologetic, and brutish. The overflowing, oily bowl -- don't touch it! -- grows stubby arms and legs before your very eyes and starts calling itself Buriburizaemon. Then Buriburizaemon takes you into a back alley, slaps you around and does all sorts of ribald and un-Christian things involving facial hair. And in the end, it won't even leave you with enough to catch the bus.

The soup: they spilled five barrels of this stuff at Tokaimura in 1999 and sixteen people died. Three unfortunate survivors -- having lost their noses, a few fingernails, and their personalities -- now work at Hope-ken. (Hey, if you want free smiles, go to McDonalds. Or that peppy little Oompa Loompa-looking guy at Starbucks with the short shorts on.)

The noodles have a squarish, Japanese soba-like appearance. But there is a noticeable lack of spring water or soda in the noodles, making them seem coarse and heavy while not remarkably chewy. Meanwhile, the almost obscured moyashi and carrots are good. The charsiu are decidedly average and can become rather tiresome. The sulphur bomb supahard-boiled egg should be avoided.

I really do enjoy this kind of ramen once in a while. On the other hand, Mrs. Ramen doesn't appreciate the mystery ramen nature of the place: since the ramen is prepared well out of your view, it's unclear exactly how much of your meal was inspired by the Cats and Roadkill Chinese Cookbook.

Incidentally, Hope-ken was a great chance to meet up with Ienaga-san and Suguri-san, the original Ramen Taicho. As always, I was speechless.


APPENDIX: Cultural Glossary

Oompa Loompa:




Buriburizaemon: