[RAMEN] 西安刀削麺 Xi'an Toshoumen (from March 22, 2002)
Ramen This Week: 西安刀削麺 Xi'an Toshoumen
After the Nittele special on Thursday night ranking the top 99 ramen shops (www.ntv.co.jp/ramen), there was no way we were getting out of a Friday run. First and foremost, however, it should be noted that I'm never a sucker for these TV shows, and last night's was flawed in at least two critical respects:
1. The show was organized along the lines of a voting system. Now this in and of itself is unobjectionable, since ramen is ordinary food for ordinary people (Tampopo). However, this system also rewards Disney Sea syndrome. The respondents themselves are more likely than not members of the Japanese population who inscrutably enjoy the comfort of waiting in line with 200 of their friends and neighbors. They do this with their kids so they can enjoy that one thrill ride per five hours at some pathetic theme park. And then after ramen they go wait in line at Beard Papa's to get some puffy buns with fatty s**t in it. It's also highly unlikely that after waiting in line for an hour that they'll cap their meal with a resounding exclamation of "that sucked." (Unfortunately, I tend to do that too often. In front of the cook.)
Also, as Abe Saori-san pointed out, Nittele didn't disclose its methodology, leaving us helpless in determining whether some good old Ferdinand Marcos ballot-stuffing was going on. In particular, looking at the Top 10 it seems like Nishi-Ikebukuro people lead very very boring lives. Good catch!
2. Nittele is a Yomiuri company, which means it's always a scam. See also: Giants, Tokyo/Kawasaki/Inagi Verdy, "news" paper.
西安刀削麺 Xi'an Toshoumen
So we hit #36 on the scam list, largely because of its proximity (Roppongi 6-8-17). This is not ramen. This is Chinese food. And it was good.
The spareribs noodles -- just like grandpa used to make. The spareribs are sparingly spiced, and the meat and fat fall right off of those adorable little bones. The broth is all about simple, brightly clear flavors with a mild amount of chili. The noodles themselves are grated and sliced and hurled from a solid block of zhang fan/chow fun/wonton wrapper fuwa fuwa joy. As a matter of fact, in some tribal cultures this solid block of fuwa fuwa joy is worshipped as the fertility god Chief Running Water.
Moreover, Xi'an Toshoumen obtained its respectable scam rating purely on the strength of its noodles. But, as Chris pointed out, if one were to rate it for the combination of noodles and teppan gyoza, Xi'an Tohoumen would skyrocket. This is real gyoza; in other words, there's stuff besides cabbage in it. I would go further, such as describe the wonderful crispiness in all the right places and the mere handful of bold and tasty fillings, but I'll leave these for Chris's purported attempt at writing a gyoza treatise.
You know, sometimes it's just good to be Chinese.
After the Nittele special on Thursday night ranking the top 99 ramen shops (www.ntv.co.jp/ramen), there was no way we were getting out of a Friday run. First and foremost, however, it should be noted that I'm never a sucker for these TV shows, and last night's was flawed in at least two critical respects:
1. The show was organized along the lines of a voting system. Now this in and of itself is unobjectionable, since ramen is ordinary food for ordinary people (Tampopo). However, this system also rewards Disney Sea syndrome. The respondents themselves are more likely than not members of the Japanese population who inscrutably enjoy the comfort of waiting in line with 200 of their friends and neighbors. They do this with their kids so they can enjoy that one thrill ride per five hours at some pathetic theme park. And then after ramen they go wait in line at Beard Papa's to get some puffy buns with fatty s**t in it. It's also highly unlikely that after waiting in line for an hour that they'll cap their meal with a resounding exclamation of "that sucked." (Unfortunately, I tend to do that too often. In front of the cook.)
Also, as Abe Saori-san pointed out, Nittele didn't disclose its methodology, leaving us helpless in determining whether some good old Ferdinand Marcos ballot-stuffing was going on. In particular, looking at the Top 10 it seems like Nishi-Ikebukuro people lead very very boring lives. Good catch!
2. Nittele is a Yomiuri company, which means it's always a scam. See also: Giants, Tokyo/Kawasaki/Inagi Verdy, "news" paper.
西安刀削麺 Xi'an Toshoumen
So we hit #36 on the scam list, largely because of its proximity (Roppongi 6-8-17). This is not ramen. This is Chinese food. And it was good.
The spareribs noodles -- just like grandpa used to make. The spareribs are sparingly spiced, and the meat and fat fall right off of those adorable little bones. The broth is all about simple, brightly clear flavors with a mild amount of chili. The noodles themselves are grated and sliced and hurled from a solid block of zhang fan/chow fun/wonton wrapper fuwa fuwa joy. As a matter of fact, in some tribal cultures this solid block of fuwa fuwa joy is worshipped as the fertility god Chief Running Water.
Moreover, Xi'an Toshoumen obtained its respectable scam rating purely on the strength of its noodles. But, as Chris pointed out, if one were to rate it for the combination of noodles and teppan gyoza, Xi'an Tohoumen would skyrocket. This is real gyoza; in other words, there's stuff besides cabbage in it. I would go further, such as describe the wonderful crispiness in all the right places and the mere handful of bold and tasty fillings, but I'll leave these for Chris's purported attempt at writing a gyoza treatise.
You know, sometimes it's just good to be Chinese.
posted by hamu86 at 1:02 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home