RAMEN SECRETS

Guided by a local ramen head, ALEXANDRA CARLTON hits the streets of Tokyo in pursuit of the best bowls.

- ALEXANDRA CARLTON

Cody Mizuno is excited about one of the Japanese capital’s emerging ramen trends: fresh fish-based ramen. The one we’re about to visit is called Madai Ramen Mengyo, which translates to “fresh fish”, and the soup here is made with luxurious fresh snapper or sea bream (the two names are used interchangeably in Japan), rather than the usual dried fish, or dashi, that characterises most Japanese fish-based broths.

We duck inside a small shop lined with a narrow wooden counter along one side, punch in our orders on the push-button machine and are soon presented with a fragrant – verging on pungent – bowl of glistening, slightly opaque snapper soup, filled with textured handmade noodles and topped with blush-pink folds of pork. The chewy noodles and featherlight pork are delicious but the soup’s fishiness is a little overwhelming to me, though a few curls of pickled ginger help to cut through the intensity. “It’s a strong flavour but it’s very nostalgic for Japanese people because it’s something we grew up eating at New Year,” explains Mizuno. Would I have chosen to eat it if I’d been searching out ramen shops myself? Perhaps not. But what a delight to be trying the full rainbow of ramen options with someone who knows it better than almost anyone.