Is “ramen” a B gourmet food?

For me, as a ramen lover, the taste of ramen has been “tare” in the form of chicken or pork bone broth in a bowl, soy sauce (slightly thick and highly aromatic), salt (light broth), miso (deep rich and flavorful), and other “ramen” such as curry, tomato, and Chinese soup.

Each store uses its own unique recipe for making the sauce (kaeshi), and each region has its own unique flavor, making for a truly enjoyable encounter with many different types and flavors.

Today, I was looking forward to the ramen that uses the “dashi” (soup stock) itself as the broth instead of the “tare.

I was looking forward to this ramen, which does not use tare (sauce), the lifeblood of ramen, but instead uses dashi itself as the broth.

What’s more, it’s an exquisite French-style soup…?

So I thought “ramen” was synonymous with B-grade gourmet.

But now it has become such a prestigious cuisine that it has earned a Michelin star.

There are only “3” ramen restaurants with Michelin stars, out of the approximately 30,000 restaurants worldwide rated by Michelin in all genres combined.

And although only one star is given to Ramen, even with one star, the value of this one star is more than three stars…

I see… that’s right… Ramen may be the only single dish that has received a star…

The ramen at “Ginza Yago” is made with only the “dashi” (soup stock).

Nowadays, this extremely popular ramen restaurant has long lines of customers standing in line from morning, and if the soup runs out quickly, it is sold out and the restaurant is closed.

The restaurant’s name “Yago” is said to have two origins. One is that the size of the store is “8.5 tsubo”.

The other is that the “eight” represents Mt. Fuji, and the restaurant’s name was chosen to convey the sentiment that “even if you have climbed to the eighth station, you still have to know that you are still on the fifth station.

I have not heard this directly, but…

Today is actually a three-day holiday weekend, and yet we were able to open the restaurant for a private party, which was extremely exceptional.

Thank you very much, Executive Chef Matsumura!

Only six seats are reserved for a complete dinner party! We were able to entertain an important VIP from overseas, a “noodle lover”.

Noodles are submerged in a clear broth, topped with chashu pork, pickled bamboo shoots, seasoned eggs, and green onions.

It looked and smelled like “ordinary ramen,” but it was not…

But,

The consommé-like broth has the mellowness of chicken and the sweetness and richness of vegetables,

The noodles are rather thin, long and straight,

There were two pieces of pork chashu (pork belly and shoulder loin, I think),

The bamboo shoots are very thick and crunchy,

The seasoned egg is semi-cooked and the yolk is soft and tender,

The green onions are green onions, not white onions.

The black pepper on top of the chashu pork, when soaked and dissolved in the soup, gives the soup a Western feel.

Not too hot, not too cold…

Delicious!　I can’t say anything, I’m in raptures!　

I eat, eat, eat in silence.

Slurp, slurp, slurp,

Sipping, slurping, slurping, slurping, slurping, slurping,

And within a few minutes, it was finished!

Executive Chef Yasushi Matsumura has 40 years of experience in the French cuisine world.

Yago Ramen” is the third branch of “Chinese Soba Katsumoto” in Suidobashi and “Tsuke Soba Katsumoto” in Jimbocho, and can truly be called the “culmination” of Katsumoto’s ramen restaurants, which have attracted gourmets from around the world with their single dish “ramen”.

If you have a chance, I highly recommend you to try this ramen!

Thank you very much!