When visiting Katsuryu after a couple of months, the my first instinct is that I wanted to try and finish trying everything on the menu so today's item is hand-kneaded chuka-soba (手もみ中華そば).
Firstly, one might ask what chuka-soba is and whether it is different than ramen. The direct translation is Chinese food/cuisine noodles. Rather than soba referring to buckwheat noodles, it just refers to noodles at large (so clear, I know). Basically, we have a bowl of Chinese-style noodles with a very light broth. Is there a difference between this description and what ramen is? No, not really. Maybe there is some notion of something closer to the original iteration but that might be a stretch.
Rather than the standard noodles one might be accustomed to where they're straight and perfectly uniformed, these hand-kneaded noodles are ragged and has a really nice chew, in the way a thick noodle would be. Because of the texture as well, it's really picked up on the pork bone aroma of the broth quite well so slurping it up was quite delectable.
In terms of the toppings, it was nice but definitely playing second fiddle. The cha-shu here was melt in your mouth and then menma was quite standard. The green onions as a garnish was just there to add a bit of vegetal bite that further lightens the ramen a bit futher. Honestly, for a 15 cenitgrade day and a really heavy ramen is not the mood, this or the asari ramen is definitely worth your time in my humble opinion, especially for this being 750円 and being super easy to eat.
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