Ramentary: Zundouya Ramen

Feels like forever since a ramentary, dudn't it?

So my buddy Mark's co-worker suggested a spot called Zundouya Ramen in Himeji and since we were heading down there to look for gear for Taj Ultimate (the ultimate frisbee tournament next month), we stopped by for a taste.

There's 4 spots in Himeji alone, with another slated for Osaka in 2011. It's a pretty funky little spot, with reggae music in the background and all young folks working there. Our cute waitress had like 4 wristbands and a sweet blond hairdo underneath a towel. Zundouya does tonkotsu ramen, with varying degrees of thicknes (4 levels from assari to kotteri) and they also allow you to choose the kind of noodles you want (we both went thin). Mark got the chashumen with kotteri broth and I got the normal ramen with normal broth. We also sprung for fried rice and gyoza (because hey, a bowl of meat and noodles floating in fatty pork broth just isn't bad enough for you).

The table had garlic cloves and a garlic press in case you wanted to up the deliciousness at the expense of your companions' noses, but we abstained. My ramen came with negi, some absolutely melt-in-your-mouth-like-butter pork slices, a slice of nori (seaweed), a full soft boiled egg and a fair sized serving of those afore-mentioned thin noodles. It was pretty darn good. The oil in the broth kept the heat locked in the broth so when you pulled a serving of noodles, they were far hotter than the soup you'd sip from the top of the bowl. The entire bowl was fairly well put together, but I felt like the noodles were a bit too soft considering I asked for them to be firm.

The real star of this meal was the fried rice, in my opinion, which is saying something considering I liked the ramen. A little smaller than most ramen places I go to, but with some nice ingredients and without any hint of oiliness. The gyoza was average.