In a quirky move, this small shop in the back streets of Kanazawa has renamed the symbolic Japanese dish of ramen as "Chinese-style soba" on their menu. The very name ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for the brothy noodles (拉面). Prior to the 1950s, it was also referred to as shina ramen and today is street signs and banners commonly advertise for ramen or chūka-soba. While they had me thinking I was going to eat a unique, local dish, it was none other than a bowl of good old ramen that was placed in front of me!
But this this good ol' dish did not disappoint. It was delicious. The bowl had an ample serving of thick noodles and was topped with shredded wakame (hydrated seaweed) and diced onion, whereas standard ramen usually comes with a sheet of dried nori seaweed inserted into the soup on the side. That said, colourful variations of ramen exist in almost each region of Japan, each with their own interpretation of the Chinese noodle dish. At Chūkasoba Mikoshi, I was sure I just had a taste of ramen with a Kanazawa personality!
The shop also offers the dipping style, tsukemen, noodles and various other ramen for under ¥1000 as well as a range of beers, whiskies, Japanese sake alcohol and soft drinks.
