Ramen Oishii Ramen
Japan is a country full of wonders but perhaps none more intriguing than ramen. It's almost religion to some. There is even a Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama, 3 stories of noodle shops representing all regional cuisines, with wait lines as long as an hour. Now the ramen we are talking about here is nothing like the instant stuff that comes in 50-cent cups and smells like petroleum, but a true work of art that tastes heavenly and makes you forget the burdens of life. It's one of the things I miss the most from my trips to Japan.

Fortunately there are shops in the Bay Area that come close to duplicating the Japan ramen experience, but I don't get to frequent them much because of time and distance. Then a few weeks ago someone told me of a new ramen shop called Gen Ramen not far from me -- the place has been open for over a year, but it's stuck near the back corner of a quiet shopping strip and is hard to find, like a good restaurant should be.



I went there on Tuesday and hallelujah, it was just wonderful. Not quite the stuff of museums and there were no lines, but the ramen was exquisite and beautifully prepared. I had the specialty of the house called naturally the Gen ramen, and I must say it was oishii oishii, honto ni oishii. The parking lot was as American suburbia as it could get, but inside, it was all Japan, all ramen. There were paper menus on the wall, manga comic magazines on a shelf, counters with leg room too short so you bang your knees on the wood, and cute little sesame seed dispensers. And people who slurped their soup the way ramen is meant to be slurped, and a dish charmingly misspelled "noodles with simmered pork berry." It was a magical trip and for a moment, all was right again in the world.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 7:55 AM