Special salt ramen｜Menjuku Shiina

The Shinjuku area is crammed with delicious ramen restaurants. “Menjuku Shiina” is a candidate for “good ramen shop” among the many ramen shops in the area. It is a little far from Shinjuku, perhaps closer to the neighbouring Yotsuya area.

The shop’s menu includes “Shio soba” (Salt ramen), “Shoyu soba” (Soy sauce ramen), “Toripaitan soba” (Slow-cooked chicken broth ramen), “Tsuke soba” (Dipping ramen). When we asked the waiter about the most popular menu item, he told us that “Shio soba” was the most popular, so we ordered “Special Shio soba”. The soup is made from a combination of carefully selected chicken, chicken guts, momiji mushrooms, hombinos clams and aromatic vegetables.

The salt sauce to go with the soup is also a blend of Italian rock salt, Setouchi seaweed salt and Hakata’s salt, and is extracted from 10 different ingredients, including kelp, dried sardines, bonito, dried scallops, dried squid and clams. And in order to extract the best dashi broth, they need good quality water, which is why they seem to use Ellen water. You can sense the thoroughness of their commitment to flavour.

Perhaps because it is based on a salty taste, the flavour of the ingredients can be enjoyed to the full. And the flavour is so deep that a sense of balance is beautifully expressed. This sense of balance can only be achieved by the owner, who has learnt a great deal from a wide variety of cuisines. As a result of the chicken being slow-cooked, the soup is light but the chicken oil enhances the buttery richness.

Next, the noodles are thin and chewy, made by Mikawaya. Every bite is a delightful combination with the soup.

And a topping that is exclusive to “Special Shio soba”.
That is char siu pork.
The “Special Shio soba” char siu comes in three varieties: roast pork, pork belly and chicken char siu. The roast pork is cooked rare, the pork belly is seasoned richly and the chicken char siu has a savoury charred accent. The unique flavour of each type of char siu pork enhances the ramen even more in combination with the broth.

I would like to try the other three types of ramen, which I was not able to try this time.
I enjoyed it very much. Thank you very much for the food. Thank you very much.