Taipei : Two Best Ramen Places (So Far)

I’ve been avoiding noodles for these past months. If i happened to go to some restaurant that have noodle and rice, i’ll go for the later option. Why so? Because i gain weight easily after i eat noodles. Yes, any type of noodles. I hate it so much when i need to avoid the things that i love. =(

I still remember there were times that i ate noodles (spaghetti, ramen, local singapore noodle and instant noodles) almost everyday in that week, and i gained 3 kgs by the end of the week. Gosh.. ~.~” And then someone told me about ‘Blood Type Diet’ and said that Type A Blood should eat more vegetables, fruits and grains than carbs and meat. Seems like a very tough tasks to do when you love noodle so much and have low blood pressure at the same time (since you need to eat meaty stuffs in order to increase the blood pressure)

After suppressing my hunger for noodles, I finally could not resist it anymore and start to eat noodles again. But this time i limit myself to once a week. So, this past few weeks ive been going to many noodle places, from local noodles, pasta house and japanese ramen. and guess whatt.. The Japanese Ramen won my heart!

– Nagi Ramen

108, Taipei City, Wanhua District, Hanzhong St, 6F 52號

Ximen MRT – Ximending (Located at Cinemark Movie Theater Buidling – 6th Floor, Besides Uniqlo)

They have 4 types of Ramen Based that you can choose from.

The Original , The Spicy ones, The Squid Ink-ed ones, and the Seaweed ones. What i love the most from this place is you can choose your noodles thickness, your broth thickness, your type of meat and vegetables, spiciness etc. I just love ramen places that can be customized.

*The Original King (Butao) – the safest choice if you cant eat spicy and dont really dare to try the other soup-based. This Butao bowl of goodness is an award winning. The broth is pretty thick and a bit salty as well. So if you like flavourful soup (since most of Taiwanese cuisine are pretty bland) you definitely should try this one out*

*The Black King (Kuroo) – If you are someone who has a very adventurous taste buds, you can try this squid-ink soup based. I totally could not enjoy this black king, cause they have a fishy smells (for me). Yeah, i got a bit sensitive when it comes to seafood. But my friend love it, so i guess you can try it as well if you want too*

*Red King (Akao) – This bowl of red noodles really won my heart. Well, maybe because i love spicy food in the first place, and this Akao has satisfied my taste buds. I chose normal for the richnessof taste, normal special sauce, light garlic, shoulder parts for the pork meat, green onion for the vegetables, level 4 of spiciness (you can choose level 1-10), and thick normal noodles for my ramen. And i loveee thiss so soo muchh..

The thickness of the noodles is not that thick as i expected, but it’s chewy enough for me to enjoy. The broth itself is a bit salty and spicy at the same time, since i love both, so the soup are just perfect for me. Love the shoulder pork-meat as well, cause when most other ramen house use very thick cha siew (shoulder pork meat), they use thin sliced that makes it less fats and they are pretty generous in giving the meat. Really love it to the bits.

Price : 3/5 – NTD 200-240 (SGD 8-10) *wouldnt get any nice Ramen in Singapore with this kind of pricing. haha*

Ambiance : 3/5

Taste : 4/5 – For Spicy Based

－樂麵屋 （Le Mian Wu)

No. 7, Lane 10, Yongkang St, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

(Dongmen MRT – They have 2 outlets in the same street, one outlets has break time from 2-6pm, and the other one open all the way from 11-10pm)

They have many options to choose from (Original Tonkatsu, Soya sause based and spicy based) and they can customized our bowl of ramen as well.

  Even though i love spicy noodle so much, i decided to skip it this time. Why so? Because they mixed the spicy broth with some seafood based soup. So this time i play it safe and so satisfied with my Original Tonkatsu based soup.

Chosen a normal broth for its thickness with normal thick noodle. They have less options than Nagi Ramen, which makes it easier for some people. Love the broth so much, cause it’s thick enough but not makes you ‘sick’, the soup is like ‘indomie kuah ayam’ but less salty and just so much nicer. haha. If you like to drink soup, i guess you can finish up this bowl of goodness. I think Nagi Ramen’s noodle is thicker, but this one is good enough for me too! *guess im easy to please as long as it’s not too thin and soft. haha* Also, I recommend you to order the one that has double pork-meat, because the pork meat is soo good, it literally melts in your mouth.. *slurpp*

Quite a fan of Japanese Gyoza, but i found this one is just normal towards not-so-good-for-my-tastebuds. So, if you are not into Gyoza, you can skip it.

They have the normal spicy based soup and sort of special edition spicy soup with some prawns, and other types of pork-meat. My friend chosen the later one, and it comes like this. Looks so appetising, but she said she prefers the original better. So original wins for this Ramen shop!

Price : 3/5 – TWD 190-260 (SGD 7.8-10.5)

Ambiance : 3/5

Taste : 4/5 for Original Tonkatsu Based

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Best Ramen in Ikebukuro – Tokyo : Day 7

oh gosh.. time flies just like that.. it seems like i just celebrated Christmas and brave myself to enter 2014.

and now, it that month again whereby you need to re-think what you have done in the past year and write your plans for the year ahead..

well. well.. been back from the Japan trip 2 months ago, yet have not finished all the blogs yet.. =(

but good news, only left with 2 post to go (this post and our Mount Fuji Trip)

So, after exploring the 2 shrines in Kyoto, we were back in Tokyo. since we reached there almost 4pm. We decided to have early Diner at Mutekiya Ramen (at Ikebukuro)

one of the reason that we decided to reach early is because most of the review said it will be a long Q after 5pm.. and to skip that Q, then we need to reach there before 5.

we reached at Ikebukuro station around 4.50pm. we followed the direction that one of travel blogger given to us.. but we still cant find our way out. haha.. so we tried to use our googlemap to find the way.. since our dataplan is already low, the googlemap didnt help much.. so, we just tried to walk around and try to find below signage.

after 15 minutes of walk. finally we found it!! *berhasill.. berhasill. hore! gaya dora the explorer. haha*

it was around 5.10pm, and luckily the Q was not that long yet.. we waited for around 2o minutes before we can savour the best ramen at Ikebukuro area.

well. bassically they only have a few types of ramen.. and their bestselling ones are the 3 ramen above. *sorry for the blurry pictures. =(

Favorite Menu for Mutekiya’s first timer :

1. Nikutama Men

2. Tokumaru Men

3. Umakara Men – spicy soup

guess all ramen shop in Japan is only limited for 20 person or so.. and all of it are bar tables.

the first difference between Ichiran Ramen is their tables, in Mutekiya, they give you a range of sauces that you can add in to your ramen – pepper, soya sauce, vinegar, chili oil, tonkatsu sauce, garlic, some other things that im not sure what it is. haha.

The Gyoza came the first

This tastes like normal Gyoza, nothing in particular.. it’s just simply a nice companion for eating the ramen..

and introducing you the Best Ramen at Ikebukuro!

I chose the Umakara Men – the spicy soup based noodle.

owhmaigod! it was just super nice and super spicyy.. *gw sampe keselek gt pas pertama kali makan*

if you order this, you must slowly slurp the soup for the first sip. i was too excited and just gulp the first spoon until i was choking like crazy. hahaha..

okay, what i love about this?

– it’s broth.. the broth is so thick and creamy and so tasteful.. eventho it is spicy, but it’s still enjoyable. not those kind of spicy that makes your bowel suffer. they said they

– it’s noodle… ahhh.. how i love thick noodle.. it’s so yellow and chewy. *lebih seru aja gt makan noodle gendut2. haha*

– it’s pork meat.. muahhaha.. *maafkan daku yah buat yg halal, tapi ini enak bngt menurut aku.. huhu* the meat is just super thick, juicy, tender and doesnt make you sick of eating it again and again.. it just melts on your mouth..! if you compared the thickness and juiciness with Ichiran Ramen, i think Mutekiya has better meat.. well again. this is personal preference.

owh goshh.. this is just too sinful! this is a must go ramen shop if you are going to Tokyo!

After eating this, my Ramen standard is going up to the next level. hahaha *gaya pisan* hahaha.. *tapi bener.. beberapa minggu lalu gw dapet free ramen di Santouka Singapore gara2 pas lagi bday month.. Santaouka itu udah memuaskan bngt biasanya buat gw.. menurut lidah gw sii.. lebih enak si Santouka ini daripada Ippudo.. tapi setelah makan Mutekiya sama Ichirann.. wahh.. rasanya si Santouka udah kyk makan mie-instant biasa aja. kurang greget gt. hahaha.. sok bngt yee gw.. tapi gw tetep royal kok sama Santouka. since mrk suka kasih grastisan sidedish buat member. ahahha.. dan emang gw suka ramennya dia juga sii.. just that standard gw buat ramen enak sudah meningkat aja.. hehe.. *

The Ramen shop is somewhere along Meiji dori Ave.. if you see the that green Tonkudo building, it’s just somewhere across there.

Mutekiya Ramen 麺創房無敵家
1-17-1 Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku 東京都豊島区南池袋1-17- (Ikebukuro Station East Exit), Tokyo, Japan. Tel: + 03 3982 7656
Opening Hours: 10:30am-4am

Universal Studio Japan – Osaka : Day 5

been a while since i posted about our Japan trip.. been busy latelyy.. huu..

since 4 of us like theme park quite a lot.. we decided to go to USJ as well.. it was Friday and we are afraid that USJ will be darn crowded. so we decided to go there earlier.. *dan pas nyampe, ya bener aja dongg.. ruame buanget*

It is so crowded over there, so we qucikly find the way to Harry Potter Castle, since it’s one of the major reason that we go to USJ. haha.. they limit the amount of people who’s going in to the Harry Potter castle. so we must go to one corner to get our entry ticket first. our entry time is from 12.45-1.45pm.

it was still around 11 by then. so, we quickly find the Biohazard to get another entry ticket. this Oka was really really eager to shoot some dead people. another one major reason that we go to USJ. and just nice that we got the entry ticket for 3.45-4.45 pm.

after getting the 2 entry tix. we walked around to see what we can play before we enter to Harry Potter Castle. since we only have around 1 hr left.. we decided to grab a quick lunch first, which is a Pizza store beside the Spiderman rides.

The food there is expensive.. i only ordered 1 slice of pizza + soft drink and it cost about 700 Yen? if im not wrong. haha..

after eating, we saw the single rider in Spiderman only took 30 minutes. so we decided to Q for the single riders. *ceritanya mau memanfaatkan waktu sebisa.nya. jadi sendiri2 juga gpp dehh. haha*

Actually i ride this Spidey before in Universal Studio Orlando few years back. it’s the same exact thing.. but it’s still cool tho. for those of you who already ride Transformer in Universal Singapore.. it’s quite the same thing.. just way much cooler i may say. haha.. so basically it’s a 3-D rides where we are the hostage of Doctor Octopus, Electro, Hydro-man and etc, and Spiderman come to the rescue. haha..

after Spidey’s we need to rush back to Harry Potter Castle.. but first, let us take some picture!

Harry Potter Castle 

  

Feel so magical, right?? How i love Harry Potter Castle.. haha.. and it feels like you are in the Harry Potter movie.. i grew up with Harry Potter. i watched all the of their movies.. and the feeling when you are in it is like surreal and unbelievable. haha.. *lebay*. The place is so amazing and breathtaking yaa. hehe..  They only have 2 rides if im not mistaken. the 4-D rides and the roller coaster.. since the 4-D rides is the must thing to ride.. then we sacrifice our 2 hrs time to Q.. below are the pictures while we are q-ing. hehe.

i’ve ride this 4-D rides in Orlando too. but the excitement is still there.. i love the feeling when they fly us with the broomsticks and bring us to the quitddich game. And it’s still scary when you face the Dementor and went in to the spiders cave.. it’s just feel so real deh pokok.nya.. the best and the longest 4-D rides ever.. so it’s really worth it for the Q.

after the 4-D rides, we just stroll around for a while, because we need to be in Biohazard soon!

This game was the scariest game among all.. i think i rather go for 30mins non stop roller coaster. haha..

Biohazard itu sama dengan Resident Evil. Im sure all of us know what resident evil, right.. i love to watch zombie movie like Resident evil and walking dead.. haha. but to put it in real-life.. hmmpp.. makasih deh. hahaha.. its just very daunting.

sumpahh ini game serem banget. haha.. basically they put you into a situation whereby you need to shoot the zombies. they already equip us with a big gun and all we need is to kill the zombies.. they formed us to a group of 8 to enter the rooms. there will be an ‘Umbrella’ office who lead us from room to rooms. so at least we know here are we going. but again, all the instructions are in Japanese.. so we dont even know whats happening.. all we know is just to kill all the zombie.. haha..

*makin lama zombie.nya makin aneh2 lagii.. pertama si zombie2 biasa.. terus masuk ke room yg lain ketemu zombie yg kyk lizard gt.. trus di room yg terakir ktmu nemesis yg guede bngt.. horror deh pokok.nyaa.. haha.. ada 1 room yg ada jendelanya. dan gw berdiri pas bngt d depan jendela itu.. gw pikir. shark man pasti ada yg aneh2 bakal kluar dr jendela ini dehh.. ehh. bener aja dong.. pas bngt pas gw minggir.. ehh ada kepala zombie yg kluarr.. uanjirrr.. kalo gw ga minggir sihh udah bs kecium zombie.. hoekkk.. hauahua..*

they have several rooms inside the place. each room have different zombie. so lets say the first 2 room are just normal zombies. then the 3rd room is the lizard zombie then the last room you will meet the nemesis. it’s just getting scarier and scarier. well. maybe to make it clearer.. you can watch the video below.

*ini game sih super seru sbenernyaa.. cuman yaa super serem juga. hahaha.*

after this mentally exhausting game.. we went to Back to the Future, just another 3D rides.

 and Finally i got the chance to ride the Hollywood Dream. It’s a roller coaster that really worth the Q as well. since im a roller coaster junkie. of course this ride is a must ride! haha..

*last picture taken from mycars.guru*

We Q-ed for this roller coaster about 2 hrs as well. but it really worth the Q.. this roller coaster considered long, the thrill is there and the best of all, you can play your own music.. yes.. they have 5 songs to choose. and you can listen to the song while you ride and scream on the roller coaster.. haha.. *pokok.nya fun abis dehh* The only thing that made us quite scared is their safety harness. they only have one safety harness around your waist.. normally the safety harness will be on your shoulder right? so you can hold it as well if you are scared.. *yg ini.. kagak ada coyy pengaman yg kyk gt. jadi cuman 1 pengaman di dket perut. haha* but it supersafe.. just that it bothers me a bit, since they have the 360 degree turns. haha..

the most happening thing is.. this roller coaster have a Backdrop ride. so, if you want to experience riding the roller coaster on the other way around. you can re-Q for it. they are still using the same rail, so after 2 times of normal ride.. they will change the track to the other way around. and it’s very veryy fun!! *seru bangett bangett deh pokok.nyaa* it’s a different feeling to ride it backwards.. and a very fun-thrilling feeling to experience the backdrop. for roller-coaster lover, you should ride this when you visit USJ-Osaka.

This backdrop Q takes longer than Hollywood dreams. so we decided to take the single rider that only took about 45minutes only! what i like about universal studio is that they have the single rider Q, so at least we can save some of our time..

since it was already quite late and we were super hungry (only eating 1 slice of that expensive pizza. haha), we decided to go back and try some random ramen along the Dontonburi area.

The gyoza and ramen was just normal compared to Ichiran.. but it was not bad at all.

They said Osaka is very famous with its Takoyaki, they have a lot of Takoyaki stores along the Dontonburi road.. so, we just grabbed which ever that looks nice to eat. and we decided to buy the Takoyaki from this place..

The Takoyaki taste is gooddd..just that we already quite full, so we couldnte enjoy the takoyaki to the fullest. =(

and we ended the night with taking pictures with the most well-known ‘Glico’ signboard. they said they just changed the Glico signboard to a woman.. so previously was a guy and they put light on the signboard.. not sure why they changed it to a woman and no more shining lights on it.. but since we are there already.. of course we must take some pictures with their signature pose right. haha.. *ya masa udah sampe sana ga jadi voto gara2 signboardnya ganti jadi cewek. hahaha*

stay tune.. because tomorrow we are going to Kyotoo!

cheers..

Ohayou Tokyo! Day 1

Emang holiday itu selalu berasa cepet bngt ya.. ga nyangka 9 hari udah berlalu.. dan waktu.nya kembali ke realita kehidupann.. *noooo!!!*

but before im coming back to reality.. let us relive the trip.. hehe..

We went to Tokyo by Delta Airlines 6 o clock in the morning. *it was the same flight that took me to USA for my school trip 4 years agoo.. ahh.. another good old memories*

Thankfully it was a pleasant flight, and get to reach Tokyo by 2.30 in the afternoon. Since we only booked 7 days of JR pass ticket, we bought a limousine bus ticket to get to the apartment where we stayed for 3 nights in Tokyo.

nothing fancy about the limousine bus.. it’s just a normal bus that will drop you to some hotels. since we are staying in an apartment, we took the bus to the nearest hotel from the apartment.

the bus was our very first encounter with Japan public transport. and it really amazed me they are really on time.. when the ticket said that the bus leaving at 3:15pm. it will really leave on the dot.. *pokok.nya pas jem.nya berubah jadi 3:15, lansung tancap gas tanpa nungguin siapapun.. beneran ga lebay.. haha*

 

this limousine bus service cost us 3100 yen/person, which means around 36 SGD. The bus ride took about 90 minutes from the airport to Excel Hotel Tokyu in shibuya area, the nearest hotel from our apartment.

once we reached there, we immediately walked to our apartment. luckily it’s only 10 minute walk from the hotel. *kan cape juga boo jalan sambil narik2 koper. haha*

finally we reached to our lovely apartment named ‘Feel A Shibuya’. we booked this small room from Airbnb, and we loved it so much. it is near shibuya crossing, small but cozy for 4 of us, provided us with portable wifi and all amenities are ready to use.. feels like our own home for that 3 nights. hehe..

since we reached apartment about 5pm. we quickly go to Ichiran Ramen for dinner because we didn’t want to queue so long.

all bloggers, trip advisors and other social media said that Ichiran Ramen is a must go place when you are in Tokyo / Osaka.. *hits banget deh ceritanya ini tempat.. haha*

from our place to Ichiran, we must across the road via shibuya crossing.

shibuya crossing is just so happening.. *jadi ini kyk perempatan dimana semua orng bisa nyebrang kemana aja dr perempatan itu. gw ga ngerti deh cara atur traffic.nya gimana.. hahaha.. ohh. btw. di jepang gelap.nya cepet bngt.. kyk jem 6 gt udah gelap bngt*

Ichiran Ramen is just across Tsutaya mall.. it’s one line with 109 Men’s.

it was only around 6pm, and there was a queue already. luckily it only took us 10-15 waiting time..

since Japan is well know as a vending machine country, this ichiran ramen also require us to order via vending machine.

so you just insert your notes and coins, and just press whatever that you want to order. after that, the machines will print out 1 small notes that you must show to the waitress later on. after showing the small notes, they will ask you to circle the preference.. like the noodle thickness, how strong the soup that you want, spiciness, etc.

if you see the red and green light behind my order paper.. it’s the seating arrangement. they only have 2o seats in total. *dan ga ada bangku yg hadap2an donkk. haha.. gw lebih suka makan yg hadapa2an gt.. kyknya lebih enak aja drpd makan sebelah2an kyk gini.. selain bisa ngobrol, bisa icip2 jugaa.. klo kyk gini kan ga bisa yaa.. haha*

 

ohh. one funny thing.. we could not see the waitress face here, if you need anything, you just need to press the small button in the middle. and they will come to you. *agak anehh yah rasa.nya klo ngomong ga liat wajah.nyaa*

they provide us with glass and cold tap water. so practical yaa.. haha.. we dont need to keep asking if we want to refill.

and finally.. the moment we have been waiting for!!

ohh.. how i love this so so muchh.. *semua ramen enak di singapore lewatt.. ippudo.. santouka.. semua lewatt.. hahaha*

im not a fan of thin noodle.. but this one is really different. its thin but chewy, the soup was perfectly made.. strong but not make you sick of it. and the porkk.. hmmpp.. it’s just so yummyy and tender. all are just perfect in a bowl.. *faint!*

after we had our glorious ramen.. we just stroll around in shibuya and went back to our apartment, we were just so tired because none of us had proper sleep and we need to wake up early for the next day, because Disneysea is waiting for us! hehehe.

Goodnite from the glasses ‘family’ and Hachiko! ❤ ❤