Toyama Black Ramen / 富山ブラック

First Time To Try Toyama Black Ramen And The Soup Was Really Dark

富山ブラックは、本当にスープが黒かった

I'm not sure when I heard the "Toyama Black" for the first time but I knew the ramen from my hometown, Toyama prefecture, was famous in Tokyo.

However, I'd never really got a chance to try or didn't even know which shop is the original or the best.

When I was back to my hometown in November, I asked a friend of mine what the Toyama Black was like.

He said that it's originally for blue-collar workers to replace lost salt from work so that the soup uses stronger/saltier soy sauce.

According to some info I found, it's meant for those manual laborers to take supplemental salt or to eat with white rice with so that the soup is pretty salty.

The concentration of soy sauce is high and a large amount of cracked black pepper is sprinkled over the top, and they create an unique saltiness.

The toppings are most popular and ordinary items like  menma (bamboo shoots) and seaweed, however, the amount of leeks is relatively more.

The noodles tend to be thick and slightly hard.

And I could try one of the famous shop called "Menya Iroha" black ramen for the first time while I was in my hometown still.

On the homepage of  麺家 いろは (Menya Iroha), there're 3 characteristic points which make the black ramen special.

1. Jet black sauce made from a secret fish sauce simmered for a long time

2. Chicken soup made from whole chicken and vegetables

3. Dried Shiro-Ebi shrimp shell, deep ocean water, kelp and bonito flake are used to create rich flavored seafood soup.

*Shiro-Ebi shrimp is broad velvet shrimp (Metapenaeopsis lata), which never turns red even thou you cook them.

This is Shiro-Ebi shrimp tempura, it's still white.

This is the sign of 麺家 いろは at the front.

This is a menu book. 

I didn't take any other pages but there're other types of ramen and some little snacks like edamame, Shiro-Ebi tempura, fried chicken, and etc.

I wasn't sure if I could eat all the noodles and I prefer not to have eggs, so I ordered the simplest ramen called ブラックらーめん (Black Ramen).

After about 10 minutes, my ramen was served.

As the picture shows, the soup was dark.

The black sheet is at the back is a slice of seaweed.

White pieces at the right top are char siu.

To me, the amount of naganei onion leeks was ordinary, not surprising portion.

This is the soup.

As you can see, you can't see the bottom of the white spoon at all.

And you can see how deep black the soup is in the bowl.

The soup wasn't that salty than I thought but it was definitely had more salt in it any other ramen I had.

However, even though the soup was salty, it had a lot of flavors and the strongest one was bonito flakes.

Usually if dishes use fish sauce, I can smell it instantly but this one didn't have that widely known distinctive scent.

Noodles were thick and cooked slightly harder, like al dente.

While I was eating, the saltiness increased more and more.

And more noodles were sitting under the soup which was so dark that I couldn't see anything beneath.

I enjoyed trying this bowl and it was less salty than I thought when I had the first bite.

And the soup wasn't only salty and dark, but also it had a lot of different flavors from the soup they mixed a lot of ingredients.

Black Ramen: 750 JPY

麺家いろは / Menya Iroha

1555-1, Hibari, Imizu-shi, Toyama

富山県射水市戸破1555-1

Hours open differs from day to day.

営業時間は平日土日祝によって異なる。

Interestingly enough, there're 2 oversea shops.

One in Los Angels and another one is in Hong Kong.

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Totoro Shaped Cream Puffs / トトロのシュークリーム

Ghibli's Popular "My Neighbor Totoro" Shaped Cream Puffs, Sold Only At This Shop
「となりのトトロ」の形をしたシュークリームが買える、世界でたった1つのお店

I grew up watching many Ghibli movies and one of the most famous and cute movies is 「となりのトトロ (My Neighbor Totoro)」 which is a 1988 animated fantasy film.
Those who don't know Totoro, this is Totoro, who is a mononoke.

*Totoro is on the right, FYI.


The other day, I found a food article that in Tokyo, there's a special shop where they create Totoro shaped cream puffs.
The shop is called "白稗のシュークリーム工房 (Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory)."
I checked the website and became more interested in seeing trying the actual products.

On the homepage, they say, "it's all handmade so that there won't be large numbers of stocks every day, especially it's Totoro shaped.
We'd appreciate if you could reserve in advance."

So I called last Thursday to see if there'd stocks for today, Saturday, and they said yes and asked me which kinds I wanted to have.
Currently, there're 4 kinds so I ordered every single flavor, so total 4 Totoro cream puffs.

There're 3 all-year flavors and 3 seasonal flavors.

Regular flavors are;
Custard Cream
Custard cream with vanilla beans mixed with fresh heavy cream. The puff is made with flavorful domestic organic flour. (390 JPY)

Chocolate Cream
Bitter sweet, elegant fragrant and sour cacao beans are used. We created fine and rich chocolate cream. (390 JPY)

Caramel Banana Cream
We brown the sugar to make flavorful caramel cream and add sauteed bananas to create rich taste. A hint of salt adds accent. (430 JPY)

Seasonal flavors are;
Strawberry Cream (Jan. - May)
"Sachinoka Ichigo" from Wakayama pref. mixed with fresh heavy cream. We don't add anything other than sugar and strawberry liquor to have the flavor and scent of actual strawberries. (430 JPY)

Peach Cream (June - Sept.)
White peach syrup from Yamanashi pref. and peach liquor are added to heavy cream, and mix with fresh white peaches which are harvested this year. (430 JPY)

Marron & Marron Cream (Oct. - Dec.)
Japanese chestnuts from Kumamoto pref. is used to make rich marron cream, and also chunks of simmered chestnuts are used. (430 JPY)

So, here's the list of what I got.
Custard Cream, Chocolate Cream, Caramel Banana Cream, and Marron & Marron Cream.

They said anytime was open for Saturday at that moment so I said I'd pick them up around noon and they replied they'd have the box ready from 11:30AM for me then. (Sweet!!)

When we got to Setagaya-Daita station on Odakyu line, it's still early but I thought I'd take some photos outside while waiting. 
The shop is on a small street, but there're some people standing outside so it was easy to find.
"白髭のシュークリーム工房" sign by the window.

And by the entrance, there's a sign board.
We call シュークリーム for cream puff, which is "chou a la creme" in French so that I was thinking they might put "chou cream" on the board but they actually put "cream puff" in English.

A step inside of the shop.
Ghibli theme is everywhere.

This stairs take you to the second floor where you can eat and drink, also there's a patio with tables and chairs to order plates.

By the stairs, there's a door with a window pane where I could see up-side-down Totoros on the racks. (On the right side.)
It kind of looked like they're torturing the mini Totoros but I guess it's the only way they can make the cute Totoro cream puffs...

There's another door with "We're open" sign.

This door leads us to the showcase where Totoros are displayed, but the showcase was all empty and filled with boxes to be picked up by those who reserved in advance (like me).

The showcase room was filled with Ghibli photos, autographs, miniatures and cream puffs' photos all over.

Marco Rosso by a flower pot.

They sell cookies, too.

Photos of cream puffs next to a Neko-Bus (cat bus) clock.

Autographs.

"Trip advisor" and "Tabelog" certificates.

Flowers from Studio Ghibli executives.

Miniature house of Mei's house from Totoro.

This is the box they put my 4 Totoro cream puffs and a leaflet they inserted underneath the cream puffs.

When a woman was about to close this paper box, she asked me if I wanted to bring a sticker home or she could place it on the box as it's usually there, I asked her to put it on the box.

Here're the 4 Totoros in the box. 
I wonder if she intentionally put them seeing each other.

This is how they look in a line.
As you can see, each one has different accessories and the headpiece is showing which filling the Totoro contains.

This is the back side.

Four Totoro all together.
So adorable, they're looking at me. (But I'm eating them soon.)

This is Custard Cream with a green leaf.

This is the filling.

I could see vanilla beans.
The cream was so smooth and rich, but not heavy at all.

This is Chocolate Cream with a hat with blue ribbon.

The filling.

The chocolate cream was bitter sweet.
The cream was soft and airy. 

This is Marron & Marron Cream with a brown leaf.

The filling.

The brown pieces in the cream is chestnuts.

The cream contains liquor and even though I didn't know it till I checked the ingredients list, I could tell because it was pretty strong for me.

This is Caramel Banana Cream with a hat with yellow ribbon.

The filling. 
It already had strong liquor flavor, too.

The chunks are sauteed bananas.
This had considerable liquor in it, at least to me, it did.
The cream had sweet and bitter taste as the caramel is made with browned sugar.

All the shells were crispy and had rich butter flavor.
However, the inside was moist and soft and wrapping the filling softly.

As I'm lightweight or I became weaker than before so that I can't hold much liquor, so that the liquor flavors seemed too strong for me (the marron one and caramel banana one).
I wish they didn't use any alcohol or they'd have let the flavor evaporate and go away.
But maybe some people would enjoy this authentic confectionery taste.

Overall, the cream puffs were really cute and I felt a little bit sorry when they're looking at me.
When I tried them all, I had no regret to have visited the middle of nowhere.

As all the Totoro cream puffs are handmade and they can't be produced a lot a day, if you'd like to get them, I highly recommend you reserve in advance via phone call.


Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory / 白髭のシュークリーム工房
5-3-1, Setagaya-Daita, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
東京都世田谷区代田5-3-1

Open: 10:30 AM ~ 7:00 PM
*Closed on Tuesdays
*火曜定休

<< RESERVATION RECOMMENDED >>

<< 数に限りがあるので、事前に予約することをお勧めします >>

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The Picture Shown Was Far From The Actual Afternoon Tea Set / 写真と遥かに内容が違うアフタヌーンティーセット

At ANA Crowne Plaza Kanazawa, We Realized That Actually The Photo Shown In The Menu Could Deceive Customers
メニューに記載されている決まり文句「写真はイメージです」が本当だったANAクラウンプラザ金沢

While I was in my hometown and took a half day trip to Kanazawa with my husband, we decided to fill the hour till we leave for another destination at ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The reason we were there was on the way to Kanazawa, my husband started searching some afternoon tea place near the station and found one at one of the closest hotels around JR Kanazawa station, and that was the ANA hotel.

On the smartphone, we saw a Christmas-ish afternoon tea set for incredibly reasonable price; 2 for 2,500 JPY including tea or coffee.

After we went sightseeing, we stopped by at the hotel without reservation around 2:30 PM on Sunday.

When we're at the entrance of the lounge called "Cascade Lounge" at the first floor, there's nobody standing at the counter and nobody was coming to guide us to the place.
Finally a waiter came to us, my husband said we'd like the afternoon tea set in Japanese.
However, the waiter asked ME if we wanted to have tea (WTF!?), so I said, "Ah... my husband said we'd like the afternoon tea set just now."

When we got to a table, the waiter showed a menu for a second and asked if we wanted to have tea or coffee so we asked for tea.
*No tea leaves can be chosen.

The waiter went away with the menu so I had no chance to take a photo of it.
I took some photos of the lounge instead.
There's a big Christmas tree with shiny purple and pink balls by the hotel entrance.

This is the Cascade Lounge.

The ceiling had sparkly and bright chandeliers and the far back side, there's bamboo trees.

When another waiter came back, my husband asked the menu and here's the photo.

That is blurred, so here's the screen shot of the "image" they have on line.

It's weird that the menu they handed indicates the price is 2,200 JPY for two persons, but online, it says 2,500 JPY.
So until we get our bill, I wasn't sure which was applied.
*Both include tax and service charge.

Tea came first with a big silver pot.

And we thought we'd get this holiday season's special afternoon tea set, which is available from November 1 - December 31, 2013.
However, when it had arrived, we're like, "???"

See? Nothing is the same with the photo.
We're aware of that the image on the menu or online always has a little note, "the picture shown in the image and the actual plate may differ."

But, but, but, this is FAR from the image. 
Too different to have been able to foresee this would be provided.
No Christmas holly shaped decoration, no Santa Clause, no raspberry cake, nor chocolate cake.
Even the plates they used is so different.
Seriously nothing resembles!

Anyways, this is what they had for the afternoon tea set for real.
Top plate: sweets
Technically on this plate, each cake was provided one piece only.

Bottom plate: sweets with scones

This is a little plate to use.

Sweet potato with whipped cream sandwich
The whipped cream was soft but not too sweet so that I could taste the sweetness of the potato.

Scone
It was not a scone, it was like a cookie.

As this was cold, the clotted cream didn't melt and stayed solid.

Strawberry jam and blueberry jam.

One strawberry cut into half to share.

The glass was cute.

Moving on to the top plate.
Strawberry jelly
(from the top)

From the side.
The jelly was similar to Jell-O, so it was not soft or fragile jelly.

Blueberry cheesecake
The bottom was blueberry sponge cake and upper side was unbaked cheesecake topped with a fresh blueberry.

Apple cinnamon cake
The sponge cake was bouncy, soft, and moist.
At the bottom, there're apple comport dices.
The fan looking decoration was made of milk chocolate.

Raspberry cake
The sponge cake at the bottom was chocolate flavored and the top two layers were close to bavarois.
On the top, there're a raspberry, a rose petal, and ground pistachio.

Orange cake
Plain sponge cake with orange flavored bavarois and jelly.
On the top, there's a cut orange and little chocolate balls.

Matcha cake
Green tea sponge cake, azuki (sweet red beans) mousse, and green tea mousse with whipped cream and white chocolate plate.
The chocolate plate had gold flakes.
Kanazawa is famous for gold leaves, so no wonder they sprinkled.

Most of them tasted fine but still I've never seen anything like this fraud image before.
I'm sure there're some minor changes between the display and the actual good, but this was exceptionally a major modification.

At least they'd better change the image on the internet and the menu, and also they should match the price on both; 2,200 JPY or 2,500 JPY.



Cascade Lounge / カスケードラウンジ
1F, ANA Crowne Plaza Kanazawa,
16-3, Showa-machi, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa

ANAクラウンプラザ金沢　1階
石川県金沢市昭和町16-3

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