A Hungry Stranger in a Strange Land
Text by Lindsey Robison.
A friend of mine introduced me to the idea that ramen noodles could be eaten in more ways than out of a cup. That summer, I discovered an authentic Japanese noodle shop, and throughout the years that restaurant’s soba noodle soup became my go-to comfort meal during hard
times. From that summer on, I developed quite the taste for Japanese cuisine.
Almost every restaurant here in Tokyo has an outdoor display of some sort that shows potential customers what each menu item looks like and the price before tax. After class on Wednesday, two of my classmates (Max and Ned) and I went to Tonkou, a small ramen shop that seats up to 18 people at a time with an open air kitchen.
Thankfully, the menu next to the ramen machine was in English, so all we had to do was just push the corresponding button once we deposited our yen into the machine. Once we received our change, the machine printed out order tickets for us to give to the woman at the front, who would take that from us when she sat us down. Not only was she serving and taking orders, she was also doing an impressive job of prep cooking, and moving about with the air of someone who expects respect.
Even with the language barrier, I figured out the game quickly: Pay, order, eat, and get out. Once a seat at the counter opened, the woman in charge seemed to finally take notice of the 3 of us. She took my order ticket for miso pork ramen and directed me to my seat, before heading behind the counter. Not knowing what else to do, Max and Ned started to follow me and the woman rushed out, shaking her finger at them while repeating the word, “Ichi! Ichi Ichi!” (I’ve surmised that ichi is Japanese for one.) Soon, more customers started to leave the counter, so Ned, Max and I were reunited at the ramen counter shortly before receiving our food.
It was delicious and was everything that I expected miso pork ramen to taste like. It was as delicious as it looks in the picture. By the time I finished eating, I had noticed that there was a line out the door of hungry office workers. I had already paid before I even ordered, so I felt like all I could do at that point was say my goodbyes to Max and Ned and leave for the hotel.
