Yongfook is a web producer and usability consultant based in Tokyo

Last night a friend and me ate at what was quite possibly the smallest ramen shop in the entire world.

Located in the dingy gap between two larger buildings, the tiny wooden shack had an appealing rustic charm, and yet at the same time appeared to have been fashioned by hand, by someone with very little architectural competence. Our apprehension became ever more obvious to each other as we slid back the door to be faced with a room no bigger than my bathroom, in which 2 other customers were silently eating.

Numerous thoughts ran through our heads, ranging from:

“shit” to “we definitely wont be able to read the menu” and “oh god, there IS no menu”

Procuring the single table for ourselves, we sat down in a state of slight panic. An old lady emerged from behind a curtain, and stood patiently for us to say something. Thank Christ this mission for ramen was not borne out of a simple whim - it had come via recommendation.

Substory - In my Junior High School there are only 3 teachers who smoke, including me. Thus we all tend to go out at the same time to satisfy our craving for slow painful death in old age. We exchange jovial banter on a number of subjects, usually repeating the exact same conversations over and over on a bi-weekly basis. Yesterday I had thought of a new subject - “where is the best ramen shop in this area?” What started as a friendly chat soon snowballed into a heated debate, of which I was the non-participating instigator. Finally they decided on a single shop (but with several alternatives) and drew maps and wrote their favorite ramen types.

Back to the ramen shop. I proudly asked for 2 of one of the dishes that had been recommended by my teachers. She understood, and shuffled back into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, our ramen was brought out - Yakki Ninniku Ramen (fried garlic). Delicious, if slightly oily, but very cheap at only 450-yen.

Ah, the abject fear and anxiety of new cultural experiences, how I relish thee.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 13th, 2002 at 3:15 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.