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Tetsugama （鐵釜) Yokohama

Overview
Style: Tonkotsu-style ramen from Yokohama
Overall Rating: 7.9/10.0
Location: Yokohama (origin) and Tokyo

Yokohama is a great place to be for Tokyo weekenders. The Toyoko line trains leave almost every 10-15min from Shibuya can take you there in less than half an hour. There are many things to explore. The number one attraction is most likely the Shin-Yokohama ramen museum, which I will cover in more details in my later posts. It is a fun park with decorations to look like the post war period of Japan. Inside there are many shops of famous ramen stores from all over Japan rotating on exhibition every year. It is a wonderland for ramen lovers like me. There is also a separate exhibition on the history of ramen, game shows, and a gift shop where you can buy ramen ready-to-cook pack from these famous recipe to cook at home.

Another place to check out is Chinatown and Italia Town. Chinatown here is the biggest in Japan, with all various chinese cuisine you can imagine. The most popular here is an all you can eat and all beer you can drink buffet (my friends were saying "sweet!" they should start filing for bankruptcy now coz I'll be drinking A LOT). Italia Town is also nice. Good Italian cuisine (in my opinion) with gift shops in Italian style, gondolas on the canals around the town, and gelato and fireworks at night. When the weather is cool it's quite romantic to have dinner here near the canal with the nice light decorations that they have.

It's also a good place to kill time with your significant others or your friends. There is a new town built near the new port called Minato Mirai with state of the art amusement park and a giant wheel to go up and see the scenery at night. There is also a big shopping mall called Akaren renovated from a historical wearhouse. They have an outside skating rink where you can rent skates with flashing lights under your skates! They also have very nice light decorations during Christmas and New Year.












Of course a good day trip must be accompanied with good food. Here's where Tetsugama comes in ;)

Let's not waste any more time.

The Signature Bowl
What you've got to try here is ther special ramen (which I call an "all-in" ramen because they just put pretty much all the ingredients and toppings you can choose in this bowl) for 1000 yen. Let's start with marinated pieces of pork with moderate amount of fat. It's not as fatty as other chachu pork I have eaten, and also come in cube shape and also slices. All in all I feel that the pork is a bit dry in terms of texture, but it might suit you if you are not into fatty things. Immersed in the soup is a generous portion of crispy cabbage, sliced spring onions, bamboo shoots, and various kinds of seaweed. The boiled-eggs are not to be missed. You can choose the eggs as you like it, hard-boiled or soft-boiled. You can also choose the softness of your noodles (think they have 5 different levels, which is too complicated for me given I am usually too hungry to bother lol, so I usually just go with the medium texture). The noodles are hang-pulled and made-fresh everyday. The soup is tonkotsu-base with just a hint of spice, I rate this a bit above average. Now, all these sound very good, but the secret of this is about the way to eat it to bring out the texture. Here's what you should try ;-)

Japan is the wonderland of gadgets, even for food. In front of you, you will see tons of condiments to play with. The first one is a small bowl with peeled garlics inside, and next to it you will see what I called "The Garlic Crusher". What you do with it is straight forward, just put cloves of garlic in there and push down to crush the garlic out of the small holes. I love this invention, and regret that I didn't buy it before leaving Tokyo. With this thing, I wouldn't need to hand chopped/minced my garlic with the knife no more and no leftover garlic smell on my hands for days every time I cook!

Put in a little bit of the spicy sesame oil from the little pot to spice it up.

Next up the list is the sesame seed grinders. You should put the noodle or the egg in the spoon with a little bit of soup, grind some sesame just about to cover it, and then put it in your mouth, YUM! Their noodles are special for this. The texture of the noodle just goes so well simmered in the soup and the sesame.

What else is on the menu
They have a whole bunch of different ramens on the menu. You can choose the spicy or the non-spicy tonkotsu soup with various combinations of toppings. They also have tsukemen in the summer to help reduce the heat.

They also have a good variety of side dishes. The star here is the pork wonton with negi (sliced spring onion) and their special soy based dressing. Gyoza here was delicious and crispy, you can choose the minced pork filling with or without garlic. Other side dishes are nigiri with mentaiko and chachu with cabbage.




Price Range
Ramen ranges from 880 to 1000 yen. Side dishes range from 300-600 yen.

Ratings
Noodle: 10/10
Freshly made hosomen type with five different textures to your liking.

Soup: 7/10
Spicy or non-spicy tonkotsu base. Sufficient but not spectacular in my opinion.

Toppings: 9/10
Good variety of toppings. But I think the chachu is a bit dry and not so flavorful.

Side dishes: 7/10
The wonton and the gyoza were quite good. The rest of the side dishes were quite average.

Condiments: 10/10
Great selection of condiments. Extra points for the sesame, which successfully brings out the texture of the noodle and the soup.

Atmosphere: 7/10
Very lively, but somewhat tiny. Mostly counter seats with only a few tables.

Service and staff: 7/10
They are pretty lively (they yell enthusiastically everytime there's a new order coming). Good overall, yet again not spectacular.

Menu variety: 8/10
Some good choices for the side dishes and the noodle texture.

Location: 7/10
Various locations in Tokyo and Yokohama, but other than that you won't find them anywhere else.

Value for money: 7/10
Average, I think.

Overall Rating: 7.9/10.0

Location and access
Store: Yokohama Store
Address: Yokohama subway Diamond D Area, B1, Yokohama.
Access: 2 minutes walk from JR Yokohama station east exit
Phone: 045-317-2641
Store hour: 10:55 - 22:00 (LO 21:30)

What are we eating next week?

Next week, we're going back to basics. Let's check out Kourakuen (幸楽苑), a chain-store budget ramen from Fukushima prefecture. It has great variety, opens 24 hours, and tastes quite good. The type of set menu you see here will blow you away with the great value for money. Stay tune :)