味の大王

We finished work in Muroran with about 30 minutes to make our train. Is this enough time to hit up the original Muroran curry ramen shop? I gotta try! チャンス!!

Remember, this is Hokkaido, and Hokkaido runs on Hokkaido-time. The elderly chef took his time, even stopping for a few minutes to chat with a family that wandered in. He had obviously known them many years ago, as the conversation was focused mainly on how big the daughter, now a college student, had become.

The soup is made in small batches. Four bowls at a time. The wok is thoroughly cleaned, and the prep starts again. There were at least eight people ahead of my order. If I missed this train, it was more than two hours until the next one. Hokkaido-style.

But sometimes you need to slow down. Not everything is a rush-hour frenzy to get in and out in record time. Here is a shop, where old friends come for a nostalgic meal, and everyone has a grin, and everything is right with the world.

I’m sure as hell not going to upset this balance by encouraging the chef to pick up his pace.

The ramen was good, surprisingly so. Just enough homemade curry paste mixed with the thick soup. Nothing as epic as Sapporo miso, but I have to give it to Muroran and their 4th Hokkaido style.

Slurping at maximum speed, trying not to splash the potent curry soup on my clean shirt, I finished the last of the noodles, and drank as much of that amazing curry as possible. Then I ran.