たんたん亭

Tantantei labels itself as shinasoba, which is the old way of saying chukasoba. In this case, shina is a phonetic way of saying china, and chuka is the proper way to say China. The former is considered by some to be a taboo word, racist in a way, but it is hard for me to understand the intricacies of the situation. If I have offended anyone, my apologies.

This is old-school style ramen, if something from the middle of last century can be considered old-school. Is there a difference between shinasoba and chukasoba? One thing that stands out is the constant use of wontons in shinasoba.

Tantantei is very, very famous for their wontons.

I was inspired to visit because of a post on Instagram by Go Ramen, Keizo Shimamoto. His ramen in NYC is always doing interesting things, and some time ago he had a shinasoba popup. The 亭 in the name is an homage to this particular shop. Super cool.

Many shops with wontons do a mix bowl, meaning a few pork wontons and a few shrimp wontons. I always go for the mix. Another thing to note is that if you aren’t feeling up for slurping noodles, you can go for wonton soup (ワンタンスープ) for a bowl of just wontons. Low carb diet on point.