丸鶴 (Marutsuru in Ikebukuro, Tokyo)

0 Reviews

丸鶴

I’ll admit, I didn’t come here for the noodles. Marutsuru is an old-school chuka spot with some Instagram-worthy fried rice. Tobiko Chahan to be exact. Ramen was on the menu, so I did my due diligence and ordered a bowl.

The shop has five choices for fried rice. Lettuce, shrimp, pork, and flying fish eggs. You know what we came for! I only knew about this spot because someone posted a photo of the tobiko fried rice over on Instagram. In this day and age, is this the defacto way of learning about food? Do people even read websites anymore?

Cute spot. Very classic. Completely empty on a weekday afternoon.

The ramen was fine and all, with minuscule wontons that were more wrapper than filling. Despite living in a kodawari rich world of refined, artisanal bowls, many people just want something like this.

This chahan though. Peppery and, well, covered with little orange flying fish eggs. Did I do it for the gram?

Probably. I can say the chahan was good. Unfortunately, you can’t do half orders like many shops do. Ramen with a han chahan (半チャーハン) is a classic order, just not here.

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