煮干そば流。(Breakfast Ramen at Ru in Jujo, Tokyo)

0 Reviews

煮干そば流。

When the threat of an easily-transmittable virus hit the earth in 2020, every government reacted a bit differently. In Japan, where social eating is a profound part of the culture, the restrictions focused heavily on restaurants. The agreed-upon time was 8:00 pm. If your shop stopped serving customers by eight in the evening, you would get some financial assistance from the government at the cost of losing your evening customers. Some ramen shops, like Ru, took matters into their own hands by shifting their opening hours a few hours earlier. Breakfast ramen means an extra three hours of business to replace the three hours lost.

Or in this case an extra four hours.

My stars this was a great bowl. Breakfast ramen is called asara, short for asa ramen. It’s usually made from a lighter soup that will continue to cook and become a stronger base for the lunch service. Ru’s morning ramen was quite deep and intense. Good morning indeed. Nothing like delicious dried sardines to wake you up.

Ramen Adventures is currently writing about ramen shops I visited one year ago. That means some things have changed. In the case of Ru it looks like, as of April 2022, they aren’t doing the breakfast ramen anymore. Check the internet for details. And check my original review of the shop here. It’s still a five out of five for me.

The restrictions came and went across Japan in 2020 and 2021 (and 2022 for that matter). Tokyo was always the subject of the quasi-lockdowns, but most other prefectures felt it at one time or another. Rises in numbers always led to a revisit of the no food or drinks status quo. Hours shifted from 8:00 to 9:00 to 10:00 and back to 8:00. Ru may or may not be serving their early ramen when you are in town, but it is worth a check. Many travelers, Americans in particular, will be waking up early from their inevitable jetlag. Why not head out for a top-level bowl of niboshi breakfast ramen.

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