ajito ism

I still get asked occasionally about the ice cream ramen I ate some time last year. These people asking me surely aren’t searching for the best bowl of noodles in town. You can search for the perfect bowl, or you can search for the weirdest bowl. It’s your adventure!

Personally, I’m a big fan of the strange and unusual. So when I heard of a hidden gem in the suburbs of Oimachi that served a pizza mazemen, it went on the list.

ajito is a bit hard to find. I had a few travelling ramen fans from Singapore (by the way, check out my friend’s blog for a Japanese ramen master’s life in the city: Noodleholic) so the pressure was on. The shop is very nondescript, the English lettering being the only way we would have found it without consulting the local police department (they always know).

Two choices, standard and butatama. You can choose 3 sizes. Go with the small size. Medium was too much.

The butatama version, as slurped by my friends.

And the standard. That is a pile of anchovy powder on top. Freshly cut yellow and green peppers, onion, and tomato add a bit of health to the mix. The salami was a great touch, they could have easily gone with some sort of sausage topping and still called it the same thing. Noodles are standard tsukemen style, thick and heavy. Again, heed the shop masters warning that the M is けっこ大き – a little big. Oh, and there is a big pile of cheese under it all.