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中華蕎麦 ひら井 (Hirai in Kokubunji, Tokyo)

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中華蕎麦 ひら井

Chukasoba Hirai opened in 2021 to a lot of hype. You see, the master hails from Ramen Jiro Hachioji (ラーメン二郎八王子野猿街道店2) which might be the most popular Ramen Jiro of them all. Or at least the number two according to the Ramen Database. Either way, this shop retained that initial hype and sits at #58 in Japan (according to said ranking).

In an effort to eat more protein, I’ll be getting the tokusei (special) or chashumen from now on. Tokusei (特製) will usually include some extra slices of chashu, an egg, and maybe more nori than normal. Chashumen (チャーシューつけ蕎麦) is just going to be extra pork. Noodles will always be nami (並 normal) or sho (小 small). When it comes to tsukemen, carbs are king. A nami bowl at Hirai has 250 grams, almost double what you would get in your average bowl of ramen. This is the nature of tsukemen. Noodles are served cold and outside of the soup, meaning they won’t get soggy. Take your time and eat a lot.

For an extra 200 yen you can go up to 500 grams of noodles. Sure this is wild, but again it is the nature of tsukemen. With homemade noodles like these, a real noodle nerd can go to town.

The homemade noodles for the tsukemen are made with Ayahikari flour (あやひかり) from Mie Prefecture. This flour is used to make the famous Ise udon, a local dish you can find all around Japan’s most famous Ise Shrine. This is a grade 2 flour, meaning the color isn’t as nice as the pure white stuff, but the flavor and protein are higher. A perfect flour for thick noodles. Other flour used for the tsukemen are Chikugoizumi (チクゴイズミ) from Kyushu and Haruyotaku (春よ恋) from Hokkaido.

The soup is made from pork bones, pig heads, beef bones, and whole chickens.

Beautiful pork, grilled over charcoal. You’ll get three kinds of chashu pork with a chashutsukemen order, and only one slice of pork belly with the normal tsukemen. Make the right choice.

Official X here.

 

 

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