ラーメン星印 (Hoshijirushi in Yokohama, Kanagawa)

0 Reviews

ラーメン星印

Hoshijirushi (lit. star) is yet another highly-ranked kodawari ramen shop with a spot on the Tabelog top 100 list (百名店) for East Japan. I’m slowly trying to hit up all of these lauded shops. As of writing this, I have 26 shops left on the East list, 40 shops left on the West list, and I have crushed all 100 on the Tokyo list. It’s never-ending, as each list gets around 20 changes a year. Is 2022 the year I crush them all?

Back to Hoshijirushi. What we have here is an excellent bowl of shoyu ramen made with a blend of seven different soy sauces from around Japan.

Fresh Wakayama soy sauce, sweet Nagano soy sauce, and Oita soy sauce made with salmon are the main shoyus in the blend.

The master, Ichiro Okizaki, trained under Sano-san, considered one of the first ramen masters to focus heavily on craft ingredients.

Hoshijirushi revamped its menu in 2019, so if you have been in the past you might want to make a return trip. The soup is made with Nagoya Cochin chicken, Hiroshima oysters, and Aomori pork. Don’t worry, it isn’t oyster ramen, but there is a slight oceany undertone going on.

Noodles were, as expected, perfect in this bowl. Five out of five stars.

The menu is expansive with limited bowls and different rice options. Regular customers are plenty, and with the rotating choices, you could come back every week and never get tired.

Why the name “star?” When I went inside, rock music was blasting on the stereo. Turns out this is yet another Eikichi Yazawa (矢沢永吉) fan shop. He’s one of Japan’s biggest rock stars, akin to Bon Jovi or Steven Tyler. There are a handful of shops run by Yazawa superfans around Japan. Takesue and Ryusetai come to mind. By the way, many of these shops shut for the day if Yazawa has a concert.

Keep hunting that great ramen! And keep on rocking!

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