Friday, October 08, 2010

teppei

The air wafts with kinmokusei (sweet olive). I associate Autumn with this aroma.

The daytime is still warm but the evenings and early mornings are getting colder.

Wednesday, Satoshi had the day off so we ran some errands in the morning.

At lunchtime, we decided to check out a ramen shop called Teppei, actually the name is longer but for blogging purposes I'm cutting the name short, near the Minoo station.

This shop was featured in a magazine recently and was giving a little discount on one of their special dishes.

Like I said, the weather during the day is still quite warm, so it is not really ramen weather for me, but Satoshi is always ready to eat ramen no matter how hot it is out.

You buy tickets for what you want to eat at the entrance to the shop. There are only 13 seats and they are all around the counter.

It was peak lunch time when we got there but we were lucky enough to find 2 seats together.

Satoshi ordered the special with gyoza, a tsukemen--noodles which you dip into the broth, topped with sanma (pacific saury).

The broth was made from tonkotsu (pork fat, bones) and fish....790 yen + 290 yen (about US$10.80)

We were warned that this dish takes at least 14 minutes to prepare (why not round up to 15 then??), so I oohed and aahed at their line of pots in the kitchen making the soup and cooking the char siu.

I also oohed and aahed at their industrial sized refrigerators lining one whole side of the shop, I think they had about 6.

Satoshi's dish came out 14 minutes later give or take...he loves fish, so he said this was good (with a thumbs up!) Though he said that the broth was really rich.

He let me try some and it was fishy but not in a bad way. The noodles were a bit thicker than ramen noodles I have tried before, more like udon.

The gyoza, I didn't try, but Satoshi said, "meh, it was nothing special".

In fact, he thought that these were frozen, not homemade.

Like I said, I wasn't in the mood for ramen, so I ordered the Teppei Meshi, a bowl of rice topped with two thick pieces of char siu, soft boiled egg & green onions.

Man, this char siu was THICK, at least an inch or two! I had seen others given scissors to cut their char siu and wondered why I wasn't given one, I guess I should've asked.

The char siu was so thick that I couldn't bite into it, a bit discouraging but after breaking it apart with my fingers, I enjoyed the flavor--hints of sweet and salty.

Pieces that were closer to the fat were tender and easy to eat.

Despite having a hard time eating the char siu, it was a great dish and only 490 yen (about US$4.90).

We'll be back when ramen season is in full swing.

Teppei (UPDATE: 2016 no longer in business)
6-1-34 Minoo, Minoo Residence 1F
Open 11:30-15:00 (Lunch), 18:00-02:00 (Dinner/Late Night)

p.s. it is the start of a 3-day weekend here, hope you all have a great weekend!

17 comments:

  1. Mmmm, that dish looks soo good (just gotta remember the scissor tip :)) I really like the soft boiled eggs and big pile o' green! (I think it's time to eat here!)

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  2. Oh those boiled eggs look lovely Kat!

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  3. Yes the scissors are important Jude, otherwise you'll be knawing at the char siu or like me using your hands!

    I always wonder how they get the eggs perfect like this Kirk

    Take care you two.
    Kat

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  4. The char siu meshi is my kinda dish, looks so good.

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  5. Wah, looks great! Wish I was back in Japan.

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  6. yup, I think you would like this Nate :)

    Maybe you could come back soon Nate @ HOA :)

    Take care you two.
    Kat

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  7. What is HOA?

    Have applied for a position back in Okinawa. But it'll be a couple months before I find out.

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  8. Well hands down I think everybody so far was taken with that Teppei Meshi dish. WOW!

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  9. Nate (OkiHwn),
    HOA is short for House of Annie, since there were two Nates, I used the HOA :) Will be cool if you can come back this way, though you will be far away from Nezumi & your GD.

    I would definitely eat this one again Rowena, and asking for the scissors :)

    Take care you two.
    Kat

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  10. It really was Jalna :)

    Take care.
    Kat

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  11. You do get to eat some fabulous food Kat. I don't have much luck in choosing the best of the menu lately. I'm always disappointed.

    Congratulations on 5 years of blogging. I'm a little late but only just catching up on blog reading.

    I love the glass teacup from your MIL.

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  12. Thanks Barbara, I hope your luck with choosing the best on the menu changes soon :)

    Take care.
    Kat

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  13. Mmm it's starting to get very cold in NYC...I think I know what I'll be having for dinner tonight, ramen! And that rice + char siu dish was such a good price, love the look of the soft boiled egg :)

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  14. Both dishes look good but maybe you need to BYOS--bring your own scissors next time! ;-)

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  15. it really was a nice price Kathy :)

    Definitely bring my own scissors Debinhawaii ;)

    Take care you two.
    Kat

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