I have been eating a lot of ramen lately. It is economical, delicious, and open at almost all hours of the day. We eat ramen at 3 or 4pm when nothing else is really open. We eat ramen at 3 or 4am when a bowl of yummy ramen is just the perfect ending to a long night.
After numerous bowls of ramen, I noticed a steady shift in my ramen preference. As a visitor, I fell in love with the thick, intensely flavored tonkotsu soup from places like Ippudo and Tsukumo. After awhile however, the intense flavors of the soup become tremendously heavy and overwhelming. They are still delicious but I probably only want to eat it once in a long while and preferably on a cold winter day. As the temperature rises here in Tokyo, all I want is something light and refreshing. Is it impossible to have a ramen that is light and refreshing? Not at Afuri.
My favorite ramen at Afuri is the shio yuzu ramen with the special chewy noodle. Apparently this shop uses special mountain water for its noodle and broth, which makes quite a difference in the flavors. This ramen is light (salt based) and refreshing (citrus-y yuzu) and you don’t feel like you weigh a ton after consumption (perfect!).
Another thing that I am beginning to embrace, though I wish I can stop, is eating double carb at ramen shops. In the beginning, I stared with horror when my friend slurps a whole bowl of noodle, a full bowl of rice and often a side of dumplings at the same time. However, after sampling some yummy rice bowls at ramen shops, I have this new found respect for them and I secretly wish that J would order it so I can just take a bite or two. The one shown here is the Afuri don with slow-simmered pork and scallion. Yum!
Tsukemen is also one of my favorite choices at ramen shop. Noodles and soup are served separately and you dip the noodles into the soup before slurping. The noodles are often cheweier and the soup stronger, a good alternative if you do not feel like eating something hot. The one shown above is the current special at Afuri which they only serve 30 bowls a day – Chicken and hotate (huge scallop) Tsukemen. After finishing the ramen, you can ask for extra soup and they will pour clear broth into your soup bowl so it is less salty and drinkable. If you want to try this special, I highly recommend getting the extra soup at the end because this broth deserves the merit of being consumed alone.
People often ask me about my favorite ramen joint and well, at this moment, Afuri is my fav.
Afuri Ramen (阿夫利ラーメン) 東京都渋谷区恵比寿1-1-7 117ビル 1F 03-5795-0750
Leave a comment