{"id":639,"date":"2020-01-29T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willchews.com\/?p=639"},"modified":"2020-02-06T03:56:19","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T03:56:19","slug":"ramen104","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willchews.com\/index.php\/ramen104\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramen No. 104: Hagan | Deluxe Niboshi Aburasoba"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Hagan is located in the blue-collar neighborhood of Sakuradai out in the burbs in Nerima ward, in a property that looks like a dilapidated shed both inside and out.\u00a0 (See the images from this RocketNews review<\/a> five years ago)\u00a0 It’s small inside; it only has seven seats.\u00a0 Its menu is simplistic; it serves only aburasoba<\/a>.\u00a0 There is every reason to think that Hagan has seen better days, and in a way it’s true, because while it placed in Ramen Databases’s top-10 of soupless ramen for two years after it opened in 2008, it dropped out for a good afterwards.\u00a0 There is nothing to suggest that it might have noodles of any note.<\/div>
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That impression is very wrong.<\/div>
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Yes the shop only serves aburasoba, but it offers it in three flavors: regular (shoyu), shio, and niboshi<\/a>.\u00a0 I don’t normally like to use the word “umami,” since too often it’s used irresponsibly as a catchall term for “flavor” without attempting to explain how this flavor is achieved.\u00a0 But in this case, the niboshi aburasoba I chose was absolutely chock-full of umami.\u00a0 The shoyu tare<\/a> is then combined with niboshi to add a stream of musty, fishy meatiness into the bowl.\u00a0<\/div>
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That meatiness is then complemented by the star of this bowl, the pork loin chashu.\u00a0 The chashu is is chopped and then charcoal-grilled to produce an extremely smoky flavor that permeates and persists in the rest of the bowl.\u00a0 The only other shop I can think of that has produced a chashu that is of comparable smokiness is Ranchu, whose chashu looks very differently.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the chashu at Hagan is outstanding, and the toppings of katsuobushi flakes and sliced negi<\/i> (Welsh onion, spring onion) adds even more umami and aromatics to the considerably high base.\u00a0<\/p>

Finally, the thick and eggy<\/a> noodles from the firm Mikawaya are perfectly fine on their own, but they’re slightly “sticky” as to better achieve their real purpose: to scoop up the shoyu-niboshi tare and efficiently deliver it, the chashu, and the toppings into one’s mouth.<\/p><\/div>

Put all of this together, what you get is a chonky bowl of noodles that is incredibly easy to wolf down.\u00a0 And there’s plenty of it too; the standard- (200g of noodles) and medium- (300g) sized bowls are priced the same, and a large-size bowl (presumably 400g or 500g) is only 100 yen more.\u00a0 Chili pepper, black pepper, and vinegar are available to add to taste, with the latter adding some astringency to the dish that might be desirable to some people.\u00a0 The only downside of note I thought was that the egg tasted pretty average and a bit misshapen.\u00a0 But if you overlook that, you can have a cheap and very good bowl of aburasoba that features uniquely-flavored and absolutely terrific chashu.\u00a0 All without having to really worry about a line like you would at some of the bigger names closer to the middle of town, which is always fine by me.<\/div>
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Tier 2<\/strong><\/a><\/div>
Q Factor: None (Weekend 1845)<\/div>
Sense: Old School\/Greasy Spoon<\/div>
Price: Deluxe Niboshi Aburasoba Medium Size 300g (\u00a5800)<\/div>
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\u3089\u30fc\u3081\u3093 \u7834\u9854 (Ramen Hagan)<\/div>
\u3012176-0002 \u6771\u4eac\u90fd\u7df4\u99ac\u533a\u685c\u53f01-5-11<\/div>
Sakuradai Station (Seibu Ikebukuro Line)<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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