Braised Pork Ramen, (Chashumen)
This evening we headed into Sendai’s main nightlife entertainment district, Kokubuncho (国分町）and grabbed a bowl of braised pork ramen (chashumen) for dinner.
When it comes to ramen, I don’t normally eat out at chain restaurants – independent ramen restaurants are where it’s at – however, I make an exception for Sendai-ko (仙台っ子), a popular ramen chain native to Miyagi Prefecture.
So when I stumbled across a branch whilst battling my way through the bustling neon wonderland that is Kokubuncho, my stomach got the better of me and I dived inside.
The ramen at Sendai-ko is consistently outstanding and you’re guaranteed a delicious bowl of fulfilment, from the chains relatively simplistic menu of four varieties of ramen. The only real choice you face is choosing out of the two styles of broth Sendai-ko offers; Assari and Kotteri.
Assari is a light broth, usually more transparent in nature and flavoured with more vegetables and bones cooked on a light simmer. As you’d expect Kotteri is the opposite, with thicker, stickier and generally opaque broth. They also tend to contain more emulsified fats and proteins from long-boiled bones, which gives the broth more flavour. I went for Kotteri as I find it carries a stronger, more unique flavour.
It was an excellent meal and soon after I felt pretty knocked out – the only trouble with ramen is a big bowl of pork, noodles and soup is a shortcut to feeling sleepy (hence why I only try to eat it in the evening these days!)
The ramen came in at around ¥860 and if you’re in Sendai or Miyagi prefecture, I recommend dropping into a nearby Sendai-ko, where you know you can expect a decent bowl of ramen.
If you’re passing near Sendai station, there’s also a branch closer to the station (details below).
Sendai-ko
Address (copy this into Google maps): らーめん堂仙台っ子国分町店, 〒980-0811 Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai, Aoba Ward, Ichibancho, 4 Chome−9−12
