Lunch in Anglo-Saxon offices is usually quick. Scores of articles in lifestyle magazines have been written for busy working men and women on how to make their lunch a bit more exciting than the sandwich bought from around the corner. Nevertheless, when readers are just too busy to prepare food at home, a sandwich hastily eaten at the desk becomes the norm.

I’ve never worked in a Japanese office, so I can’t claim to know well how Japanese office workers eat their lunch. But after walking through the city and looking into random ramen shops scattered through the streets and near train stations, I get the feeling that their clientele is composed mostly of men. Both at lunch and at dinner, ramen shops were full of men, mostly sitting by themselves along the counters.

How odd, I thought to myself. In the States, particularly in New York, where ramen has become its own trend, ramen fans are of mixed gender. The people who stand in long lines to get their steaming bowls of noodle soup at the newest hyped ramen shop are those with time on their hands: students, groups of young urban professionals after work, and curious middle-aged couples. In Japan, the lines (which move much more quickly because people don’t loiter over their ramen bowls, and because there are just more of them to choose from) seem to be composed mostly of office men in suits. The ramen’s cheaper too, rarely topping US$7 a bowl. I ate at two places in Tokyo: the first a ramen counter down an alleyway in Shinjuku and the second a standing-room-only ramen stall in Tsukiji.

In Tokyo, ramen serves as the equivalent of a sandwich: eaten quickly when no one at home prepares a bento for you. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not taken seriously by those who make it. It may be cheap, it may be quick, but rest assured that it will be delicious. At 9:00 p.m., the only other clients with me at the ramen counter in Shinjuku were a balding white collar worker and his much younger, dyed-blonde companion. Bonding over beer, they feasted on mostly gyoza, as the two noodle chefs, one older and one younger, dished up plate after plate of the fried dumplings.

I ordered miso ramen, as it was getting late and I really wanted something with more substance – the soup in miso ramen is cloudier and thicker than that of shio (salt) ramen. The noodles were chewy, the soup warm but not too oily, and the pork lean and salty. My noodle chefs, who both donned the do-rags that all proper noodle chefs seem to wear, were generous with the green onions. As the other two late-night eaters seemed to really enjoy the gyoza, I ordered a plate. They were hot, crispy, and filled with tender pork. All in all, a very warm, salty, satisfying meal.

I visited Inoue, a ramen stall in the Tsukiji district, at a more typical and crowded time of day: lunch. Perhaps because this stand caters more towards the lunch crowd, the components of the ramen were all on display in different trays, quickly assembled for the hungry client as soon as it is ordered – kind of like at the corner deli, but with fewer options.

This assembly line setup, coupled with the fact that you can’t be too finicky about your order, helps things move quickly. Although the high tables, where people stand facing the wall and slurp down their hot bowls of noodles, are full, people are polite and don’t loiter. Every noodle-eater has his turn at a seat, a brief break from the monotony of the workday.

This US$6.50 bowl offered a soothing escape indeed. It’s hard to escape in a sandwich. Conceded: peanut butter and banana sandwiches can transport you back to childhood, but this particular bowl of ramen gives you a clear, steaming lake of shoyu broth, lean rounds of pork fit for a holiday dinner, and pretty sprouts and spring onions topping it all off with a bit of colour. It’s practically a lily pond – a delicious one, set on a plain black lacquered tray.

Lunch here may be quick, but it’s gratifying. While not quite the same as love in the form of a prettily arranged bento box from home, a nice bowl of ramen serves its purpose as warming sustenance for the lone salaryman. Inoue stops serving at 1:30 p.m., the end of the day for the busy noodle chefs who have been cooking since five in the morning. Once they’re finished, it’s back to work for their satiated patrons.

Inoue
4-9-16 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
03-3542-0620

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Tokyo, travel.