あっ晴れ Appare: guts and glory

Another trip to Nagoya late last year meant another couple ramen notches on the ever-tightening belt. This occasion was a real doozy - a trip to Kinki prefecture's take on the artery-clogging bowl known as Jiro-style (not to be confused with JJ-style), Appare.

The chain had a summer promotion where if you ordered at every one of their nine shops in July, you'd receive a coupon book of 50 free bowls of ramen. Sounds like a deal, but some of the shops are located in out-of-the-way locations in Aichi, Gifu, and Mie, meaning you need a car and an iron gut to work through those shops.

Ramen (680yen)

The ramen is worthy of the Jiro-kei mantle, with the typical mountain of bean sprouts and cabbage on top, the rich and salty pork broth on bottom, and the thick noodles (shipped from Asakusa's regular Jiro-kei supplier Kaikarou) comprising the fat middle. Senrigan is still the best version of this bowl, in my book, but Appare is good enough.

The mazesoba here is a nice alternative to the overly salty bone broth; you can add cheese, raw egg, chopped onions, extra back fat, extra oil, extra garlic, and mix it all up, Junk Garage style.

Mazesoba with extra egg (880yen)

A big place, as per the standard with shops in and around Nagoya.

Aichi-ken, Obu-shi, Yokonecho-maeda 50-1
Closest stn: Obu (30-minute walk or 10-minute taxi ride)

Open from 11am-11pm (closed from 4-530pm on weekdays)

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