Wednesday, July 17, 2013

九月堂 Kugatsudo: sweet and lowdown

I'm glad to find such a good place for chilling out and enjoying ramen, especially with female friends. This Shibuya place is a cafe-style ramen shop. There's a couch, nice lights, and comfortable chairs with blankets. Ramen truly for a woman's perspective.


I went here with a female friend and we ordered the dinner set: ramen with your choice of sweets. There are two types of broth to choose from: I ordered the assari (light), while my friend ordered the kotteri (heavy).

The appearance of the bowl is kind of cute. It's topped with a piece of wheat gluten molded into the form of a flower. The noodles and soup were okay, but the yuzu citrus and shredded negi onions made for a good flavor combination to stimulate the appetite. Personally, I preferred the light bowl to my friend's heavy one (yes, I tried hers; we're good friends).


However, the chashu, flavored egg, and menma bamboo shoots were all too sweet for me. Maybe most girls like this sweeter ramen, but I got bored midway through eating the whole bowl. So many sweet toppings actually made the bowl feel salty.

Dinner Set A -
Assari ramen with dessert (1000yen)
Speaking of sweets, I got the green tea pudding with sakura (cherry blossom) flavored ice cream. My friend got yuzu jelly with sherbet. Both were good, but the yuzu jelly was especially tasty - smooth and refreshing, especially after eating ramen, and the size is appropriate for a woman's stomach as well.


I always crave something sweet after eating ramen, so it's really good news for women to be able to have some sweets right here in the same shop.

Overall, Kugatsudo has a nice concept. Too bad the incompletely-realized ramen is a little disappointing.


Tokyo, Shibuya-ku, Jinnan 1-15-12 Sato Bldg. 2F
Closest stn: Shibuya (7 min walk)
Open from 1130am-10pm Tuesday-Friday and Noon-9pm on weekends.

Lum

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